F1 weekend format shake-up (again)

[Marbot]

err.....interesting!

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/71034

[Matt]

Dash for Cash. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

[ljakse]

Anf what exactly might be Force India's motive to get involved in another money-eating event?

This could work only if some spec car is made just for this.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by ljakse

This could work only if some spec car is made just for this.

Hard tyres were mentioned,which if hard enough would tend to equalize the cars quite a lot.

[Matt]

Just put stones on the back. Or re-treads.

[Matt]

Also, I just realized how much money is going though F1. A MILLION dollars every round, that's insane.

[Marbot]

Chicken feed.

[johntt]

I think the format is fine as is, the only change I would make is dropping the fuel load thing in Q3 so we get proper qualifying laps and getting rid the parc ferme rule as well.

[hitchcockm00]

I expect the drivers would have more interest in winning this if there were championship points available rather than pocket money.

[S.Moss]

How about a 30 min qual session, top 10 go through to super pole where the drivers get 5 minutes to complete their one flying lap and find a gap for a clean lap themselves. Top 3 get championship points in the order of 3pts for 1st to 1pt for 3rd.

[courageous]

Dash for the cash - sorry but it just sounds vulgar.

If you want to give an incentive for practice sessions, how about a bonus point and/or a garuntee of being in the top 10 shoot out (even that sounds a bit tits&ass).

Get rid of friday practice, parc ferme all cars between races & have 5 test weekends per year at non grand prix tracks.

[Dutton]

I personally like the longer sessions on Friday. Of course the teams will use it for preparing for the race. I don't see how the cars running on the track for 90 minutes at a time, preparing for the race, is in anyway a bad deal for the fans. That is exactly what I like to see a practice session being when I go to race weekends.

I find it so condescending when I see that the important people in sports seem to value my mind so lowly that I am unable to simply appreciate viewing genuine preparation activities. I apparently need some gimmick to keep my small mind interested.

I know they don't mean any offence with such things, but I do find it a tad demeaning.

[Super Hans]

If this were to happen I'd imagine that Kimi Raikkonen would be $19m richer by season's end.

[hitchcockm00]

Originally Posted by Dutton

I find it so condescending when I see that the important people in sports seem to value my mind so lowly that I am unable to simply appreciate viewing genuine preparation activities. I apparently need some gimmick to keep my small mind interested.

I know they don't mean any offence with such things, but I do find it a tad demeaning.

It's kinda like broadcasting the morning warm-up for a football game though isn't it. The hardcore fans may be interested but the vast majority are gonna think it's pointless to watch. So if the broadcasters want to make it appealing to the masses they need a gimmick.
They're not really taking the views of the hardcore fans into consideration when they think practice needs livening up.

[Dutton]

Okay, but who other than hardcore fans are ever going to watch practice? I doubt many other than hardcore fans will watch qualfiying, let alone practice!

I don't mind if they do some new fangled contraption if it is in addition to the current practice, but to start playing silly buggers with a logical, and necessary, feature of the race weekend in the name of capturing the interest of people who won't be watching in the first place, well, it just doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

[Dutton]

OK, IE crashed at a critical point. I wish Facebook would sort whatever problem it has with its scripting, or whatever it is.

**********

Take my Dad, for instance: he is what I would call a "dedicated casual" viewer. He watches nearly all of the qualifying sessions, but they aren't critical to him (since they are usually at 0600, quite often he will just watch the recording of it I make for him as I watch it live). He watches all the races, with the greater majority of which as live (again, most are at 0600), but the other times he will watch the recording I make as I watch it live. He is interested to hear the off-track news/developments, thus is more than happy for me to act as his update source, but he isn't interested enough to seek out the information himself. He retains the information broadly accurately, although not the finer details, and has enough interest to approach things from a critical evaluation mindset.

The practice sessions he will have on if he happens to be eating breakfast and reading the paper at the time it is running, provided there isn't some other thing on he particularly wants to see: it is like a prefered form of background noise, as it were. The format these practice sessions take would not affect his viewing habits at all. Outside of the hardcore follower, I think this form of interest in practice is about the most you are ever going to get. The less-dedicated casual viewer won't have any interest of any form, irrespective of the format used.

Trying to create practice with the interests of the wider market in mind makes no sense: they are very unlikely to watch it irrespective of the structure of it. In terms of your football practice example, it would be similarly stupid to start altering the substance of that with the interests of those who have no interest in watching it in mind.

I just think the logic to such methodology is flawed.

[ukaskew]

Is this for the TV viewer or the spectators at the actual events?

I only ask, because in the quest for new markets where the money is, we seem to be going to ever duller race circuits, and the hint is that we will see even more street circuits in the future. Surely even the most clueless casual fan would rather watch a race at Spa, than Valencia, for example? In the quest for money we (and by we, I mean Bernie) seems to dismiss the actual on-track racing side of things. Surely in the long term, F1 would be more popular if they went to genuinely exciting overtake-friendly circuits with some character, regardless of the country they are in? Would you not would assume this seasons Spa race (even without the Hamilton incident) has done far more for the sport than the Valencia race, for example?

[Dutton]

I think in this instance we are assuming TV viewer. Those at the track are surely going to have a fair interest in things (certainly enough to be happy to watch normal practice, without the need for gimmicks), thus such changes being considered must be with casual TV viewers in mind.

The problem of uninteresting-vs-interesting races isn't really a track issue, though. From year to year races at any particular track can be either be good or bad, with the standard of the track itself not really seeming that relevant. It is the car-tyre package that tends to determine how the races pan out, with the overall issues F1 faces (including the overtaking one) being primarily about the design of the cars rather than the tracks.

I quite agree that Bernie's insatiable desire for money at the expense of all else is not a positive situation, but that isn't really the problem from the racing POV. It is creating something of a house of cards with regards the longterm stability of the schedule, but that is a different issue.

[RaiseYourFist]

I cant see why they would expect a lot of viewers to watch the practice especially as its on a work day....

[Dutton]

I agree entirely. This is why it is a truly strange thing to be aiming at "revamping" it.

[Marbot]

They really ought to kick Fridays in the head and do the practice sessions as a 2 hour thing and then maybe the 'dash-for-the-cash' followed by the usual qualifying all on the Saturday.

[Dutton]

No way!

As a TV viewer it would annoy me quite a bit, but as a trackside spectator it would drive me up the wall! I would feel truly ripped off if I didn't see track action on the Friday.

[Dead-Eye]

Originally Posted by Dutton

No way!

As a TV viewer it would annoy me quite a bit, but as a trackside spectator it would drive me up the wall! I would feel truly ripped off if I didn't see track action on the Friday.

If there were no track action on Friday you probably wouldn't be a trackside spectator on that day, would you?

Of course, the weekend ticket would have to be cheaper...yeah, right


I think it's fine as it is right now.

[JeremySmith]

"Dash for the Cash" how terribly trite....

[Dutton]

There would be other action on that day, though, Dead-Eye. That is, the support series. There should be action from the main series too.

If the suggestion is to obliterate Thursday and Friday track action of all forms, well, I just cannot describe how terrible I would consider that to be.