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FIA Formula One 2019 |OT| Oil Mining vs. Energy Drinks vs. Big Tobacco, pick your poison
- Thread starter Aiii
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The Agnelli family is not that interested in Ferrari winning. THey invested more money in the 90s because the brand was declining but now it's stronger than ever. And of course Todt Brawn and Schumi are not in the team anymore.
Random stats n facts time: Sorry I'm late edition...
- HAM: 75th career race win.
- HAM: Becomes only the 2nd driver to have led for more 4000 racing laps
- Mercedes: First team to score 3 consecutive 1-2 finishes at start of season since Williams in 1992.
- GAS: First fastest lap of his F1 career.
- Toro Rosso: Started their 250th GP.
During the Brawn-Todt era Ferrari were ruthlessly efficient and dominated the competition even on the occasions when the car was not out and out the fastest at every track. During the Wolff-Allison-Vowles (and also Lowe) era Mercedes have been ruthlessly efficient and have dominated the competition even on the occasions when the car has not been out and out the fastest.
All I seem to remember about him was that he spent most of him time either retired from races or not actually qualifying for them!
The teams are the ones that push against any rule changes, and as i recall Vettel himself said after a test last year that if they hadn't used the thinner treaded tyres in the race they'd have been fucked.
The regs are going to change hugely from 2021. Unless Merc dip out I'm sure they are still going to be there fighting.
I would rather any of these US FIA Grade Two circuits spend/get the money to upgrade to Grade One before a US city street race, but that won't happen because profit. Some would never happen anyway though, e.g. Laguna Seca.
Agreed, the proposed penis Miami track looked terrible.
Barber Motorsports Park
Lime Rock Park
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
NOLA Motorsports Park
Portland International Raceway
Road America
Road Atlanta
Sebring International Raceway
Sonoma Raceway
Virginia International Raceway
Watkins Glen International
WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
Agreed, the proposed penis Miami track looked terrible.
Road America is doable, and it's easily the best circuit in the States. It could be the Spa of the Americas.
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Watkins Glen already has a lot of its runoff areas paved already as well.
I'm worried they would take a Tilke hammer to both tracks, though.
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All of those tracks are not Grade One, and are in poor locations (not close to a major regional/global hub & poor transport links). Also, some of these tracks are way too short and expansion/upgrade is going to be really costly.
Besides, Liberty will likely want to go for an urban track as it's much higher profile, hence Miami, and previously NYC/NJ under Bernie.
Further, given we already have Austin representing the West/Southwest, Liberty will try to get a city on the Midwest/East Coast to create a double header with Montreal, just like it had with Indy back in the 00s.
No Cota should actually be twice per year. Or have all races held on Cota. Would also reduce the costs of logistics.
Yeah, I didn't take that into consideration. I watched part of the Indy Car race at COTA and attendance was maybe half of what it usually is for the Grand Prix.
They could do the US Grand Prix and the Texas Grand Prix at COTA haha.
Faaaaar less than half. There's a lot of issues at COTA right now (track surface, state funding) and alocal fight over an MLS team whose new venue threatens concert revenue at COTA.
If they don't fix the track I assume Moto GP is gone and that's their second biggest event of the year
Road America is in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, though. Road Atlanta is probably the only viable purpose-built track near a "hub city", but it would have to be lengthened (otherwise would be shortest track excluding Monaco, and lap time would probably be under 1 minute) and upgraded, so costly investments required.
VIR is an option, but not sure the layout is great for F1.
Again, as I said, F1 is likely to go for urban/city tracks as those are much cheaper to organise, are more prestigious, and generate a lot more buzz.
Just curious, do you live in Austin? I'm a fan of MLS and F1, so that dynamic is interesting to me. I'm curious how well Austin will receive the MLS team as it seems like Precourt just tried to shove the team in Austin and make it work.
Also, can they just not afford to repave the track?
I do live in Austin.
The MLS team is going to be massive here. Soccer is hugely popular in Austin, the location is not the best but still pretty solid. Community engagement has been really good and I expect really good season ticket sales.
The fight against it came from Epstein (COTA) who was trying to drum up the NIMBYs in order to kill the MLS team. He even quick-launched a USL team out at COTA to try and fight it.
COTA is kind of a problem track. Epstein doesn't really seem to care about it. Tavo was the fire in the belly for COTA and without him it's really been kind of poorly run. I mean, there are large swaths of the grandstands that are unfinished, temporary stands. Just not a premium track. The course is also falling into disrepair and they aren't doing anything other than shaving bumps down which is further harming the integrity of the track surface over time.
The concert venue and the VIP seating around it are fantastic. It really feels like it's a concert venue that has two profitable races that allow it to get a 25 million dollar check from the state for hosting the race. They goofed that funding this year and didn't get the 25 million in 2019 which has a lot of people worried about the races.
Its a real shame because the course layout is such a great one, and the city could easily support motor racing. It just feels like the current ownership doesn't care about racing.
The bottom line is they probably won't ever race anywhere other than Circuit of the Americas because you'd have to have a League of Morons to put together a race anywhere else for Formula One in the US. You will lose money hand over fist wherever you decide to have it because there is no way in hell the NIMBYs would let you run it in a city and also no way in hell you're going to bring any other circuit up to the standards F1 thinks they require.
It's CotA or nothing... except maaaaaaybe Indianapolis again, but everyone bitches about that road circuit there even though I think it's improved greatly since the original events.
It's CotA or nothing... except maaaaaaybe Indianapolis again, but everyone bitches about that road circuit there even though I think it's improved greatly since the original events.
https://www.racefans.net/2019/04/25...h-a-few-tenths-but-ferrari-made-massive-gain/
Looks like Verstappen is in on the Ferrari-joke. Just keep giving them praise, let them f*** up another weekend and put your car in postitions where it wouldn't have been. :D
COTA was seen as the first absolutely world class F1 facility in the US. They have "10 year contracts" with F1 and MotoGP. Every other non-oval facility in the US is simply not of a high enough standard in comparison. If the people fuck up COTA, even through not resurfacing (which was a major, major issue at the MotoGP round a few weeks back) then that sets F1 back in the US for at least a decade.
People need to stop fucking around. Especially when I can see F1 looking at the relative proximity of Mexico and Canada and use that as a reason to not bother with the US.
People need to stop fucking around. Especially when I can see F1 looking at the relative proximity of Mexico and Canada and use that as a reason to not bother with the US.
America and routine road pavement maintenance is an equation that simply doesn't compute.
Talking about US F1, got an email this week that tickets have gone on sale for this year. Still need to work out what to do with the rest of the trip (probably Austin -> Houston and maybe San Antonio), but what are the best seats with a good screen? Was thinking Turn 1, are the really expensive seats in the higher rows that much better than middle or lower?
Houston was cool. We did Dallas, Austin, Houston and I wouldn't go back to Dallas.
... and no, they're not massively better, but it is cool being able to see more of the track in the distance, especially if you have binoculars.
... and no, they're not massively better, but it is cool being able to see more of the track in the distance, especially if you have binoculars.
NASCAR at it's lowest ebb will still be higher than F1's peak in popularity.
NASCAR TV ratings are up but their track attendance has fallen through the floor. Indycar has the opposite problem.
My butt has sat at Turn 15, 4, 1, Grandstands. Whatever you do don't do grandstands, even in the nosebleeds it's not worth it. Turn 15 as far to the top right as you can get will get you views of Turn 1 into 4 going up through the s's and give you a nice shot of the long back straight into the complex from 12-15. I think those seats are worth the money, but so is Turn 4 if you can get the right area and they don't have the hospitality booths in the way you can see the 12-15 and late braking of the straight there. As well you'll be able to see turn 1 if you are high enough at Turn 4. You can do a flex ticket where you get turn 1 on quali and do either 4 or 15 for race day.
I'm going to Japan for the Japanese GP this year! I'd love to hear some suggestions for seating and any tips on getting tickets and traveling to the circuit as it is an ordeal. I know tickets go up May 19th, but outside of that I've not the faintest idea as to where to sit and how best to travel between Nagoya (closest hotel I could get) and Suzuka circuit.
The people who pump money into Motorsport don't give two shits about local attendance in comparison to TV ratings.
I've been twice and sat at Q (Casio Triangle/chicane) both times. Sitting halfway up the grandstand, you can view a fair amount of the circuit. Far more than other grandstands I believe. Anyway, the bits I could see from my seat are shown in red:
Getting to the circuit by train was easy from Osaka, and supposedly from Nagoya even easier. The nearest station is Suzuka Circuit Ino and then it's a 20 minute walk. One word of warning, the station will get very crowded for the return journey and you should head to the station the moment Hamilton wins... otherwise you'll be waiting behind thousands of others and getting on the 10th train back to Nagoya.
That's not correct. The US is still the world's biggest media market, and F1 has 0 mindshare (and a shitty TV contract) in that market. They need the US more than the US need them.
Liberty will absolutely push for a strong US presence.
If F1 wants a strong push for a US presence, COTA wouldnt be in such a mess as it is right now.
Knowing Williams set up right now, he'll be lucky if it even gets repaired for the race, never mind tomorrow.
Wow seriously Baku, now the truck damages a bridge over the track, wtf
And now the hydraulics of the truck spills on the car...
And now the hydraulics of the truck spills on the car...
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