More rumours over the future of the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne. Read on for today’s round-up:
Links
Melbourne may pull the plug on F1 after 2014 (Reuters)
Premier of the state of Victoria John Brumby: “I know there’s a range of views in the community and it is a costly major event, but we’ve got it until 2014. We’ll look at whether we go beyond that, I’m not making any commitment beyond that.”
Record TV audiences for season finale (F1)
“German broadcaster RTL has gone three full seasons since surpassing the 10 million viewer milestone for F1 coverage; even then it was only achieved once that year. In 2010 that figure has been breached twice, first as Michael Schumacher made his comeback for Mercedes GP in Bahrain and then on Sunday when an average of 10.3 million viewers tuned in, which peaked at 12.1 million when Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel crossed the line to become the youngest-ever world champion.”
Montezemolo’s letter to the fans (Ferrari)
Felipe Massa doesn’t even get a mention.
Petrov on verge of new Renault deal (Autosport)
Eric Boullier: “There are still some frustrations but I have to consider the global package, and I have to say that Abu Dhabi was positive for him.”
The final word on the F1 (Parallel universe)
“John Sinders, a Texas investment banker who now lives in Dubai, said even his VIP Paddock Club passes wouldn’t allow him to access the grandstand. This so annoyed him, he didn’t bother to go on Sunday, the final race day. Sinders is a racing enthusiast; he owns a racing team in Dubai. But he also views the grand prix as a unique way to entertain clients. He said he was unable to access half of his clients, those who were sitting in the grandstand. ‘Tell Austin not to do that,’ he told me.”
Comment of the day
Adam Tate thinks too much is made of Sebastian Vettel’s pole-to-win conversion rate:
Five wins from ten poles ain’t so bad. In fact why don’t you look back at 2002 and see how Juan Pablo Montoya managed to get something like five poles in a row and yet didn’t win any of those races. And that was Montoya, a driver I’m convinced should still be in the sport and as good as anyone running now.
So for Vettel to only get five wins from ten poles is more than acceptable to me, considering it was enough for him to win the world championship.
Adam Tate
From the forum
Trigger asks which circuit is best for a stag party? Mine was at Rockingham (well, part of it…)
Site updates
Some new F1 Fanatic T-shirt designs and the first F1 Fanatic mugs are in the pipeline in time for Christmas-and-related-festivities. More info soon.
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Matthew H!
On this day in F1
One year ago today McLaren confirmed Jenson Button would drive for them in 2010.
In a poll 82% of F1 Fanatic readers tipped Lewis Hamilton to out-score Button – and sure enough, he did. But he had some nice things to say about his team mate yesterday.
Read more: McLaren confirm Jenson Button will join Lewis Hamilton for 2010
Image © Red Bull/Getty images
Jake
18th November 2010, 0:03
drip??…drop perhaps.
Other than that…keep up the great work :) wait everyday at midnight refreshing my oage just for this…sad I know
djdaveyp85
18th November 2010, 0:04
I tried to get first comment today! :D
Jake
18th November 2010, 0:06
*page…easily done eh keith ;)
S-D
18th November 2010, 1:28
Drip = pun on ‘pull the plug’?
:-P
HounslowBusGarage
18th November 2010, 7:00
. . . only if it’s a wet race!
Journeyer
18th November 2010, 5:45
We all saw that first, eh? :D
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
18th November 2010, 8:19
Thanks everyone for pointing that out! Sorry for the dreadful mistake.
sato113 (@sato113)
18th November 2010, 8:20
i didn’t think it was a mistake at first!
Jarred Walmsley
18th November 2010, 18:30
Neither, I thought it meant slowing shutting it down
djdaveyp85
18th November 2010, 0:03
Can’t wait for the mugs. On my christmas wishlist!
Also can’t wait for thepirelli tyres to go on the cars, not long now!
Jake
18th November 2010, 0:09
I know it’s been said, and others have said it’s all fake, but I am very impressed with the relationship between Lewis and Jenson. They both seem to genuinely enjoy eachothers company and hope for the other to succeed, but they don’t let that get in the way of racing eachother tooth and nail.
sato113 (@sato113)
18th November 2010, 0:13
i like how honest and open Boullier is.
Calum
18th November 2010, 0:17
I wonder how much income the Grand Prix brings to the cities that host them? I would probably visit many of the places on the calendar unless I was attending a Grand Prix, and I’m sure many people are the same. And if I happened to like that said place I may visit again and again. If people take this approach then maybe hosting a grand prix would be profitable, maybe Melbourne are just scapegoating the cost as an excuse to drop it because of a little pressure from the infamous anti-GP crowd in the city.
Pinball
18th November 2010, 0:55
I’m not so concerned about what might happen to the Australian Grand Prix in 2014, yet, as there is an election coming up in Victoria on Saturday week (Melbourne is the capital of Victoria).
Depending on the result of the election (which not being Victorian I have no interest in), John Brumby (who is the current premier and the guy that is saying that they might not renew the contract after 2014) and his government might not be the guys making the decisions when the contract comes up for renewal anyway.
So I guess at this point in time any speculation from John Brumby doesn’t really hold that much weight.
I’m more concerned about the 2011 Australian Grand Prix. Does anyone know if the Grand Prix Corporation and CAMS have sorted out their dispute out regarding the supply of marshals for the Grand Prix?
Stephen Jones (@aus_steve)
18th November 2010, 7:24
well QANTAS has come aboard as naming rights sponsor, so that might mean things are moving along..
though i’m still 99% sure cams will do everything in its power to have a grand prix.. both sides will be crazy to let it go
Guilherme (@the_philosopher)
18th November 2010, 0:28
To be fair Montezemolo mentioned the “drivers”, so that must include Massa. I don’t see how Alonso’s Hockenheim victory was “marvelous” though.
But to be really honest what did really hurt my eyes was that “Arigato gozaimasu, Bridgestone!” headline. Argh, seriously, I think they should have known by now that the proper romaji is “arigatou”.
invoke (@invoke)
18th November 2010, 12:09
I think it’s unfair to call Ferrari up on using a particular romaji spelling of Arigatō, it’s personal preference more than anything.
I really hope Massa can pick himself up for next year and is actually allowed to fight Alonso.
KONL
18th November 2010, 0:31
On Australia:
That would be a huge shame. I think it is one of the more fun tracks in the calendar. However, as there is still 3 years and a bit to go until 2014, hopefully they will change their minds
Montezemolo: That is a slap in the face.
Petrov: Yay! Although I think Hulkenberg may be a little bit better, hopefully Petrov manages to prove his worth by finishing regularly in points next year. Also, best of luck to Hulkenberg in finding a seat in a good team (FI? Drop Liuzzi? Reserve driver in Merc?)
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
18th November 2010, 3:11
It will be a sad day when Melbourne is inevitably dropped in favour of another lifeless Tilke car-park. :( I love Melbourne so much – as it holds a great percentage of my better childhood memories and I feel the best when the Melbourne Grand Prix is on. Honestly, it is my favourite thing in the world.
Stephen Jones (@aus_steve)
18th November 2010, 7:27
i know the feeling. March is my favorite month in melbourne, and most of that is related to F1.
It’s a mix of jealousy and excitement when you hear the cars start up first thing on friday morning! (my school’s around the corner).
It will be very sad if we lose it.. but most of my friends, and residents of albert park hate it, and F1 fans have to go into hiding for the week!
damonsmedley (@damonsmedley)
18th November 2010, 10:28
It’s interesting to note that the people who dislike the Grand Prix in Melbourne have low levels of intelligence and have never watched a Grand Prix in their life. They also don’t understand what it is and how many tens of millions of people around the world are watching. The Victorian government only seem to be concerned with the AFL, which generates a fraction of the live TV audiences that F1 manages. If anything needs to be dropped, it’s the AFL. Ever wondered why it is only played in Australia? Because the rest of the world is smart enough to recognise it’s nonsense.
Andrew G
18th November 2010, 0:31
There’s and election here in Victoria (State Melbourne is in) in a few weeks so the politicians are just being vague as to not annoy any particlar part of the community. So I wouldn’t read into the comments about the Melbourne GP too much. At least until after the election.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
18th November 2010, 0:37
Button surprised me. He did a lot better than I expected.
And he made a brilliant move from Brawn to Mclaren. Credit to him, I was wrong.
Oliver
18th November 2010, 8:56
Button is a world champion, he is expected to do better. He also has years of experience.
plushpile
18th November 2010, 1:27
The GP won’t be leaving Melbourne, Brumby (the incumbent premier) is just pandering to the section of the community that don’t believe in the GP and see it as a useless expense.
A significant part of Melbourne’s tourism strategy is being seen as ‘The Sporting Capital of the World’ and the ‘Major Events Capital of Australia’.
The GP fits perfectly with both, and in fact if the GP were lost then it would significantly detract as it is both a major event and one of the largest sporting draws on the planet.
The government know where the GP sits in the scale of things and it is right up there with the Melbourne Cup, AFL grand final and Australian (tennis) Open as one of the top events.
I don’t have a link, but I’m sure I’ve seen somewhere that the costs of the GP are fully recouped on the weekend through flow on economic benefits (teams, journos, personnel, tourists etc. all have to stay somewhere, eat something, drink something) plus it get’s the Melbourne ‘brand’ out there to the 100(?)million viewers on TV and so would have even further benefit throughout the year.
The (Murdoch) press have been beating on about this almost since the GP was ‘stolen’ from Adeliade and ‘Save Albert Park’ (an anti GP activist group) have been bashing on about it before it was even brought across, and neither have had any real effect.
As such the biggest threat to the Melbourne GP is Bernie deciding that it needs to be a night race, being in a built up residential area the residents wouldn’t stand for a night race (my girlfriend has family that live 2km away in St Kilda and the cars can easily be heard from there).
I wouldn’t even pay any attention to Ron Walker/CAMS bitching. If they can’t sort it out I’m sure Bernie will.
Sorry for the epic post, for tl;dr
Don’t worry, the Melbourne GP isn’t going anywhere.
plushpile
18th November 2010, 1:32
Whoops, submitted that one too early.
read the one below it has some more…
**gulps**
plushpile
18th November 2010, 1:31
The GP won’t be leaving Melbourne, Brumby (the incumbent premier) is just pandering to the section of the community that don’t believe in the GP and see it as a useless expense less than 10 days before a state election. The Labor party (central-left, that Brumby is the leader of) is set to lose a fistfull of votes to the left-wing Green party, this could also be an attempt to appease some of those voters.
The political situation is pretty interesting at the moment with a hung parliament at Federal level, and a Labor minority government and at a state level the opposition party (Liberals, centre-right) are closing on Labor’s majority.
A significant part of Melbourne’s tourism strategy is being seen as ‘The Sporting Capital of the World’ and the ‘Major Events Capital of Australia’.
The GP fits perfectly with both, and in fact if the GP were lost then it would significantly detract as it is both a major event and one of the largest sporting draws on the planet.
The government know where the GP sits in the scale of things and it is right up there with the Melbourne Cup, AFL grand final and Australian (tennis) Open as one of the top events.
I don’t have a link, but I’m sure I’ve seen somewhere that the costs of the GP are fully recouped on the weekend through flow on economic benefits (teams, journos, personnel, tourists etc. all have to stay somewhere, eat something, drink something) plus it get’s the Melbourne ‘brand’ out there to the 100(?)million viewers on TV and so would have even further benefit throughout the year.
The (Murdoch) press have been beating on about this almost since the GP was ‘stolen’ from Adeliade and ‘Save Albert Park’ (an anti GP activist group) have been bashing on about it before it was even brought across, and neither have had any real effect.
As such the biggest threat to the Melbourne GP is Bernie deciding that it needs to be a night race, being in a built up residential area the residents wouldn’t stand for a night race (my girlfriend has family that live 2km away in St Kilda and the cars can easily be heard from there).
I wouldn’t even pay any attention to Ron Walker/CAMS bitching. If they can’t sort it out I’m sure Bernie will.
Sorry for the epic post, for tl;dr
Don’t worry, the Melbourne GP isn’t going anywhere.
Ned Flanders
18th November 2010, 1:34
Excellent typo!
If Melbourne does indeed “drip” the Grand Prix, is there any chance F1 could return to Adelaide? There are few circuits I’d like to see Albert Park make way for, but Adelaide would be one of them!
plushpile
18th November 2010, 2:19
They still have the Clipsal 500 for the V8 supercars there every year, albeit on a slightly modified circuit, so it wouldn’t seem too much of a stretch to see them hosting the GP again.
Would the circuit be up to the safety standard though?
Mika almost died there on the last weekend the GP was in Adeliade…
Hamish
18th November 2010, 6:07
If Melbourne cannot afford it there is no way Adelaide can afford it.
Plus the attendance to the Clipsal each year is simply amazing, and the weekend as a whole is phenomonal. Murray Walker even went as far to say its the best racing event weekend on offer.
Adelaide won’t pick up the F1. V8 Supercars attendance is always at capacity there and the F1 would be also. Why would they waste millions of extra dollars for the same outcome.
Pinball
18th November 2010, 6:27
Maybe the Queensland Government could put a bid in and have F1 at Queensland Raceway. Have one race there and you could be assured that one would ever complain about a “boring Tilkedrone” again.
DavidS (@davids)
18th November 2010, 7:02
I read the first part of the post and was like “Nooo, not there!!!” even though I’m a Queenslander.
Thankfully the second half of your post made mention of the fact that QLD Raceway is a hideously boring circuit.
Stretch (@stretch)
18th November 2010, 7:03
Haha, the good old “paper-clip”
Ned Flanders (@ned-flanders)
18th November 2010, 11:42
Hamish- I think the global exposure of F1 is far greater than the V8’s can offer. I’m sure the V8 race is always a great success, but it isn’t going to promote the city to the world like F1 does
Stevo
18th November 2010, 13:10
I’d like to see a decent (non-street) track built within 2 hours of Sydney proper, and to give it a go there. Not because I particularly want to see F1 in Sydney (anywhere in Australia is fine), I just want them to build a decent circuit here. Eastern Creek is all that’s left, and it’s booked solid and not up to V8 standard anymore.
S-D
18th November 2010, 2:03
Any news on the predictions championship?
Fixy (@)
18th November 2010, 13:27
Here you go.Fixy (@)
18th November 2010, 13:28
https://www.racefans.net/2010/11/18/jimfaekillie-is-the-2010-f1-fanatic-predictions-champion/ Oops, sorry, I made a mess with tags!
Sush Meerkat
18th November 2010, 2:07
I’m going to try to reply to as many articles as I can, within a single comment!
Boullier;
Petrov ruined Alonso’s championship, he deserves his race seat!.
Montechorizo;
You didn’t mention Massa?, poor show fella, I once moved over for Alonso on the M1, where’s my shout out?
and I’m bored.
lightsout
18th November 2010, 2:16
I’ll defend Montoya a bit. He was racing against a very fast Ferrari that was faster in the race than qualifying, as opposed to his car. Vettel has a car that is the best in qualifying & the race.
Adam Tate
18th November 2010, 6:09
Oh I am by no means attacking him lightsout, despite how well he did, no one was stopping Schumacher that year.
sumedh
18th November 2010, 2:18
If Melbourne is being ‘dripped’ off the calendar, I vote for it to go to Philip Island. Philip Island is a wonderful high-speed circuit, yet short. So, there will be a scope for a large number of laps, thus giving drivers more chances of overtaking.
Only trouble can be the width of the track, it isn’t as much as modern F1 tracks.
plushpile
18th November 2010, 3:02
It would be pretty amazing to see F1s racing into Lukey Heights.
If a V8 supercar and go off at the first corner and then cross the track on the run from the Southern Loop to Honda then it’s probably not safe for an F1 :(
And they have enough problems with the traffic when the bikes race there…
Stephen Jones (@aus_steve)
18th November 2010, 7:31
+1
It would actually be such a good track for F1.. The cars would almost go flat from MG all the way to southern loop.
but yeah, the main concern is run off.. and if F1 cars do this kind of thing.. it won’t end well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uypk5xkzwZ4
plushpile
18th November 2010, 14:33
Yep, that was the crash I had in mind.
Good video Steve ;)
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
18th November 2010, 8:43
If Melbourne drop the Grand Prix, it won’t be picked up by any other circuit in Victoria. That’s the whole point of this talk of dropping the race – it’s too expensive for the Victorian government and Victorian taxpayers.
nuhb
18th November 2010, 3:01
Felipe is awful thats why he wasnt mentioned. They should replace him with Webber or Kubica pronto
Dileep Nair
18th November 2010, 3:47
I say…. Kobayashi….. :D
jsw11984 (@jarred-walmsley)
18th November 2010, 6:28
I say :D :D :D :D
Dileep Nair
18th November 2010, 6:43
imagine Alonso getting beaten by another rookie teammate…… ok, maybe not beaten, but given a fair run.
infy (@infy)
18th November 2010, 9:17
Wouldn’t be allowed to happen at Ferrari. If they hire some one, it will be as a support driver. Its a winning formula and there is no point doing anything other than winning.
I’m convinced that if Redbull or even McLaren had used this formula from race one, they would have won the WDC.
Jarred Walmsley
18th November 2010, 18:42
Umm,infy. Last time I checked Vettel drove for Red Bull
Dipak T
19th November 2010, 17:15
Infy, so what did happen last Sunday, pray tell? I seem to be under the illusion that Vettel claimed the crown.
wasiF1
18th November 2010, 8:44
Kobayashi willbe many team’s shopping list come 2012.
Dileep Nair
19th November 2010, 7:54
and now we hear…. hulkenburg might get that seat….
sounds exciting enough. but as infy said, will that be allowed at ferrari. Massa seems to fit the role perfectly.
wasiF1
18th November 2010, 3:14
He did his job in the rookie season ,he should have the sponsor to back him up for the team.I will be surprised if he don’t get a seat for 2011.
Adam Tate
18th November 2010, 5:59
Thanks Keith, getting Comment of the Day, has well, made my day!
Stephen Jones (@aus_steve)
18th November 2010, 7:47
i say this as an 100% AGP fan, and i fully believe melbourne should host the race, it really is possibly the best week of the year.
But the government has been at it for a couple of years now, and the majority of melbourne is very anti-gp (well, the majority who have say’s in the media). Plus we are losing humongous amounts of money, where events like the Australian Open, and the Melbourne Cup make huge profits.
So i can see the government finding it hard to justify an event which loses tonnes of money, plus losing a fair amount of voters who complain; “its too loud”, or “its encouraging hooning” (which is completely false), or even: “we should spend the money on education.. THINK OF THE CHILDREN”.
The only pro’s the government has is:
tourism/advertisement of the city,
and…
well its awesome. the main reason we have the grand prix is because its SO FREAKIN AWESOME.
And when the contract is up for renewal, and we have a load of conservative “nanny state” voters breathing down the governments neck, i think the government will not renew..
and then we will have to travel to singapore to get our F1 fix. :(
Pinball
18th November 2010, 7:54
Because it’s SO FREAKIN AWESOME is the best reason ever to keep the Grand Prix.
I’d love to see a politician stand up and say “Look we’ve decided to renew our contract for the Grand Prix. Yeah it’s not profitable, but who cares, it’s SO FREAKIN AWESOME”.
DavidS (@davids)
18th November 2010, 7:56
Albert Park is a good circuit and a good image for Australia to be beamed around the world. A Tilke-drome would just put us in the same category as all the other nations with a new circuit.
The alternatives are either Adelaide again, or Surfers Paradise. The Surfers Paradise circuit would need a slight overhaul, but the track is good enough to have hosted Champ Car (and the drivers liked it so much, a lot of them returned this year to drive V8s around the track)
Dipak T
19th November 2010, 17:17
In its present configuration, its way too short to host a grand prix.
BasCB
18th November 2010, 8:30
Happy birthday Matthew H., have a nice day and enjoy your growing wisdom!
Icthyes (@icthyes)
18th November 2010, 9:34
As sad as it will be to lose Albert Park, it’s the city’s coffers that will ironically suffer the most, so good riddance.
wasiF1
18th November 2010, 14:04
According to a rumour in the Italian media, Nico Hulkenberg is a candidate to replace Felipe Massa at Ferrari in 2011.Now that letter by Luca di Montezemolo to everyone but Massa is having some meaning.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
18th November 2010, 14:06
Wow that would be quite a shock!
Jarred Walmsley
18th November 2010, 18:44
There could actually be truth to this Rumour as he was being lined up to replace Badoer last year until Fisichella had his epic run in the FI. So its possible
Icthyes (@icthyes)
18th November 2010, 20:16
Interesting thoughts. After missing out on the championship and then having life’s priorities brought to him in an alarming way with a serious accident and the arrival of a baby, after a poor year where Ferrari didn’t treat him too nicely he may decide to take a sabbatical like Hakkinen, or maybe never come back, like Hakkinen.
nasos
18th November 2010, 15:47
The Australian GP(Melbourne)is one of my favourites…don’t do this you idiots!
US_Peter (@us_peter)
18th November 2010, 20:02
Wow, how’d the page transform into courier font? Looks like it started with Fixy’s comment…
US_Peter (@us_peter)
18th November 2010, 20:03
Okay now it’s gone. Maybe just a browser problem I was having that fixed itself on refresh…
Mikos
18th November 2010, 23:28
Would love if Phillip Island had the upgrades that would allow F1 cars to race their ( an upgrade to facilities as well as the roads / transport to get down to phillip island ect). They would truly be mighty around their and I’m sure it would become one of the drivers favourite circuits – and you’d get ten times the overtaking than you get at Hermy Tinkys tracks designed with a t-square.
I would be disappointed if Melb lost the gp, but as a motorsport / webber fan I haven’t been for a few years which says something about where the organisers have got the promotion / organistaion wrong.
Wobblebottom
19th November 2010, 0:38
I now live in Melbourne and the fact that Melbourne hosts an F1 race was one of the factors I considered when moving here (well that’s what I tell my girlfriend anyway :-). EVERYONE loves the Melbourne race – the teams, the drivers and the fans.
I live and work right next to the track and I get that spine-tingling sensation when I hear the cars go round for Friday practices 1 and 2 – it’s still epically loud from my office. Some of my colleagues also live in the area and they too complain about the noise, traffic and expense blah blah blah…so when they start harping on about it I just go into my drawer, pull out a stapler and launch it violently towards their heads!!
The Victorian government should just stop listening to these hippies and communists and bend to the will of the elite! So what if the money could go towards more baby incubators and rest homes for the elderly. This is F1, it is the pinnacle of everything!
Baldry 888
19th November 2010, 6:22
they should race at bathurst only not change the track and that would be interesting. For those who dont know about bathurst watch this video it will show you about the best racetrack in the world. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQPOroesMWI
Darren
19th November 2010, 12:05
I agree with the comments on the Melbourne GP and how the about to be outvoted Premier Brumby is just saying what some voters want to hear. Problem is that people would be sad to see it go but no one seems to turn up there! Melbournians need to support it or lose it. If the V8 Supercars wern’t there attendance drops even more as we have seen and how many wouldn’t go if Mark wasnt in F1?.
I live in Melbourne but I liked Adelaide more. It had a better atmosphere and was a perfect last race of the year and seemed to have the city’s blessing. Plenty of other Australian capital cities would love the event.
manatcna (@manatcna)
20th November 2010, 4:45
I think Melbourne should keep the race, could this be just a bargaining chip for asking Bernie for a discount? – No, wait…