‘We’d like four races in America’ – Ecclestone

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In the round-up: Bernie Ecclestone says he wants several more F1 races in America.

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Excellent stat-spotting by Ciaran:

Nico Rosberg’s 19th pole position means that he now has the record for most poles for a non-world champion driver, surpassing Rene Arnoux’s 18.
Ciaran (@Walsh-f1)

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105 comments on “‘We’d like four races in America’ – Ecclestone”

  1. Bernie, who doesn’t like America and wanted to use sprinklers for wet races now wants more races in America in places where it doesn’t rain (like Texas?)…
    I wonder if Hugh Hefner has room for another one in the Playboy Nursing Home?!

    1. @bigwilk Him not wanting wet races suggests that he wants F1 to be… boring.

      1. Last week Hamilton said that he thinks wet races are not exciting for the fans.

    2. Bernie loves the country he is in, if he gets a GP in Syria then Assad will be the best Ruler in the world, until the N Korean GP replaces it.

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        27th October 2015, 6:50

        Tough choice next week then. Being in Mexico City he should go for the president, but based on his previous choices of role models he might go for the drug cartel bosses!

      2. Bernie loves the country he is in

        Funnily enough, it’s called being a diplomat.

    3. places where it doesn’t rain (like Texas?)

      After the weekend we’ve just had, I can’t be the only one having a good laugh at that!

      1. That was a freak hurricane event. It is usually dry in Texas. You know that!

        1. @sato113 Actually they do have a decent amount of rainfall, around 35inches a year in Austin spread out over about 1/4 of the year.

  2. I have good news for Bernie: there are already four races in America: Montréal, Austin, Mexico City, Sao Paolo!

    1. i came just to say the same.. lol..
      bad bernie…with all those millions and be cannot pay a decent geography class

    2. ColdFly F1 (@)
      27th October 2015, 6:54

      exactly! @mike-dee.
      And he shouldn’t worry about rain, as it oftentimes gives us the best races!

    3. Ah yes, the attack of the politically correct European geography brigade.

      First, Sao Paolo is in South America, and if you want to get beat up, try telling the Brazilians that they’re Americans. Or the Mexicans, or Canadians, or Cubans…

      If you want to be technical, all of Greenland, half of Iceland and parts of Siberia area *also* in the “North American Continental Plate”, so I suppose you’d consider them “American” as well (although with Bernie considering Azerbaijan to be European, I suppose that’s understandable).

      I don’t even think you’d get far referring to the residents of Mexico as “Latin Americans”, which might even be true, but I suspect they’d still be annoyed with you.

      If you want all the people in the countries of Europe to be Europeans, that’s fine… but it really doesn’t work in this hemisphere.

      1. Sorry but you’re wrong. Brazilians object to people in the USA describing themselves as ‘Americans’ as they take the term to apply to them too. It’s like France saying they’re the United Departements of Europe and then just calling themselves us Europeans to the implicit exclusion of Germans, English etc.

    4. I guess that you are probably joking, but both Canada and Mexico fought (and won) wars so that they would not be called American.

      1. I am a Canadian and a North American, but I am not an American.

        1. you must be African… as far as u remember… Mr Columbus didn’t arrived to your USA and said this is america… Spanish explorer.. they wrote the story…is america…and people are Americans.. the problrm is that they don’t have a name… like canada… it’s people are Canadian… united States…united statians?? it sounds weird so they took the American… is the same thing as if Chinese or Japanese were the Asians cuz they have their thin eyes and skin color… and you leave India out of it…… more reading please.. less wikipedia and stories written. by the EEUU..please

    5. The Americas.

  3. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
    27th October 2015, 0:42

    Definitely don’t need more races in USA. There’s a few countries that need races more than USA, who will never take to F1 as much as Bernie wants.

    Also that article about Hamilton being the Senna of the generation. Do people forget that Sebastian Vettel exists? I mean Hamilton is now crashing into his team mate, is that what he’s getting at? Seb won 4 world titles with a less dominant/reliable car. Other than the end of 2013(Mainly because every other team moved onto next year it seemed), the Red Bull wasn’t as dominant as the current Merc.

    1. hear, hear. Not knocking Lewis, but Vettel did it in a car with not even a 0.25 advantage in qauli over his foes
      ..come race day his rivals were equal, especially Fernando and he blew him away. Lewis had a second advantage over foes in quali and a Damn near 0.500 second over foes in race pace. Again, not knocking Lewis, but I never once heard anyone compare Vettel with Senna when he won his 4 titles.

      1. Because Vettel is being compared to Schumacher, who is greatly more successful legend.

        1. It’s hard work for him. Dunno how he’s gonna take the baton from Schumi. Maybe he should make a social call and ask his wife whether Michael had any batons or not.

    2. I wouldn’t worry too much. This season has done wonders for Vettel’s reputation, he’s been the best driver out there I think most will agree. World titles aside, I think this is the season that has made him one of the greats and removed any question marks (yes, there were still some).

      I would however not underestimate the reputation Hamilton got from 2007 and being up against Alonso. I would love to see Vettel fighting a decent teammate and coming out on top. Webber and an out of sorts Kimi do not quite qualify, and unfortunately as we know against Ricciardo he didn’t fair too great.

      It’s such a shame we can’t see Vettel and Hamilton in the same car, or Alonso and Vettel or Vettel and Hamilton. It happens so rarely we get that – hopefully we’re due soon.

      1. Should we try for Vettel and Verstappen when Kimi finally gets his pension.

        1. Bring Alonso back from that McLaren mess to the scarlet pool…

          1. Though I do hope that things get sorted out at McLaren Honda before that…

        2. Why? Because Verstappen is so proven?? It’s so funny that people have questions about how good the quadruple world champion is, and then they want to put him in a car with Verstappen to have the answers they’ve been looking for.

      2. Webber beat Rosberg so Vettels teammate was better than Hamiltons although it does not work like that. I have a very simple view of this Alonso was best when he was at Ferrari now Vettel is the best and if Hamilton ends up at Ferrari without Vettel then Hamilton will be the best. All very very good drivers and it would come down to a little bit of luck that would make a difference over a season. The tyres, aero rules to name but 2 would make the difference one season to the next. Nothing in it for me but as of today you can only say Hamilton won the title nothing else to say.

      3. I don’t think you can simply say Vettel was the best driver. Like any season, it’s difficult or near impossible to compare drivers from different teams. You’re right, though, that Vettel has shown just how good he is by consistently outdriving Raikkonen and challenging Mercedes. He’s actually doing similar to Alonso at Ferrari when he was pushing Vettel (and Webber) at Red Bull. In the end it’s this kind of season that gives a more rounded idea of a driver. Still think Vettel lacks that battling, racing dimension of Senna, Mansell, Alonso, Hamilton and so on. But nonetheless I think he’s shown on the great rather than good side of the equation.

    3. I don’t agree. It would be nice to have one more GP in the US (the New Jersey GP), but l definitely agree there are other countries in the world that deserve a GP (Argentina, France, New Zealand, Finland, South Africa, and India)

    4. Vettel and RBR win 8 championships (in a row) and all you heard was “Oh, it was just the car”. Merc and Hamilton win half as many and all you hear is “He’s the next Senna!!!!” “He’s the greatest driver of his generation!!!” Has everyone forgotten that it was Vettel who put a small, mid-tier team on pole position and actually won at Monza, in the wet, against the dominant McLarens of the time? When was the last time Hamilton did that? Not saying that Hamilton is not great, he’s certianly one of the top three on the grid along with Alonso and Vettel, but I just want to know how it is that he can be hailed as “the greatest” in a car that is a minimum .5 sec per lap quicker than the next quickest, but Vettel’s success in a car not nearly as dominant is all credited to Newey’s design. Jus’ sayin.

  4. 4 races in USA, let’s go New York/New Jersey, California, Texas and Florida. Add to that Mexico, Montreal, Sao Paulo, Silverstone, Monaco, Spa, Monza, Spain, Germany, Hungary, Abu Dhabi, Australia, Japan, China, Malaysia and Singapore. So lose Bahrain, Russia and Azerbaijan for the 3 American races, perfect!

    1. I would keep Bahrain and you don’t know what the Azerbaijan circuit is like, it could be a cracker!!! But I would get rit of Russia, Abu Dhabi and China.

    2. I think that having more races in the USA would probably mean Bernie dropping European races that are not as profitable for him (Germany, Spa, Monza, Spain, maybe even Silverstone) as he has the obligation to have half of the races either in Europe or the Americas (or was that north America only?) @sam3110, @warner16

      So if we have Canada, Mexico and 2 races in the US as well as Brazil we only need 5-6 more European races (the reason why Baku is called the “European GP”) which opens up the calendar for more high paying middle of nowhere white elephants.

    3. @sam3110 I reckon it would be easiest to just go back to Indy, rather than set up a new venue in California, NYC or Florida. That makes 4 races in North America, 5 in the time zone. Add in:

      Europe: Silverstone, Spa, Monaco, Italy/Spain, Germany/Austria, Hungary
      Middle East: Bahrain/Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Russia, Azerbaijan
      Asia: Melbourne, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, China

      I’d be surprised if we still have 4 ‘middle eastern oil’ races continuously going forwards, but you never know. Any of them dropping off would lead to regrowth in Europe or aimed for growth in Asia/America. India, Seoul or Hong Kong? Macau F1 race?!

      The only way to keep European GPs would be to condense the schedule – have Friday as a junior/extended GP2/test day and then Practice, Q on Sat. In places without a full junior calendar (Americas and Asia?) Friday could be cut – with Q on Sunday morning as at COTA. This might lower ticket prices slightly, although that might hurt financial viability.

    4. I would include China in that leave-out list, and replace it with Hong Kong.

    5. I would also include Argentina and Finland in that include list. 4 races in the USA is too many- and this comes from a Los Angeles native. Bringing back Long Beach would be nice.

    6. 4 GP’s in the USA is too many- 2 GP’s is a nice, round number- and this comes from a Los Angeles native. I personally miss the long-gone days of Long Beach in the spring and Watkins Glen in the fall; there should be an additional US GP earlier in the year (the NYC/New Jersey GP in late May/early June).

      But quite honestly, the reason why there is a demand for more North American GP’s particularly in the US is because the power unit manufacturers (Ferrari, Merc, Honda; you can’t buy modern French cars here) want to be here- because the North American market is a very important market for selling production cars. If there was a contracted engine manufacturer to F1 much like Pirelli is contracted at the moment, there wouldn’t even be any US GP’s- F1 would be in an absolute nightmare scenario. There would be GP’s in unpleasant places so unsuitable for F1 that it would just be another open-ended brand for sale to the highest bidder- F1 would be in places like Iran, Qatar (there would be 3 GP’s there probably), Uzbekistan, Venezuela (that wouldn’t be so bad, when the crime levels in Caracas go down) Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, or maybe even North Korea.

      There are other countries that you didn’t mention that should be on there- Argentina, Finland, New Zealand, South Africa, India, and even Hong Kong. Personally, I think there should be at most one GP in the Middle East- and since Bahrain is a show for the small number of elite there, then the horrible circuit at Abu Dhabi will have to do. In addition to Bahrain; Malaysia, China and Azerbaijan should all be gone, and Russia should be somewhere else (Moscow Raceway?), if
      not scratched from the calendar altogether.

  5. Lewis V Nico starts, Intentional or not this tactic was used by Vettel against Webber whenever they started 1,2.

    1. And Alonso on Hamilton at Spa for example. I think we’re starting to see a pattern here. I completely believe that Lewis is lying when he says it was an accident. You can see from his steering angle in the car that he’s ‘easing’ Rosberg out wide and is in full control of what he’s doing.

      I don’t like that. He should just admit it ran him out wide and he would do the same again if given the chance.

      1. @john-h, probably, but remember the track was wet, he may just have been being cautious and not wanting to chance the back or front wheels losing grip.

      2. But if you look at every race where Rosberg starts on pole, he always aims across the circuit, and therefore when Hamilton comes alongside, effectively pushes Hamilton into a position where his only choice is to head for the outside of the corner exit, because on cold tyres trying to turn more would lead to a spin, which leaves no room for Rosberg. And as Rosberg hasn’t yet worked out what to do, and presumably never will, unless someone teaches him, he gets pushed wide and looses places.

      3. He’s “easing” his car because there is no traction on the inside of the corner in the wet.

    2. YEah, its part of why Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso are champions @hohum, @john-h, @w-k. I am pretty sure that Hamilton knew very well what he was doing and it was deliberate: getting ahead and making sure his teammate did not get through the corner ahead of himself.

      1. @bascb @hohum It is very possible that Hamilton’s move was deliberate. But I believe that is not the real issue here. It is also true that Hamilton is not the only champion, who dares to do things that others might not get way with.

        Rosberg had a poor getaway from pole position, which allowed Hamilton to get in the position to push Rosberg out. Rosberg too often makes himself vulnerable to such attacks and Hamilton knows that he is stronger and can afford to be aggressive.

        Where does an 800-lb. gorilla sit? Anywhere it wants to.

        There you have it, the stronger drivers can sometimes play by their own rules and their rivals are forced to follow them.

  6. Eliminated from ‘The Chase’ after Talladega were Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman. Kenseth has won five races this year and is third in laps led but will not be among those contending for the championship at Homestead-Miami on November 22nd.

    It would be silly if defending champion Harvick didn’t make it to Homestead’s final four. Harvick has won three races, finished second eleven times and led more than 2,000 laps, almost twice as many as anyone else. He’s been the man to beat most of the year and by any normal standards is most deserving of this year’s championship.

    Stuff like that just goes to show how absurdly stupid this whole Nascar chase for the cup system is.

    a championship should be about a full season with the champion been the best, most consistent driver over the full season. having a situation where a driver can score more pints than anyone else over 35 races yet still not be champion because he didn’t make it through the knockout races is absurd to me & I don’t see how whoever does end up winning the ‘championship’ can really be deemed a true champion or as worthy a champion as a driver in other categories who had to score more points over a full season.

    I used to quite like Nascar, But its the sort of artificial & downright gimmicky stuff like the chase that put me off watching it.

  7. The Marquez thing is more serious than McLaren and Williams handshake fix on the sport, it’s schumi on villeneave. Marc successfully made Rossi looses his cool and Marc won the game. I think Marc just doesn’t want to have to win 6 rather than 5 more championships to match Rossi.

    1. When another rider tries to make you lose precious points, that could make you lose the title… I’m pretty sure you’d lose your temper too. Initially I thought Rossi’ sayings are just some excuses in case he’ll lose the champ, but now I really think he’s right. It’s kinda weird how Lorenzo passed so easy Marquez in a moment when we were supposed to believe Marquez missed the braking point (yeah, now I believe Marquez just let Lorenzo pass him by faking a brake error), then he remained stuck on Rossi for many laps and fought him with surgical precision. So, I think Rossi did right by revealing to everybody that in case Lorenzo will win this champ, it’s likely it’ll be an artificial result/champ. But we’ll have to wait the results of the last race and see the points difference between Lorenzo and Rossi. If Lorenzo will win the champ by less than 10points difference, I think he’ll have an artificial champ.

    2. “lose”, not “loose”.

  8. I think Hamilton is very good. But to say he is the Senna of this generation is just crazy.
    If he is Senna, then who is Vettel? The guy who won 4 championships in a row!

    1. Prost? He was still pretty great, last I checked…

      1. Yes Prost was the most successful driver of his generation so Hamilton does have parallels to Senna in currently also being the 2nd most successful driver of his generation. I am not stating anyone being better but title wins is a fact Senna had 3 Prost 4, Hamilton 3 Vettel 4.

    2. @brunes Schumacher? Alonso would be Prost and Kimi someone like Piquet. Webber Mansell!

    3. “then who is Vettel? The guy who won 4 championships in a row”

      A lucky seriously over rated driver who was in the right car and right team, at the right time. Fast, but flawed racer. But has to be talked up for the credibility of the sport. I like Vettel as a bloke, but he’s the weakest WDC I’ve ever seen. I think every single other WDC could beat him in a straight fight.

      Yes, I know F1 is a team sport. Im not saying his WDC’s are not valid.

      Sorry, but king’s new clothes and all that.

      1. that is so false.

      2. Hmmm, simply replace “Vettel” with “Hamilton” in your comment.
        Now there you have something.

        Truth is that Vettel’s stats are superior to Hamilton’s at the moment, albeit nearly identical.

      3. Wow and you can equally replace the world Vettel with Hamilton and some would agree some would not. They are all very good drivers, Vettel is the most successful champion on the grid and the youngest, wins in 3 different cars, Torro Rosso never had a podium before or after he left and he won a race with them, Red Bull never won a race until he went their then see what happened, in fact unless Red Bull win one of the 3 remaining races they would never have won a race without Vettel being in their team in any season of their existence, then to Ferrari getting their 1st win in nearly 2 years and probably the strongest showing by Ferrari in terms of consistent performance across a season since 2008. Once can be a one off, twice a coincidence, 3 times a pattern.

      4. Get a life. Or, no, Hamilton says it the best:

        Only sad lonely underachievers hate on others. If you’re hating on me or anybody for that matter, don’t. Step back and take a look at yourself, think about stepping up YOUR game. If you spend as much time focusing on yourself as you do hating on others, you might just get somewhere. It’s all love at the end of the day, you can do anything you put your mind to. Dare to be great!! 😂😂😂#hardworkpaysoff #terminatethehate

    4. Yeah, clearly David Coulthard is on something.

  9. I would love to see more races in America as well.

    New locations possible: New York/New Jersey (When they final decide to race there), California, Florida, Seattle.

    You could also bring back Phoenix, Detroit, Long Beach and possible Indy?

    1. Seattle would be awesome – it’s so dry there. 2 or 3 weeks a year.

  10. And 12 races in Russia, one in Syria, one in North Korea and a couple on the biggest oilfield he can find?

  11. So Ecclestone has remembered that there are a lot of dollars in the United States and forgotten his lack of enthusiasm about the country and democracy in general. That is hardly surprising.

    I am totally in favour of more races in the USA. One of them should be held on a street circuit and another one should take place on an oval. If any country in the world deserves multiple F1 races every year, it is the USA.

    1. I don’t think so @girts. Bernie is always in favour of having more races, provided that someone pays a lot to have them! Having more in the US would also allow BE to cut out a few more European races, which aren’t as profitable for FOM.

    2. @girts Indy and Long Beach? There’s also Sebring or possibly New Jersey.

  12. ColdFly F1 (@)
    27th October 2015, 7:04

    (Hamilton) has all the bases covered. Both Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso are exceptional drivers, but Lewis is comfortable in the knowledge that he can beat them both.

    Nonsense by DC (again).
    Lewis is a great driver, but the main reason he can beat other great drivers of this era is the car he is driving. I’ll put my money on Vettel to become DOTY in 2015 (he certainly was better than Hamilton on Sunday).

    1. Pretty sure DC was as ott about Vettel in years back (when he was still on RB’s payroll) @coldfly. Now he is touting the BBCs “UK is King” line. Or maybe rather just hyping whoever is winning now, instead of having a good look at things.

      I think Vettel certainly had a very solid season (not sure about DotY) and Alonso has been driving very well too. Still, with hte current car, Hamilton can really feel comfortable to stay ahead of both. That doesn’t mean he is clearly the better driver however, but he still is in clearly the best car

    2. Alonso has been much better than Vettel in the same situation, coming much closer to almost winning the WDC with an inferior car. I’d rate Alonso over Vettel any day.

      1. Maybe the car was not that inferior and it was Vettel would have won if they swapped cars. Start of 2013 the Ferrari was very good and better than Red Bull until the tyres changed yet Vettel beat him more often than not at that point.

    3. What’s he supposed to say as a british Pundit/Commentator after a Brit won the WDC? Lewis may have been driving a dominant Mercedes, but he’s the WC so he’s earned himself a few claps on the back.
      Also he was just as emphatic about Vettel when he was winning, DC really isn’t the guy you can accuse of being a Hamilton “Fanboy”. IMO he gives the prob when they’re earned and there’s nothing wrong with it.

    4. You do realize that it is mandatory to use a car a car in f1? And that F1 is a team sport with engineers battling each other to build the best car? So your comment is nonsense as in order to win you have to be a good driver and be in the best car.

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        27th October 2015, 22:57

        Don’t kill the messenger mate!
        DC refers only to the ‘driver’ when comparing those three in the article (link above).

    5. Some British people including the press love to act like Alonso didn’t have slower cars than Hamilton for years but still finished all those championships against Vettel ahead of him. For years we have been watching Vettel vs Alonso.

  13. We need a race in Antarctica, think about the penguins.

    1. @illusive Ice race, dominated by Kimi and Bottas.

  14. One thing that has been a constant in the last two years in Mercedes, is that whenever something happens to Lewis the whole top management gets bent out of shape apologizing, talking about analyzing what went wrong and all of that, and Hamilton goes on to moan and sulk like there’s no tomorrow, but when something happens to Nico, nobody really fusses too much about it. I remember last year they were telling everyone how they’ll do 200% preparations to make sure nothing happens to Lewis car in Abu Dhabi, but when Nico’s car packed, they didn’t really stress too much.
    Same thing with on-track drama. Lewis keeps bumping Nico off the track, chopping over his path, and doing everything he can to push him off the track, but when Nico just does as much as hold his own, like in Spa, there is a total pandemonium, there’s talk of internal sanctions, punishments and everything that you could think of.

    I, for example, don’t have any problem with them shoving each other off the track doing everything within the rules to get ahead.

    There are two things however that are REALLY putting me off:
    1. According to the team, it seems that avoiding collision and doing what’s best for the team is only Rosberg’s obligation, while Hamilton is excused and can just do what’s best for himself, often at the expense of the team.
    2. Hamilton can’t live with the taste of his own driving tactics. Whenever Rosberg starts giving as good as he is receiving, Hamilton is moaning, crying to the team and saying how Rosberg deliberately crashed him or whatever.

    If you wanna emulate Senna, OWN IT! Don’t be a coward each time the time comes to face the consequences.

    1. @brace best comment on this site that I’ve read yet.

      This is very very true. Can you imagine the fuss if that first corner was Rosberg pushing Hamilton?!! Incredible double standards shown by almost everyone!

    2. That comment screams of both favouritism and wilful disregard of the facts.

      1. Just like almost every other anti Lewis comment we see on here.
        Although this is quite an extreme example.

      2. How does it scream of both favouritism and wilful disregard of the facts? It sounds more like an observational opinion that is based on facts.

      3. How so? Granted there is a certain venom to it but I do not believe it to be a million miles from reality, but all top people in the world are the same they give it out and do not care then when they are on the receiving end they are up in the air, I would expect nothing less from anyone at the top of anything. I think it is quite like Senna just he needs to calm down on that a bit before he signs for Williams for the ultimate copy of Senna.

        1. Damn I was thinking whilst writing can the last bit of my above comment be taken out. SORRY

        2. The Williams team came close to signing Lewis in 2004 but Lewis managed to persuade Mclaren to resign him.

    3. This is the best comment i’ve read in ages, well said

    4. Agreed. I don’t remember how many times they made up excuses for the bad starts Hamilton was having before the summer break. They were getting quite creative.

  15. That Coulthard thing is just nonsense. I am lucky to be completely between fires, as I like both Vettel and Hamilton equally, and rate both above Alonso. But to say Hamilton, with one WC less despite being in a competitive car for more years than Vettel is definitively the better driver and the Senna of his generation is nuts. Feels very over-sentimental. When I saw the headline I thought, oh great, typical chauvinist Brits, but to see Coulthard wrote it surprised me. Nonetheless he’s entitled to his opinions, I’m entitled to mine, and I see no way in which Hamilton has the beating of Vettel. In fact Vettel has been the driver of the season, whereas I can’t think of one season where Hamilton was driver of the season when someone else was WC. Sorry David, I disagree.

    1. I think and feel pretty much the same.

  16. Hmailton is not the ‘new Senna’. He’s Hamilton and should be lauded for his own achievements, not constantly compared to Senna, or Stewart or whoever. Nobody is the ‘new’ whoever, comparisons to the past are both stupid and baseless – the cars are completely different for one. Secondly such egotistical nonsense is ridiculous when you consider Vettel has four titles but gained no such comparisons. Hamilton’s certainly one of the best out there currently and should be celebrated for that – not constantly compared to those that have been.

    Plus it’s pretty easy to win titles when your car is ridiculously better than anyone else’s and your team-mate is nowhere near as good as you. When Vettel won his four titles I remember people, like Hamilton himself, insinuating it was mostly the car. Well the car advantage Hamilton’s Mercedes has is vastly better that Vettel’s Red Bull, but apparently that’s all down to Hamilton’s skill now, is it?

    Not saying it isn’t fully deserved because it totally is. Made the best of the best car. But if we’re not going to excuse Vettel for winning with a great car, or Button for apparently ‘lucking’ into the best car, we should point out that Hamilton is driving a car that statistically alone is one (two) of the best F1 cars ever made and holds a measurable and undeniable advantage over anything else on the track. He’s skilled sure – dug more out of that Merc than Rosberg could – but calling him the best ever and can beat anyone is a bit over the top. (Looking at you, DC)

    Personally the insinuation that Vettel/Button won their titles just because of the car I always felt was incredibly rude. Hamilton won his because of skill and the car too – not because he’s Jesus on four wheels, not because he was driving a shopping trolley and ‘wrestled it to greatness’, and not because he’s able to comfortably beat everyone else. Skill AND car. He won because he is a good driver but to say he’s ‘untouchable’, or the ‘Senna of this generation’, is ridiculous – he’s untouchable because he’s driving a rocketship and the idea he’s simply better than everyone else is just not true.

  17. Cant help but think that the poor viewing figures is partly down to the expected weather and the washed out qualifying.
    I personally didn’t watch live because I was expecting it to have long delays / late start / shortened race etc.

  18. I understand that America is a big place with a much higher population that the UK, but weren’t they struggling to sell tickets for Austin? And they want four races in the states?

    Look at Silverstone, a pig to get to, good chance of bad weather and hugely expensive yet every year it’s a sell out. The UK is actually somewhere you could probably get away with four races and yet there are questions hanging over even that one because they wan’t to charge more than it’s worth to go there.

    1. @philipgb I had a very similar thought. The US certainly has a big enough population (and it’s large enough geographically) to support four, five, even six races… but does it have the fanbase?

      Wouldn’t want to see F1 try to expand over there without buidling up a foundation first.

      1. Just conjecturing here, but I believe it’s hard to establish a fanbase when the times of a solid half of the races are at off-hours here in the States (which I’m interpreting to mean mid-day Sunday). Almost all of the races are timed for the European audience, meaning that if an American on the East Coast wants to watch F1 live, they have to get up with the intention of watching F1; the Euro/ME races start at a slightly reasonable time of 8/9 AM. Personally, I’m in California, which sets that start time at 5/6 AM local time. I think a good parallel for UK fans is this: getting up to watch the Australian GP or Japanese GP, but that’s the starting time for half the races in a season (that happen to be more or less consecutive).

        NASCAR (and IndyCar, if I remember right?) is on mid-day over the weekend, so I can turn it on and off at my leisure (with the right TV package, etc.). F1 doesn’t have that since it’s on early here, so the American F1 crowd definitely seems a little more self-selected, and doesn’t have the element of casual fandom caused by exposure. (I firmly believe this is also the same problem with marketing things like Champions League/EPL/etc. over here.)

  19. Oh yeah. Places where it does not rain… so that There are boring races !!!

    If Mr. Ecclestone really wants a race in California, he should consider San Francisco specially a section of the race track containing the Crooked street (aka Lombard Street). Beautiful Weather, Beautiful Scenery, Beautiful setting. Middle of the silicon valley. Where Technology meets technology. It might give Monaco a run for its money.

    Needless to say Apple, Google et all who are trying to build cars would be thrilled to have them there !!!!!

  20. Hamilton is the best driver of his generation? He’s the new Senna? I like Hamilton. I’m a fan and really chuffed that he won, but have we already forgotten about Vettel and Alonso?

    1. Right!
      One would think that you would have to better your peer’s accomplishments to be considered best.

      We have a great moment here, to watch 2 greats battle among the great stat leaders of the sport. Time and stats will show who is better, enjoy it.

    2. I hate how everyone’s acting like 2010-2013 didn’t happen with mostly Alonso vs Vettel.

  21. Try to tell Vettel that he’s the Senna/Schumacher of his generation or the GOAT and see what reaction you’re gonna get. He would laugh at your face or roll his eyes or go on to tell you either why that’s not really the case or why he’s not trying to emulate anyone. Well, he certainly wouldn’t be saying he wants to be a legend or something… that was funny.

  22. Does DC hate Hamilton or something? It’s like he’s trying to make people dislike the buzz around Hamilton even more. I’m sick of this exaggeration and the constant comparison to Senna as well. I mean even his last race in Austin was compared to Senna’s wins. What a joke. Until his mistake, Rosberg had clearly better pace for all race. Vettel was even better than both. The more I hear about how similar Senna and Hamilton are and the longer this season goes, the more I feel like we are comparing the wrong driver to Senna.

  23. My sleep patterns won’t. 2am FP1, 6am FP2, 2am FP3, 5am Qualifying and 6am Race for example in the Amercian rounds for Sydney.

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