F1 ‘will rival Champions League’ with beer deal

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Formula One’s alcohol sponsor says the sport could rival the Champions League football tournament.

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Siempre estarás en el corazón de mucha gente. Te respeto. Admiro. Eterno #luisSalom

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Comment of the day

Who will be closest to Mercedes this weekend?

Red Bull have generally gone better than expected here, their victory in 2013 was against the run of form (for that point of the season) and of course, Ricciardo took his first win here in 2014. I think they will probably give Mercedes the closest run for their money. I also predict a top five for Force India, since I think Perez has another good chance of making a counter strategy work. If it rains then Red Bull should have it in the bag.
@Marcusbreese

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On this day in F1

Ralf Schumacher led brother Michael home in the Canadian Grand Prix on this day 15 years ago.

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32 comments on “F1 ‘will rival Champions League’ with beer deal”

  1. I’m really curious to see what Heineken can cultivate in F1. It’s a neat fit to football, with its long-standing tradition of being favoured by drunk people.

  2. It’s great to see Formula 1 associating itself with an affordable, everyman’s product for once. That photo definitely deserves to be a caption competition, though…

    1. If Heineken arranged F1’s TV contracts, they’d be as affordable as their products ;)

    2. The Blade Runner (@)
      10th June 2016, 9:04

      It looks like a poor-man’s lightsabre battle with Bernie saying “I am your father…”

      1. nah, Bernie is the guy telling a story about this guy who was powerfull enough to beat death, but got killed by his apprentice … @thebladerunner

    3. Glen Carroll
      10th June 2016, 17:49

      Something like; Bernie says “don’t drink and drive”, sponsored by heineken

  3. That “letter to my younger self” was fascinating. Romantic even.

    1. Yeah, that really was a superbly strong read. Emotional, romantic, sad, full of hope. I loved reading that.

    2. @textuality Best thing I read yesterday. Love articles like that.

    3. I learnt more about Mario Andretti not that article than I’ve known about him in the past 20 years, fascinating. Inspirational.

    4. Really a good read, once again it puts it in perspective how dangerous motor racing was and what gladiators those drivers where…. talk about a bitter sweet championship win during the darkest of days. I am wondering what is Mario’s opinion of the Halo/Screen is?

    5. I don’t have time to read all articles on round up, but upon your suggestion I am glad I did. Very beautiful, and the ending :) “stay true to your dream … and drive your ass off”

    6. When you get to that moment, Mario — when your wheels spin and John Watson beats you off the line and takes the lead in Turn 1 — cool it. Don’t force it. Be patient.

      Aren’t you concerned that this if this letter is actually delivered to Mario’s younger self it could lead to timeline dichotomy, destroying the universe as we know it? I’ve checked Wikipedia to read what happened at Belgium ’77 and so far all is good, I suspect this is because young Mario can’t read in English.

    7. The part where he states “You’ll play the part of established racers. You’ll buy two Salas Sports racing suits from Italy and show up looking like pros. “, Love that.
      My grandfather was one of those guys wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a pack of smokes rolled up in the sleeve. He built flat head Ford race motors, and was quite good at it. I have many pictures of he and the crew squating by the racecar for a photo, like the one in the article. Nice piece by Mario, touches many good memories.

  4. I guess Fernando probably feels he vindicated by his decision to join Mclaren. He did say that nothing has changed at Ferrari, as they wont win the championship. Guess he was right. If he had stayed at Maranello, his contract would have run till end of this year, which means he would have raced there for 7 season, with no Championship.

    Pity that, unless miracles do happen, he wont be able to win another championship before he retires at end of next season. I really hope Mclaren will be able to win a race or two next year, or at least make it onto the podium. I would be a shame if we dont see Fernando, or Jenson for that matter, on the podium before they retire.

    Maybe they’ll team up for 2018 Le Mans?

  5. It’s commonly thought that the flicker from LCD screens may exacerbate post-concussion syndrome, though I haven’t seen any really concrete evidence about that. But this is the first time I’ve seen someone prescribed light comedies instead of action movies. Still, it’s probably a good idea not to get too worked-up and raise your blood pressure.

    Looking at the photo it seems Schrader was well strapped in and had a HANS device on, so that crash must have been massive.

  6. LovelyLovelyLuffield
    10th June 2016, 4:55

    1. Stef Schrader’s piece gives a new perspective on the issue of concussions. The comments are insightful, too, with key lamentations on how health insurance companies, and noting the snobbishness of some medical professionals about the issue.

    2. Jenson went surprisingly well on TopGear Mk3, probably better than Ginger Evans. He can go once Harrismonkey deposes Ginger. He’d pair well with Matt LeBlanc, maybe. Who knows?

    3. I have this nagging thought pop up in my brain: Esteban’s seat at Haas was where Jules Bianchi would have been had he survived the crash, or had that crash not happened at all.

    4. On one hand, it’s good to hear Seb is chill with Ricciardo. On the other hand, Ferrari can just as easily screw RIC as they are scewing VET.

    1. Had Bianchi been available, Ferrari would have poored in money into Sauber last year to have him race there already and the team would be far better funded, and would off course not have had the embarresing moment with having signed 4 drivers at one time

  7. The Blade Runner (@)
    10th June 2016, 9:08

    Great to see Alonso’s helmet tribute to Luis Salom.

  8. Tony Mansell
    10th June 2016, 10:23

    Famously, Heineken had a 30 year agreement with the UK only to import beer with an alcohol content of 3%. Only recently were they able to make the product stronger and more in line with consumers demands……

    So I don’t see a fit with f1 at all.

  9. I like Heineken and the deal seems like a good thing for the sport, on a number of fronts. But am I the only one that think it’s comically inappropriate to have your beer sponsor in your anti drink-driving ad? In the immortal words of poet Holland; “Gotta keep em separated”.

    1. “Don’t drink beer, especially this one!”
      Yeah, it’s an interesting approach for a marketing campaign…

    2. @dan1124 I have yet to see man get drunk from Heiniken. They usually are sick after one…

    3. What about Martini? Johnny Walker?

  10. @dan1124 I agree, that’s a poor move.

    Still reckon us Aussie’s got the drink driving line right.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVqcUjnxA1o

    If you drink,
    Then drive,
    You a bloody idiot.

    Any particularly powerful ones from other countries?

    I have my reservations about alcohol sponsorship, but it will probably be good for the sport.

    1. Haha, flagged, I think this one is fair though.

      You’re*

      I hope it got flagged for my poor English, that’s down right offensive. :P

  11. What’s with this logo “If you drive, never drink”. Well that’s more than half the world population! Surely it should read: “If you are going to drive, never drink”

    1. Alex McFarlane
      12th June 2016, 8:40

      In Soviet Russia, accident cause drink driver…

      Hmm, if drivers never drank, surely we’d get dehydrated, lose performance and have a load more accidents ;-)

      The joys of semantics.

  12. Lewisham Milton
    10th June 2016, 17:21

    It’s all moved over to pay TV. It tries to dominate media coverage and prevent any other football from taking place the same night. It features a load of overhyped, boring, meaningless extra rounds that are just a gravy train for the clubs taking part. How can they possibly compare F1 to that?

  13. More questions than answers…
    How is a beer sponsorship going to increase the viewership of F1 and improve its (F1, not Heiny) product?
    How is another sports league a rival that F1 needs to compete with?
    Isn’t F1 its own worst enemy in alienating past, current and potential viewers?
    Shouldn’t F1 be doing more to let fans help them promote F1 and get other potential fans excited about their favorite sport?
    Does anyone really believe having Heineken on board is going to help bring more viewers to F1 at all?
    Isn’t this primarily a great way for F1 to bring more cash in for their profiteers?
    Am I being to cynical here and asking too many questions about this wonderful partnership that will change the world of F1 as we know it?

    1. Well as it was written it seems Heineken will do lots of adds and social media staff about F1.
      Basically it will work like an advertiser for F1 while advertising itself along with F1.

      It seems Bernie found a nice way to do marketing for F1 without having to actually use FOM money.

  14. So Bernie & Heineken think soccer is a good role model. Tell that to the victims of Russian football hooligans in Marseilles last night. Is that really what Bernie wants for F1?

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