In the round-up: Sky’s deal to broadcast Formula One exclusively from 2019 in the UK will not be affected by Liberty Media’s takeover of the sport.
Links
Your daily digest of F1 news, views, features and more from hundreds of sites across the web:
Sky Sports' £1bn Formula One deal is safe despite Liberty Media takeover (Daily Mail)
"Sky’s £1billion contract to televise Formula One until 2024 will not be affected by Liberty Media’s takeover of the sport, despite their ownership of Sky rivals Virgin Media, Discovery and Eurosport."
Williams: Red Bull input key on 2017 designs (Autosport)
"I really pat Red Bull on the back for doing a great job in styling the car because what they did was take away what the Strategy Group had asked for and they really styled it."
Force India helped by lack of 'politics', says Perez (Motorsport)
"I think when you have big teams with a big amount of budget and a big amount of people, it is a nice thing to have. But it can very easily work against you."
Petra Ecclestone's brother-in-law found dead at £3.5m mansion (The Telegraph)
"Mr Stunt's death is being treated as 'unexplained' by Surrey Police and a post mortem examination is due to take place."
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@rwilliams1947 @F1 I guess I just want to see some car control without the need of a computer.
— Damon Hill (@HillF1) September 10, 2016
LOVIN' this!!!! 😍 💙💛💙💛😍 #OrebroRaceDay #F1 #JoinOurPassion #ME9 @Ericsson_Marcus pic.twitter.com/WLKgg7PW3m
— Sauber F1 Team (@SauberF1Team) September 10, 2016
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Comment of the day
Which of the current drivers are you most interested to hear tell their stories?
Hearing Damon on ‘Saturday Live’ on Radio 4 this morning was really interesting. It was the first time in a long time that I have heard a current or former Formula 1 driver say things I didn’t already know, and hadn’t considered. Particularly interesting was how he related his father’s generation’s attitude to risk to their experiences growing up in the Second World War. I hadn’t planned to, as I was never a Damon Hill fan, but hearing his interview, and seeing the positive reviews, I will definitely be giving this one a read at some point.
Of the current drivers, the only one I have heard similarly interesting insights from, about the mental aspects of Formula 1, is Fernando Alonso. The Spanish documentary about his last race for Ferrari was eye opening in its insights, as was his ‘Why I Race’ piece on the McLaren website. I only hope that when his career ends, he gets to sit down with a ghostwriter of the calibre of Maurice Hamilton to tell his story.
@Wificats
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On this day in F1
Victory for Sebastian Vettel in the Italian Grand Prix five years ago today moved him within striking distance of a second world championship:
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
11th September 2016, 1:29
I’d suspect that all existing TV deals will be unaffected, The various broadcasters all have signed contracts & the only out clauses tend to be on the broadcaster side.
The thing that will be interesting is whatever social media/online stuff the new owners try to push for because as i’ve said a lot in the past, Most (If not all) of the existing tv contracts give each broadcaster exclusivity for there region. This woudl either block any potential online service completely or see it Geo-blocked in certain regions depending on each broadcasters deal & how willing they are to want to compete with an alternative service.
Looking at some other example. BT ensure that the Formula V8 3.5 & DTM Youtube race streams are blocked in the UK while Eurosport blocks the World Rallycross Youtube live streams in the UK & ITV used to block the Formula E race streams in the UK.
And as I pointed out the other day the MotoGP VideoPass service has less subscription options available to UK residents when compared to what is available in other regions. In the UK due to the BT Sport contract you can only sign upto the most expensive option (Multiscreen Season pass) while in the US you have 6 subscription options to pick from.
With regards to wanting to grow F1 in the US, Thats already happening as TV figures in the US have been rising significantly over the past 2-3 years & the fairly heavy cross-promotion that NBC does has in turn helped there Indycar’s viewership grow since they got the F1 deal.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
11th September 2016, 2:26
An Alonso autobiography would be something interesting to read considering all that’s happened in his carreer. Beating Schumacher, the “F1 is no longer a sport” bit, his difficulties at McLaren, spygate, crashgate, life at Ferrari, the “Alonso is faster than you” bit, how they lost that championship, the constant struggles with the team, the title lost in 2012 and the transition to a poor McLaren.
Of all the drivers in recent decades, he probably stands out as the most interesting driver in that sense. Get that typing machine going, Fernando!
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
11th September 2016, 3:07
I definetly agree. I’m no fan of his but there is no one close on the grid who has been involved in as much and has had such a great, storied F1 history. One would hope it would be frank and honest with his story as well.
omarR-pepper
11th September 2016, 3:22
@fer-no65 he might do a Clinton and, as he did in his autobiography, mentioned his affair with Monica in just ONE line, to say it was inappropriate. Not even saying sorry. Just inappropriate.
Knowing Alonso’s ego, he might even bend the truth and end up blaming Briatore, Ron, Stefano, and start, as always, saying his “what ifs” and proclaiming how he deserved to be 10 times WDC.
ColdFly F1 (@)
11th September 2016, 8:45
Will be a ‘first’, a biography totally written in the ‘we’ form.
PeterH (@peterh)
11th September 2016, 11:17
Of course you never know would it be an honest autobiography about everything or just repetition of everything said this for “I didn’t know about Briatores plan to crash Nelson”, or “I didn’t know anything about that Ferrari data McLaren acquired”.. It might be the truth but we probably will never know.
@HoHum (@hohum)
11th September 2016, 2:39
Off topic, but I’m as happy as a pig in rose tinted glasses watching the delayed feed from the Goodwood Revival, now that’s what I call exciting racing, even the A30s are more fun than modern F1. Cheers got to get back to the GT race even though I saw it live last night.
Mike (@mike)
11th September 2016, 3:51
I am certain that whatever the rule designers intend, the teams will break.
Certainly F1 teams have a track record of doing things the rule designers didn’t foresee.
Gary
11th September 2016, 8:06
In their presentation and in interviews, Chase Carey and Liberty Media have been trumpeting the fact that the business has “$9.5 billion of contracted revenue”, which is the FOM revenue for the next five years. Makes sense, on average existing contracts with tracks and broadcasters have a five year duration. And given that, why does anybody speculate that much is going to change in the near and medium term? Hint: it won’t.
Tiomkin
11th September 2016, 9:33
The only thing that will change is the cost to the punters. They will squeeze until they see a drop in profits. Until that point expect massive yearly price hikes. This is the standard business model when there is no competition. ‘True fans’ will love it.
ColdFly F1 (@)
11th September 2016, 8:31
Slow news day; the guy who’s a brother of the husband of the daughter of the guy who runs F1 makes the round-up.
Let’s hope this is not the start of Liberty Media ‘keeping fans engaged between events’.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
11th September 2016, 8:59
Sunday 10AM…
Let me give you a reason to abandon DRS and designed to degrade tires….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF4uYQt3IFc
Have a nice day, F1 fanatics! :D
WheelToWheel (@lolzerbob)
11th September 2016, 10:23
I challenge you to watch an F1 race from 2000-2008 without falling asleep. And watching Alonso and Webber duke it up Eau Rogue is less exciting or Rosberg and Hamilton incredible duel in Bahrain too. To me design to degrade tyres keeps th sport alive, and DRS while it may be too powerful keeps the race running in the middle laps without us falling asleep. The only problem with F1 now is Merc dominance in my opiniom
Dan Selby
11th September 2016, 11:19
I never had that much of an issue with the tires. At least the driver can have a certain degree of control and input over them, whereas DRS is fundamentally unfair and completely non-defendable. It’s completely robbed us of the concept of ‘will he, or won’t he?’, and that was one of my favourite parts of F1, gone.
I’d rather have a boring, fair race than a (now boring) unfair race with no suspense at all.
Mike (@mike)
11th September 2016, 12:27
I don’t think it’s robbed us of that at all. We often see drivers dive up the inside, or decide against it if they are too far back. Look at Ric at Monza for instance, with DRS we had a ballsy attack from a long way back, without DRS he’d not even get close, which, given how he talked about the pass, made it sound like he didn’t think he’d get another shot even with DRS.
RogerA
11th September 2016, 12:59
@mike Hamilton didn’t have DRS in 2007 & pulled off pretty much the exact same move as Ricciardo did so to say without DRS it wouldn’t have been possible isn’t true.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzFDvZhntvQ
I think the racing in the Pre-DRS/Pirelli tyre era was far more exciting than any of the fake & artificial highway passing we’ve had since 2011.
I just don’t find the sort of uncontested/easy push of a button highway passing that DRS creates 95% of the time interesting or exciting to watch in any way.
I want to get back to some real racing & proper, exciting overtaking rather than the nonsense we have to put up with nowadays.
I never once missed or turned off a race half way through until 2011, Since then it’s happened a dozen times as i’ll watch the start, See it turn into a DRS-fest or see this big difference in tyre’s & i’ll just lose interest & turn off as that isn’t the sort of ‘racing’ I have any interest in watching.
Same with GP2, They have ruined that series with DRS & the tyres. It used to be epic watching the racing & overtaking they could pull off in those cars as they were pushing flat out all race & having to really think about overtaking & pulling off overtakes in some odd places & that was exciting. DRS & to an extent the tyres have ruined a lot of that.
Next year will hopefully fix the tyre issue & banning DRS should be the #1 priority for the new owners, Especially given how every single poll/survey relating to DRS shows that a significant majority of fans dislike it now.
Jerejj
11th September 2016, 15:59
@Dan Selby ”DRS is fundamentally unfair and completely non-defendable” – It’s relatively ineffective at most circuits these days, so I wouldn’t say it’s completely ‘non-defendable.’ I’d say only Montreal, Spa, and perhaps Baku as well are venues where it has been/can be a little too effective at times, but at most circuits, it doesn’t really make overtaking any easier these days.
Robert (@)
11th September 2016, 12:40
@lolzerbob there were plenty of Grand Prix in the 2000’s that were exciting, more so than most of the Grand Prix since 2011 when “made to degrade” tyres and DRS rules were introduced. These things have lead to a lot of boring races with very few proper fights nowadays because the tyres have to be preserved whereas in the past the drivers could go all out for it, and overtaking is now massively standardised with almost all the overtaking carried out in designated DRS zones making it extremely predictable.
RogerA
11th September 2016, 13:03
@lolzerbob I have watched plenty of races from 2000-2008 both live & recently & have never fell asleep. There was some great races & some great racing through those years.
The only problem with those years was the refueling, As soon as that was banned in 2010 we saw even more overtaking & the best title fight since the mid 80s. Then they gave us DRS & pirelli in 2011 & ruined it all.
Jerejj
11th September 2016, 16:04
@Kavin Kannan Yeah, but the current Mercedes domination isn’t as bad as the Ferrari domination in 2002, and 2004, for example.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
12th September 2016, 11:24
I managed to watch all the 2000-2008 races without falling asleep perfectly fine (except China 2008, which clashed with a swimming gala and was reportedly among the top 5 dullest races of all time). Admittedly, there were some spectacularly dull races in 1998 and 1999, and 2004 got rather samey outside the midfield, but it was not the problem that the typical 2011-2016 race is (I find telegraphed zero-sum auto-passes far less interesting than the tension of a traditional overtake – or attempt).
x303 (@x303)
11th September 2016, 11:48
That’s fun to watch. I forgot about that scrap, thanks for the link.
Robbie (@robbie)
11th September 2016, 14:15
DRS and temperature sensitive degrady tires which the drivers hate, are a failed attempt at masking F1’s addiction to aero downforce. The new cars will have totally different tires and will carry the potential of not needing DRS. I hope they eliminate DRS soon.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
11th September 2016, 19:27
And then they complain about the way Verstappen defended against Raikkonen in Kemmel.
Hamilton must have been laughing his ass off though. Schumacher obviously went for the “I’d rather crash then let him past” approach and he got passed anyway.
Brilliant drive from Hamilton. Indeed so sad that we can’t see him do that anymore with the current eggshell tyres.
Still without DRS we’d have only one or two overtakes during a race with the current aero dependent cars. Hopefully better next season. At least they won’t be as refined again so running in turbulent air should be slightly better in the beginning of the season at least.
RogerA
12th September 2016, 0:23
@patrickl “Still without DRS we’d have only one or two overtakes during a race”
I’d rather No DRS & only 1-2 overtakes than have DRS & have to watch 30 boringly easy & completely devoid of any excitement highway passes.
I also don’t think that banning DRS would reduce overtaking by that much anyway, After-all look at the last year with proper tyres & no DRS & cars just as (If not more) aero dependent. We had a year with the most amount of overtaking than any season since 1989 with an average of 30-35 overtakes per race (Which isn’t much lower than it is currently) & every one of the overtakes that year actually meant something & were actually interesting & exciting to watch rather than the boring push of a button highway passing we have today.
beneboy (@beneboy)
11th September 2016, 14:55
If the SKY deal is going ahead, with no FTA deal being given to another broadcaster, and no alternative on-line option available, then I’ll be yet another fan giving up the sport.
£230 a year to watch qualifying and the race on NOWTV, or even more to add the SKY Sports package to my Virgin account is way more than I’m willing to pay.
Phil-F1-21
11th September 2016, 17:26
Well I don’t see how this is going to help the sport at all really in terms of attracting new viewers. But maybe the new owners are not all that concerned about viewing figures in the U.K. or some other parts of Europe if they can double the number of viewers in the U.S. or Far East. I mean they don’t care much about where their revenue comes from. Sad but true.
Personally I am not sure what I will do from 2019. Pay-up in the cheapest form possible I guess. This is annoying though.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
12th September 2016, 11:30
The UK, by the look of it, is 20% of the current audience. Without Sky, it is likely that three-quarters of this will be lost – which means losing 15% of the current audience.
As far as I can see, I have no option that allows me to reliably obtain F1 in 2019 (except BBC radio), as I cannot get Sky in my street (there was a brief time when it was possible, but funnily enough people don’t like paying the same price for half the connection speed of… …everyone else. Why that was done when Sky manages to other the same speed as other providers on adjacent streets remains a mystery). I’d have to depend on the gym having it on its screens, which is becoming increasingly rare as signal speed is dropping to the point where they’re having trouble carrying TV at all.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
12th September 2016, 11:31
So that was a long-winded way of saying F1 is throwing away UK customers for no good reason. Doubling viewers in the USA and Far East isn’t difficult, any more than providing free-to-air UK coverage is, but merely doubling USA/Far East audiences won’t come close to making up the 15% drop that will result from UK going to all-Sky.
Phil-F1-21
11th September 2016, 17:34
As an aside I read in the paper the other day about cricket clubs reporting that they are concerned about the number of youngsters entering the sport at grass roots level i.e. playing for local clubs. I wonder if this is a by-product of the fact that cricket in this country is now pretty much exclusively behind a pay wall as far as TV is concerned? Young people don’t think about taking it up because it has become a lot less visible.
I think that the race weekends are going to need to get a lot more exciting to keep the number of F1 viewers up to current levels in the U.K. and Europe, once the sport disappears from free to air TV.