In the round-up: Formula One’s new commercial chief Sean Bratches says the sport will ‘re-imagine’ its approach to digital content along with its television output.
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New Formula 1 chiefs want mix of pay and free-to-air TV coverage (Autosport)
"There are going to be a number of consumer touchpoints going forward that we are going to be very proactive around, and one of them is going to be digital. We are in the process right now of re-imagining our entire portfolio of digital assets - and we really look at that as an opportunity to engage with fans."
Bottas 'not yet worried' over Hamilton deficit (Motorsport.com)
"Yeah, it is a big gap. But I'm not worried yet. It's only Friday practice and my first proper practice in a race weekend with the team."
Haas forced to remove its T-wing in Australian Grand Prix practice (ESPN)
"We ran this wing in the whole Barcelona test and never had a problem with it breaking or anything. In FP2 we had to take it off because of the moving, so we need to see what we do in FP3."
Top eight Force India’s target for Melbourne - Perez Q&A (Formula1.com)
"I think that we’re again pretty close to the top three teams. I think at least that’s what my impression was after today’s running - and after I’ve seen the tyre choice of the frontrunners today."
McLaren-Honda's problems awful for Formula 1, says Martin Brundle (Sky)
"They were better in 2016 but have gone backwards this year. It's awful for Formula 1. Nobody needs the great McLaren team, Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne blowing up and down the back of the field."
Honda already working on major F1 engine changes for later in 2017 (Autosport)
Yusuke Hasegawa: "I am developing an improved power unit, but it will take some time to complete. I would like to have it finished and in the car within two months."
Grand Prix and AFL matches see record demand on Melbourne's public transport (Warrnambool Standard)
"Chaos is expected to reign on Saturday when hundreds of thousands of sport fans descend on Melbourne as the Grand Prix and 2017 AFL season get underway. Two AFL matches on Saturday afternoon and the first qualifying day of the grand prix will see the public transport network swamped by tourists and locals alike."
Swiss public broadcaster acquires F1 rights (Telecompaper)
"The Swiss public broadcaster SRG SSR has extended its rights to show Formula 1 races for another three years, until 2019. They will be available on free-to-air TV."
MotoGP 'better than F1', says Marc Marquez (F1i)
"With bikes we have what Formula 1 is missing. Different winners, more overtaking, more action, more show, more enthusiastic fans."
A Worryingly Deep Dive into Alan Partridge's Enduring Love Affair with Formula 1 (Vice Sports)
"It is appropriate given the enduring love he has displayed for the sport that the very first words Alan spoke to the British public concerned Formula 1."
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
More than 75GB needed to record #AusGP free practice sessions #UltraHD #UHD #4K. Lots of disk space needed for entire #F1 weekend #SkyF1 pic.twitter.com/FjCD4JrbTq
— Paolo Pescatore (@paolopescatore) March 24, 2017
Some Arrivabene gold as team bosses are asked to describe their drivers in a few words 😂#F1isBack #AusGP pic.twitter.com/RLQkaTNW2B
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 24, 2017
Friday at Albert Park 📸 Plenty to work on for tomorrow and looking forward for qualifying! #VB77 #F1 #AusGP @MercedesAMGF1 pic.twitter.com/W4YS6aiuaF
— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) March 24, 2017
What a shot 😍 #AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/CSPlO1oJTN
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 24, 2017
Quick pre-FP1 get-together with the best race team in #F1 pic.twitter.com/TUxwzJxbki
— Zak Brown (@ZBrownCEO) March 24, 2017
The most cheerful steward of the season. Lynda has been guiding traffic with a smile at Melbourne for 22yrs. #F1 pic.twitter.com/sgXklnEzos
— Ben Edwards (@benedwardstv) March 23, 2017
Facebook video: Lewis Hamilton gives a guided tour of Mercedes’ hospitality suite
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Comment of the day
With Lewis Hamilton over half a second faster than his new team mate on Friday, is it too early to write off Valtteri Bottas as a threat this year? @thegianthogweed thinks so.
It may take Bottas some time to get used to the car, but once he gets used to it, I think he’ll be pretty close to Hamilton. There were several of occasions in 2014 where the 2 were having a scrap fighting for position and in Germany, Bottas did a great job of keeping Hamilton behind. I’m certain he’ll be able to have several decent starts this season and be able to have a similar race. There were also 2 races in 2015 where he did a very good job at keeping the faster Ferrari’s behind him. One race it was Raikkonen and the other was Vettel and neither of them managed to find a way though. When the car Bottas is driving is strong, I think he is really good at defending his position.
I remember once or twice in the room before the podium that Hamilton was speaking to Bottas about how incredible his pace was. I’m certain he’ll have many more very strong weekends now he’s in the same car as Hamilton. It just may take him a little time to get used to it.
I don’t like the amount of people I’m seeing that are instantly deciding he is a weak team mate just because of 2 practice sessions before even the 1st race has happened. I don’t think he’ll be as good as Hamilton but I think he will be good enough to make Mercedes want to keep him for next year.
@thegianthogweed
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On this day in F1
Fernando Alonso took advantage of wet conditions at Sepang to give Ferrari’s disappointing F2012 a surprise victory five years ago today, holding off Sergio Perez’s flying Sauber.
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
25th March 2017, 0:09
On CoTD, thats exactly what my thoughts were.
He is in a new team, new car and a World Champion teamate alongside. He’ll take a few races to get acclimatised. So its too soon to judge.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
25th March 2017, 4:05
SKy (Croft and Kravitz) have been far too critic of Bottas, they joked about fake news yesterday but they’ve just came up with fake news by speaking of a “crisis” that does not exist. Makes me feel they want Bottas to fail, Kravitz even hinted a bet on “how far if not equal to Lewis”, after saying something as such coming up with the “Let’s give him a couple of races” talk is futile.
BasCB (@bascb)
25th March 2017, 5:20
I hope FP3 put the whole thing on hold or to bed for now!
David Bell
25th March 2017, 0:28
Regarding COTD. It’s just as easy for me to say i think he won’t be pretty close to Hamilton compared to they say “I think he’ll be pretty close to Hamilton.”. Verstappen hit the ground running and a lot of people have said Bottas will too but he hasn’t. We can only go off the evidence we have and right now he’s 5 tenths behind Hamilton. No doubt he will get closer but i think he will always be chasing. We saw how quickly Rosberg caught up after Hamilton’s telemetry was studied.
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
25th March 2017, 8:06
Verstappen is more of an exception than the rule I think.
With Bottas within 0.3s in qualy now, he’ll be alright, I recon, as the season progresses and he settles into the team and calms down a bit (he seemed to overdrive the car, which is understandable given the pressue hes under)
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
25th March 2017, 0:36
Every single time i see that weird mercedes wing i think DRS is open
Joao (@johnmilk)
25th March 2017, 12:36
The t-wing?
I can see why. The thing has 3 wings already, how wonder how many more they are going to put there. Surely one for the coat, one for the trousers and one for the tie is enough right?
Darryn Smith (@darryn)
25th March 2017, 0:49
No shortages of eyebrows and mustaches at Liberty.
JackySteeg (@jackysteeg)
25th March 2017, 1:04
Random question, what happened to standing restarts after the SC? The teams agreed to it but I don’t remember hearing much more about it since…
Neil (@neilosjames)
25th March 2017, 1:14
It didn’t make it into the rulebook, fortunately.
Apart from when a race is deemed too dangerous to start normally due to the track being too wet. Then, they’ll do formation laps behind the SC, and a standing start when it’s considered OK. Not entirely convinced it’ll work, and I’ll believe it when I see it, but that’s what the regulations say.
Neil (@neilosjames)
25th March 2017, 1:06
Totally agree with CoTD.
Besides, it’s Melbourne… Hamilton’s average gap to Rosberg over their three seasons when Mercedes were dominant was 0.493 seconds. Including their other season together, 2013, it was 0.438s.
Bottas being half a second down in practice, in his first race with Mercedes at a track Hamilton excels at, is hardly surprising, devastating, crushing or anything worth getting excited about.
Sven (@crammond)
25th March 2017, 1:27
non-british me has very little idea about Alan Partridge, but that article was an enjoyable read.
Kringle
25th March 2017, 1:50
Two months for another Honda engine design, Ron would have been spitting feathers! If I was Mclaren, I would seriously look into a begging tactic with the Mercedes board for an old power unit. Use it as a base then develop it in-house into a bespoke Mclaren engine in tandem with the current Honda engine. Maybe without Honda or anyone else knowing.
Hang on, this sounds similar to the Red Bull / Ilmor debacle.
Todfod (@todfod)
25th March 2017, 5:07
Yeah.. Honda is finished. I guessed that they were heading for a redesign during pre season testing, when they realised that the shape of the oil tank is wrong. If I had to predict, I would guess the engine that is released a couple of months from now would be an even bigger disaster because of Honda’s inability to use a dyno as per F1 standards.
I would agree about Mclaren’s approach with Mercedes. They need to rebrand the Mercedes engine as another one of Daimler’s brands and get some of their own engineers working on it. They’ll at least have a shot at the top 3 with Mercedes, which is a heck of a lot better than the promise of the bottom 3 with Honda.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
25th March 2017, 7:46
I had the chance to listen to the Honda engine earlier today, and I thought it sounded better than last year’s hybrid did. That engine had problems that seemed to me what you’d expect from an inadequate exhaust turbine and insufficiently powerful MGU-H. It would be a shame if McLaren pulled out right now because I think they are on the right path.
It is hard to know how things would have played out if Ron Dennis had remained in charge, all we do know is they appear to have run that engine for two years, and now, with Zak Brown in charge, the engine appears to have changed.
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
25th March 2017, 2:16
It’s obvious what the issue is with Honda: Funding.
If Honda could get more than one guy to build power units, might be able to reduce the lead time to only 3 months to 3 years. Maybe Andy could come over on the odd weekend to help – for the sake of the sport.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
25th March 2017, 4:08
I know you said that half jokingly but I agree @jimmi-cynic Honda must not be taking F1 seriously.
Neiana (@neiana)
25th March 2017, 5:12
Final Fantasy VII took about (or less than) one year to develop, because there was one man in charge of everything. He put it #1 and the underlings crawled at his feet and did as his foot-dirt said to do. Final Fantasy XV took a decade because it became a corporate affair and a million crawling fingers scratching their chins and wondering why they don’t have chin-hairs.
Maybe a few more people in the engine department is fine, but let’s be real: Japan (and for that matter, most places) loses production per person when there are more people involved.
Aditya (@adityafakhri)
25th March 2017, 2:49
Giovinazzi to replace Wehrlein for the rest of the weekend
clay (@clay)
25th March 2017, 2:50
Marquez is right. MotoGP as a spectacle and in terms of the racing is better than F1. Why? When a faster bike/rider combination is behind another rider they get an advantage of the tow and no disadvantages- until those wings appeared. Wings come, racing gets worse, MotoGP ban them. Common sense prevails!
Take a lesson Ross.
However F1 tans would be just as rowdy if our races went like MotoGP races too!
Joao (@johnmilk)
25th March 2017, 11:35
It’s a matter of taste, I for example couldn’t care less about moto gp. And that sort of comments coming from a rider are more than expected.
The only thing I take from it is the timing, right when F1 suffers a mini revolution and there is reasons for optimism. Maybe it is going in the right path…
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
25th March 2017, 4:00
Honda made Ferrari’s 2014 mistake by misjudging the turbo and then now are making Renault’s 2015 mistake. For 2015 Ferrari dropped their concept and compromised, Renault were far in 2014 and far better than Ferrari, but still won 3 races, what did they do, fail to recognise the flaws in their concept and dug a hole. Honda came late and failed not only to learn from everyone elses mistakes but also their own.
Todfod (@todfod)
25th March 2017, 5:11
Agree. It’s like they’ve been living under a rock. Absolutely clueless about what other competitor’s have tried, failed at or innovated in. I think there’s a clear lack of vision and leadership at the top and if you combine that with a lack of talent and non-F1 work culture… it spells disaster.
@F1-liners (@f1-liners)
25th March 2017, 7:16
Zak’s motivational speeches don’t work in all cultures; I’d rather see some real leadership.