Government asks Bernie to Save British GP

[dpbird90]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula...

Interesting to see that "taxpayers money will not be used to broker a deal"

Why not? I'd rather see my money going towards saving what is easily one of the best Grand Prix events on the calendar than into some fat banker's pocket.

[mat205125]

Is the money required to improve facilities for the spectators, and make essential safety improvements for the drivers, or is there little or no issue with Donningtons core facilities, but the dwarf is demanding his ludicrous pound of flesh and excessive acreage to entertain his army of tag-alongs?

[chrisgtx]

Well for once i don't blame the government.It's that hatefull greedy little st of a man,really,has he no feelings for his home country,where most of the teams and technology ( not to mention the drivers) are based,of course we all know silverstone isn't the flashiest track in the world,but it's a cracking drivers circuit.
But i guess that won't fill his umpa lumpa dungarees full of hard cash will it?

[JonRB]

I think it's a bit weak Mandy saying "come on sort it out" and "F1 is worth £4bn to the UK" and then saying "well, no, I'm not actually stumping up any cash, just getting some soundbites". Just STFU if you're not putting up any money, you media we.

[Marcia]

chrisgtx said:

Well for once i don't blame the government.It's that hatefull greedy little st of a man,really,has he no feelings for his home country,where most of the teams and technology ( not to mention the drivers) are based,of course we all know silverstone isn't the flashiest track in the world,but it's a cracking drivers circuit.
But i guess that won't fill his umpa lumpa dungarees full of hard cash will it?

Agree with that completely.

[Murph7355]

dpbird90 said:

...
Why not? I'd rather see my money going towards saving what is easily one of the best Grand Prix events on the calendar than into some fat banker's pocket.

The "fat bankers" may not be receiving any government subsidy. And those that may be may also be the only ones with a fighting chance to dig this government out of the mess it has gotten itself into with the banks that actually have been subsidised (our PM's fiscal acuity certainly won't)...it's all too easy to believe every word written in the Daily Mail (Incidentally, I'm not a fat banker and know categorically that there is much wrong with "the system", but the current national hysteria will very far from fix anything).

Bernie is paying hardball every which way. Much as I like F1, BE should not be given any government funds. He should be left to it and see where it ultimately gets him. His greed is ruining the sport and it should not be a government's (aka taxpayer's) job to subsidise this greed (or his divorce settlement!).

[AndrewW-G]

Arguably a major investment in the infrastructure at Silverstone or Donnington and favourable loans / grants to the BRDC or Gillette, would see a return in further investment, publicity and tourism that would far outweigh an equivalent investment in the London Olympics even though it would be a fraction of the cost and would last for several years rather than the week or so of the London Olympics..............................which will be of fk all benefit to the rest of the country

[dpbird90]

AndrewW-G said:

Arguably a major investment in the infrastructure at Silverstone or Donnington and favourable loans / grants to the BRDC or Gillette, would see a return in further investment, publicity and tourism that would far outweigh an equivalent investment in the London Olympics even though it would be a fraction of the cost and would last for several years rather than the week or so of the London Olympics..............................which will be of fk all benefit to the rest of the country

Exactly, we're spending how many billion on the Olympics? And it'll last for a couple of weeks. The Government wants to give us a sense of national pride with the 2012 games, but we can get it so much better in F1. We're the best in the world at F1; drivers, teams, and almost circuits (in the drivers' eyes at least. Belgium is probably the only place in the world with an F1 circuit which is better than ours from a drivers point of view).

Thing is in the old days, spectators were more than happy to sit in a pile of mud in a wet and windy former airfield watching Mansell, Senna, Prost etc fight it out. Why can't we go back to those days?

[belleair302]

I think Bernie needs a simple chat with one of the following.

1. The Hereford Mars Bar eaters!
2. The Purple Beret wearing nutters who carry big GPMG's.
3. The nice man from the Customs and Excise Office who has years to spend looking back at Bernie's books and those of CVC.

Job done and we have a GP for free.

[MonkeyHanger]

dpbird90 said:

Thing is in the old days, spectators were more than happy to sit in a pile of mud in a wet and windy former airfield watching Mansell, Senna, Prost etc fight it out. Why can't we go back to those days?

For the same reason we don't want to back to living in mud huts?

Times have changed. Spectators are paying more for their tickets and they expect more in return. Rightly so IMHO.

I don't care about sitting on an empty Luffield terrace on concrete steps when i've paid £10 for a Club meeting, but if i've paid £££'s for a GP ticket i would expect to be treated accordingly.

[Allyc85]

So its fine for the goverment to spend billions on a one off event that is the olympics, but they wont help save an event and an industry for years to come?!

[Rollcage]

MonkeyHanger said:

dpbird90 said:

Thing is in the old days, spectators were more than happy to sit in a pile of mud in a wet and windy former airfield watching Mansell, Senna, Prost etc fight it out. Why can't we go back to those days?

For the same reason we don't want to back to living in mud huts?

Times have changed. Spectators are paying more for their tickets and they expect more in return. Rightly so IMHO.

I don't care about sitting on an empty Luffield terrace on concrete steps when i've paid £10 for a Club meeting, but if i've paid £££'s for a GP ticket i would expect to be treated accordingly.

Spectators only have to pay more because of the fee Bernie charges though. To get more ,they will have to pay even more to fund the changes.

All due to the unique way F1 is funded.

[Chrisgr31]

MonkeyHanger said:

dpbird90 said:

Thing is in the old days, spectators were more than happy to sit in a pile of mud in a wet and windy former airfield watching Mansell, Senna, Prost etc fight it out. Why can't we go back to those days?

For the same reason we don't want to back to living in mud huts?

Times have changed. Spectators are paying more for their tickets and they expect more in return. Rightly so IMHO.

I don't care about sitting on an empty Luffield terrace on concrete steps when i've paid £10 for a Club meeting, but if i've paid £££'s for a GP ticket i would expect to be treated accordingly.

Whilst I agree with you that spectators who have paid well over £100 for a ticket would expect decent facilites the issue is that a significant amount of the money paid goes to Bernie and CVC for the rights to stage the race. If the fee to stage the race is £10million and the capacity of Silverstone is 100,000 then £100 of the ticket price goes straight to Bernie!

[IforB]

This is about the only time I'll agree with this Government. F1 is a business, any money that the "Government" and for that read "Tax payer" gives to this project would go straight into Bernie's pocket. I'd rather we didn't have a British GP than give that odious pr*ck any more money.

[mattikake]

I've lost count of the amount of money poured into the banks - £30bn then another £15bn and more. And now the government are saying the tax payer can't afford a tiny portion extra to this, one that they say would generate £4bn toward the economy? That's a better return than bailing out banks and hosting the Olympics. We're fooked anyway, go in all the way I say.

Funny how the government can forget who the voters are at moments convenient form themselves. If someone at the top were a fan, or cared, this wouldn't be an issue.

Granted, it shouldn't need support. Granted, BE should be shot. But we humans haven't created a perfect world for ourselves.

I still think the petition to the government is worth signing. They're not going to know about voter support for this event if the list of sigs is weak. Link and supporting vid is here: http://www.youtube.com/user/mattikake

[hairyben]

chrisgtx said:

Well for once i don't blame the government.It's that hatefull greedy little st of a man,really,has he no feelings for his home country,where most of the teams and technology ( not to mention the drivers) are based,of course we all know silverstone isn't the flashiest track in the world,but it's a cracking drivers circuit.
But i guess that won't fill his umpa lumpa dungarees full of hard cash will it?

Whilst true, this doesn't help us any. Bernie appears under the impression he can take all his money with him to the afterlife, and while I can empathise with anyone who say "why should taxpayer $ line his pockets" it's about expenditure/return, and motorsport is one of the few things britain excels at on a global scale. We can't afford not to have a GP. Losing the british GP would harm F1 and harm britain, but the point is bernie simply doesn't care about the harm done to either- he wants $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$ while he can get it, cos lets face it the troll can't have long left. So britain must do whats best for us and swallow it.

Edited by hairyben on Monday 2nd November 10:23

[flemke]

IforB said:

This is about the only time I'll agree with this Government. F1 is a business, any money that the "Government" and for that read "Tax payer" gives to this project would go straight into Bernie's pocket. I'd rather we didn't have a British GP than give that odious pr*ck any more money.

Most of what goes on in Wembley Stadium is business as well, but that didn't keep the Gov't (aka all of us) from paying for part of it.

The 2012 Aquatics Centre (aka three swimming pools) is costing £300m to construct - but they're going to be really nice pools.

The big problem with getting funding for a British GP isn't that Bernie is squeezing his pounds of flesh out of the deal. His cut and his attitude are indefensible, but the issue isn't 4 million pounds. The issue is that F1 is viewed as being sickeningly extravagant, which it is, and that anything to do with greenhouse gasses is viewed as being evil.

[BBS-LM]

dpbird90 said:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula...

Interesting to see that "taxpayers money will not be used to broker a deal"

Why not? I'd rather see my money going towards saving what is easily one of the best Grand Prix events on the calendar than into some fat banker's pocket.

Hahahahah, this coming from Lord Mandelson, the bloke is a Rat? As for tax payers money, why not. we bailed out the banks, and have Billion's to give to the Olympics, so why not F1, we do have 2 world championship drivers.

[IforB]

flemke said:

IforB said:

This is about the only time I'll agree with this Government. F1 is a business, any money that the "Government" and for that read "Tax payer" gives to this project would go straight into Bernie's pocket. I'd rather we didn't have a British GP than give that odious pr*ck any more money.

Most of what goes on in Wembley Stadium is business as well, but that didn't keep the Gov't (aka all of us) from paying for part of it.

The 2012 Aquatics Centre (aka three swimming pools) is costing £300m to construct - but they're going to be really nice pools.

The big problem with getting funding for a British GP isn't that Bernie is squeezing his pounds of flesh out of the deal. His cut and his attitude are indefensible, but the issue isn't 4 million pounds. The issue is that F1 is viewed as being sickeningly extravagant, which it is, and that anything to do with greenhouse gasses is viewed as being evil.

The Olympics is a gigantic waste of money, there isn't much doubt about that, but it is a completely different event to F1. As you say, F1 is overwhelmingly oppulent so the chances of a Labour Government handing over cash to a bunch of people who already as rich as Croesus are precisely nil.

What would the British taxpayer actually get if the money was handed over to Bernie? Naff all. It would just be a PR excercise (which fundamentally is all that F1 is now) At least with the Olympics we'll get some swimming pools and a bit of regeneration (no matter how wasteful the project actually is), with F1 you get nothing tangible in return.

It would be sad if we didn't have a British GP, but that's all it would be. If the teams get all emotional about the Brit GP and they want it to happen, then they should put their hands in their pockets, instead of expecting the Government to simply hand over cash.

F1 to me now comes across as money obsessed and not a little bit slimey because of that. The thought that the British taxpayer should hand over money to a sport like F1 is frankly disgusting.

[AndrewW-G]

IforB said:

What would the British taxpayer actually get if the money was handed over to Bernie? Naff all. It would just be a PR excercise (which fundamentally is all that F1 is now) At least with the Olympics we'll get some swimming pools and a bit of regeneration (no matter how wasteful the project actually is), with F1 you get nothing tangible in return.

Thats why I thought that rather than winky handing over a cheque to Bernie, any money would be better spent on the infrastructure around Silverstone ( or Donnington) and a healthy government grant given to the BRDC to develop the facilities, such a grant and governement involvment would no doubt see other investment take place, thereby ensuring Silverstone has the facilities to allow more money to be made year round and not just at the GP weekend.

It wont happen as Silverstone isnt in london so therefore doesnt matter