Silverstone to opt out of hosting GP
Discussion
http://www.itv.com/news/2017-01-05/future-of-briti...
It would seem that the BRDCC are considering cancelling the British GP, starting 2019.
It is concern about the cost, the circuit losing £2m in a good year.
Or, of course, it could be just a ploy to get CVC to drop the price. There is a rumour that a number of other European countries are also considering opting out. If this is a joint action then I reckon there’s a good chance of it succeeding. If it is solely Silverstone then no.
There was a suggested move to concentrate more on corporate events, with hotels and such. It has a helicopter pad.
It is a shame, something of a tragedy.
It would seem that the BRDCC are considering cancelling the British GP, starting 2019.
It is concern about the cost, the circuit losing £2m in a good year.
Or, of course, it could be just a ploy to get CVC to drop the price. There is a rumour that a number of other European countries are also considering opting out. If this is a joint action then I reckon there’s a good chance of it succeeding. If it is solely Silverstone then no.
There was a suggested move to concentrate more on corporate events, with hotels and such. It has a helicopter pad.
It is a shame, something of a tragedy.
Edited by Derek Smith on Thursday 5th January 18:12
Ecclestone was contacted by ITN and he said that he'd use another British circuit. That would mean reducing the price. There's no way Brands or Donington could afford the price as they'd never get 150,000 plus to go. Brands would lead to traffic queuing back onto the M25 for hours. I went there in the late 80s and people were parking on the motorway as far back as the junction with the M26.
Donington's got the M1, and I'm sure that will cope without problems. Mind you, there's the airport.
Still, what does he care?
Donington's got the M1, and I'm sure that will cope without problems. Mind you, there's the airport.
Still, what does he care?
rdjohn said:
Apart from that, everything is just dandy and I (65-years old) can't wait for the start of the season.
For years I thought F1 was the only game in town. The (deliberate?) lack of support in the days of the previous bloke in charge of the FIA for other forumlae meant that sports cars and rallying lacked the press support. For a while in the late 80s I went to a few sports car events, and thoroughly enjoyed them, but they seemed to stagnate. I subscribed to dailysportscar.com and that got me going but a rainy day for the 6 hrs one year at Silverstone where the organisers didn't appear to want to run it - not even opening the covered stands - meant I didn't go again for a few years. This year I might be off to Le Mans, I'm going to Silverstone for the WEC on 16 April http://www.silverstone.co.uk/events/2017-fia-world... and the Classic, which has had a date change I think, to 30 July.
So no GP for me this year. I thought there was a rally cross event there but it would appear I am wrong.
But, twisted and irritating though it is, I'll follow F1 through the season, on Ch 4 and Now!
Ahonen said:
I went with my parents to the very first UK truck race at Donington in around '84 and it genuinely did take four hours to leave the car park. I've never experienced anything like that since.
The bottleneck of those last two miles to the track would be horrendous from the M1 and A42. Hey, maybe a park and ride system from Nottingham could work...
I went for the weekend to see WSC in '89. The best 90 minutes of racing I've ever seen, but then the Jags had problems and it was left to a Nissan to make out it was threatening the to leading C9 Mercs, so we had four and a half hours of watching silver cars in the lead. We were invited into the Merc tent area after the race - a really nice crowd of blokes we'd been exchanging words with all weekend - and enjoyed a meal with them, while my mate got drunk. We were there for about two hours. We took our tent down, cleared up and then joined the queue to the M1.The bottleneck of those last two miles to the track would be horrendous from the M1 and A42. Hey, maybe a park and ride system from Nottingham could work...
When we left Brands in 87 after the Silk Cut Jags beat the Mercs, due in the main to the latter two colliding, we got out smoothly and without delay.
There are exclusive comments from Ecclestone on ITN - they doorstepped him. I'm not sure I believe what he says though, whatever it is.
What will govern what's going to happen is the intent of Liberty. If they think they need the classic circuits then they need the old European stalwarts. On the other hand, if they are going for 20+ races then two cheaper race venues will give them as much profit.
There's been nothing from Liberty apart from some bland reassurances. One would assume they are in talks but with whom? There's no FOCA, so Ferrari will no doubt be first call and Red Bull will sulk. Merc will threaten to pull out if they don't get what they want. McLaren will be of no consequence and Williams won't be asked.
With Manor going to the wall there is the (remote?) possibility that there will be two fewer cars on the grid. That won't be welcome news to Liberty. I wonder if it will precipitate some move, a reallocation of winnings possibly? Like the threat from Silverstone, it is a warning.
Over recent times there's been just the one power broker. The FIA has little influence over, even less income from, F1 so Todt's absence is perhaps understandable. The teams have no real power, and with Ferrari jealously guarding its advantages this is likely to continue. It is a nice thought that Liberty might tell them to get on their bike if they want, but I would have thought they can't afford to upset the Italian fans. But then, nor the British come to that.
The Spanish fans seem not to be bothered, rather like Alonso. So whilst we kid ourselves that F1 is Europe, a God's Own Country or three, and a couple of other places the circus used to condescend to travel to, it's future might mean sand, rice and curry.
The only thing going for European races is that if European can't be bothered then it ceases to be a premiere league sport and it loses its marketability. Perhaps a drop in price has a business case?
Another thing that puts F1 at risk is competition, and not only classic events. I went to an LMES race at Silverstone one year, 2005 or 6, and there was no traffic. Fair enough, I set out early, about four hours after I would have done for an F1 event. I had a special parking permit for the area used by the teams, and it had more cars in it than all the others I'd passed put together. I'd had to hunt on the website to find start times.
I spoke with one of the team principles, asking him why the lack of promotion generally, even by the circuit. He said that the BRDC was negotiating with Ecclestone, who was then buddies with Mosley, and they could not afford to upset him. Despite it raining, they didn't even bother to open the covered stands. The circuit put it to the teams that the race should stop at four and a half hours. One of the mechanics said that it was all politics.
Todt seems to be keen on other formulae. So promotion of sports car racing has increased, to the extent of cooperation with the ACO I've read, although that seems iffy.
One thing, though: Silverstone is not an entirely spectator-friendly place. The main stands along the pitstraight provide a view of a little bit of the track, and that's as long as you don't sit behind some idiot with a flag on a stick. You can't even see some of the pits!
I'd love it if Brands did get the race, but I'm not sure I'd accept having to wait until midnight before getting out of the circuit.
It's a few years until 2019, plenty of time for 'things' to happen. Perhaps we'll get a different view of what's needed to get on board the generations that have been ignored by F1. Or perhaps someone negotiating who has the long term interest of the sport in his or her mind - now there's a revolutionary thought. Someone who realises that it's not fan or money, but that one feeds on the other.
I think this is a shot across the bows of Liberty. Nothing's been done yet, just a bit of salting the battlefield. Is so, about time the BRDC became a bit more aggressive.
What will govern what's going to happen is the intent of Liberty. If they think they need the classic circuits then they need the old European stalwarts. On the other hand, if they are going for 20+ races then two cheaper race venues will give them as much profit.
There's been nothing from Liberty apart from some bland reassurances. One would assume they are in talks but with whom? There's no FOCA, so Ferrari will no doubt be first call and Red Bull will sulk. Merc will threaten to pull out if they don't get what they want. McLaren will be of no consequence and Williams won't be asked.
With Manor going to the wall there is the (remote?) possibility that there will be two fewer cars on the grid. That won't be welcome news to Liberty. I wonder if it will precipitate some move, a reallocation of winnings possibly? Like the threat from Silverstone, it is a warning.
Over recent times there's been just the one power broker. The FIA has little influence over, even less income from, F1 so Todt's absence is perhaps understandable. The teams have no real power, and with Ferrari jealously guarding its advantages this is likely to continue. It is a nice thought that Liberty might tell them to get on their bike if they want, but I would have thought they can't afford to upset the Italian fans. But then, nor the British come to that.
The Spanish fans seem not to be bothered, rather like Alonso. So whilst we kid ourselves that F1 is Europe, a God's Own Country or three, and a couple of other places the circus used to condescend to travel to, it's future might mean sand, rice and curry.
The only thing going for European races is that if European can't be bothered then it ceases to be a premiere league sport and it loses its marketability. Perhaps a drop in price has a business case?
Another thing that puts F1 at risk is competition, and not only classic events. I went to an LMES race at Silverstone one year, 2005 or 6, and there was no traffic. Fair enough, I set out early, about four hours after I would have done for an F1 event. I had a special parking permit for the area used by the teams, and it had more cars in it than all the others I'd passed put together. I'd had to hunt on the website to find start times.
I spoke with one of the team principles, asking him why the lack of promotion generally, even by the circuit. He said that the BRDC was negotiating with Ecclestone, who was then buddies with Mosley, and they could not afford to upset him. Despite it raining, they didn't even bother to open the covered stands. The circuit put it to the teams that the race should stop at four and a half hours. One of the mechanics said that it was all politics.
Todt seems to be keen on other formulae. So promotion of sports car racing has increased, to the extent of cooperation with the ACO I've read, although that seems iffy.
One thing, though: Silverstone is not an entirely spectator-friendly place. The main stands along the pitstraight provide a view of a little bit of the track, and that's as long as you don't sit behind some idiot with a flag on a stick. You can't even see some of the pits!
I'd love it if Brands did get the race, but I'm not sure I'd accept having to wait until midnight before getting out of the circuit.
It's a few years until 2019, plenty of time for 'things' to happen. Perhaps we'll get a different view of what's needed to get on board the generations that have been ignored by F1. Or perhaps someone negotiating who has the long term interest of the sport in his or her mind - now there's a revolutionary thought. Someone who realises that it's not fan or money, but that one feeds on the other.
I think this is a shot across the bows of Liberty. Nothing's been done yet, just a bit of salting the battlefield. Is so, about time the BRDC became a bit more aggressive.
All in all it is a worrying move. It might be nothing more than a stance from the BRDC for better conditions. The circuit is in a fairly strong position as it is they who can pull the plug and Liberty has no say. They could do a Rosberg and fly off at the last moment. What they need to do is start a new FOCO, in this case for circuits. They don't need them all on board, not that they would get them, but could get a significant number.
There might be other developments in the near future.
As a previous poster mentioned, 2019 might be significant as it will no longer be free to air in the UK. If attendances drop over the weekend, they take the hit.
Or, of course, it could be Brexit.
There might be other developments in the near future.
As a previous poster mentioned, 2019 might be significant as it will no longer be free to air in the UK. If attendances drop over the weekend, they take the hit.
Or, of course, it could be Brexit.
Eric Mc said:
I've been thinking this for a long time. One of the problems is that every element of F1 (teams, circuits, sponsors, TV companies etc) are in competition with each other - so getting a group together to stand up to the commercial rights holders, whoever they may be, has proved pretty much impossible.
Indeed, the rights holders have used the inability of the participants to present a united front as a weapon against them.
Maybe, some day, this will change. I certainly hope so - because the way things are being managed now will only result in one outcome.
You are spot on, of course. Indeed, the rights holders have used the inability of the participants to present a united front as a weapon against them.
Maybe, some day, this will change. I certainly hope so - because the way things are being managed now will only result in one outcome.
To have just the one authority is not necessarily bad in itself as long as the person/group has targets that will ensure the long term health of the sport. So we are in the s
t.There does not have to be a confrontation. Indeed, it will benefit the sport if the needs of all concerned at taken into account.
We have Sky with the exclusive rights in this country. That's not good.
I dumped Sky Sports, which included F1, with the intention of using Now! and wandering around to friends' houses. However, I only watched four of the non free to air races. More to the point, I didn't miss the others.
Liberty will need to service their loan and that means income. They've suggested more races, but I'm not sure that's going to bring all that much in.
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