What do viewers at home love about F1? It is great wheel-to-wheel racing? Lots of overtaking? Strategy calls? Or the venues? Looking at the polarised reactions to this past weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix got me wondering. A few of the journalists were pretty effusive about the race. Will Buxton was particularly euphoric: Epic race. One […]
Williams protest questionable aero
One news story that began to develop late on Saturday night in Melbourne was that Williams had lodged a protest against Ferrari and Red Bull. Nothing appears to have happened on that front yet, so I assume that everyone has gone to bed and it will be sorted in the morning. There isn’t a lot […]
Could Melbourne be a dusk race?
We have just about become comfortable with the concept of night races, after the success of last year’s Singapore Grand Prix. But in Bernie Ecclestone’s quest to have all races starting at a sociable hour in Europe, could he have inadvertently invented the dusk race? There were a couple of close calls last season. The […]
The disappointment of Valencia shows that fans have been forgotten
I’ve been thinking a bit about the recent European Grand Prix. Almost universally, Formula 1 fans have expressed their disappointment in what was — even by F1’s standards — an incredibly boring race. However, equally universally, those who are lucky enough to live in the Formula 1 bubble were effusive in their praise of the […]
Thoughts on Australia and Malaysia
Well I didn’t get a chance to post my thoughts on the Australian Grand Prix. The Malaysian Grand Prix came around so quickly. It’s a bit much to have back-to-back races straight after the off season — like being thrown in at the deep end. Anyway, it’s a good opportunity now for me to get […]
Australia and night races: why?
I have written before about the stick the Australian Grand Prix bosses are getting from all angles. Even since I wrote that post, Bernie Ecclestone’s demands have become ever more extreme. In particular, Mr Ecclestone’s current obsession with night races appears to have deepened. His comments suggest that he very much wants to have his […]
More woes for Australian Grand Prix organisers?
Over the past few weeks there have been a number of stories surrounding the Australian Grand Prix. It must seem as though everyone wants to throw stones at Ron Walker and co. Of course, this is nothing new. Bernie Ecclestone’s carping criticisms are par for the course whenever any circuit’s contract is coming up for […]
The Commonwealth Games are crap, but I’ll watch them anyway
I was going to write a post about how I just don’t get the Commonwealth Games. It’s not an aversion to sport, and it’s not necessarily an aversion to the British Empire (+ Mozambique), or whatever it was that ended up being today’s Commonwealth of Nations. Although I could talk about that in a minute. […]
F1 struggling to hold 11? I think not
When I was growing up watching Formula 1, there were always 22 cars. It seemed to be a kind of unwritten rule of F1, that there were 11 teams and 22 cars. Then, with rumblings from Honda and the arrival of Toyota, there seemed destined to be 12 or even more teams on the grid. […]