It's six months since I last commented on F1. It's about two years since I gave up watching F1.
I still follow the odd F1 story though.
Today's from the BBC is about the sport's attempts to make itself more popular again. They think that it is losing popularity because it is becoming more boring with Red Bull/Vettel winning all of the time. A bit like the '90s when Ferrari/Schumacher were winning everything.
The FIA have come up three changes:
A spending cap for all teams
Double points for the last race of the Season (Abu Dhabi)
Drivers get to chose a number and stick with it for their careers
The first of these is basically a good idea although the richer teams won't like it very much. I've always been of the opinion that if people don't like the dominance of a team - it isn't that team's fault - it is up to the other teams to improve. However, if the other teams don't have as much money to play with, they will never improve enough. I speak here as a fan of a Premiership football club that cannot compete financially with the likes of Manchester City or Chelsea.
The second change is the one that has really set the cat amongst the proverbial pigeons. I love reading the readers' comments at the end of such articles and, in this case, the fans are almost unanimous in their condemnation making some very good points along the way - some teams and drivers perform better at certain tracks - Abu Dhabi is not an exciting circuit - a driver with a 49 point advantage could lose the title.
The third change seemed pointless to me until I read on and saw the commercial/marketing angle - think Nigel Mansell and "Red 5".
I think the commercial/marketing angle must also be coming into play with change 2 since Abu Dhabi is where the money is but not a lot of fan interest.
And, of course, there may be more instances of the championship going to the last race of the Season - hence less boring.
The boring-ness is only one aspect of the dwindling popularity though - another is the sport disappearing behind paywalls in more and more countries - sorry to bring back my reason for giving up on it. Andrew Benson, the BBC Chief F1 writer, believes that the same arrogance that existed among the teams then is still there - he states,
"Inside F1 teams, though, senior figures are more phlegmatic. They are not that worried about the purists - they reckon they will watch anyway. And if this new idea, gimmicky though it is, attracts more casual fans, all the better. "
I have to disagree with them if they really do believe that. They thought that about the BBC/Sky deal and seem to have been proved wrong there.
My favourite comments though come from someone calling himself (or herself) Abu Lincon - a play on Abe Lincoln perhaps? First he (or she) posted,
"Abu has good suggestion to all F1 fans...switch over to the far superior NASCAR...better cars, faster cars, better drivers ( some women too as they are better driver than the man ) and legandary circuits like Daytona, Indianopolis and Sazuka."
I wondered if this was a wind-up mentioning Suzuka but apparently they have raced Nascar there. It was a bit of harmless trolling though because it was followed with this,
"Abu has read your comments again and u all seem sad about rule change, so as Abu good friends with F1 supremo Christoper Ecclestone, i have text him telling him the fans are not happy and he should scrap this rule. He text back sayin "who is this?" and i txt him it his good friend Abu. He hasnt replied back so Chris is obviously thinkin things over so hopefully he change mind and Abu save the day"
I wonder if Abu is British given his mis-spelling of Lincoln and his reference to Christopher Eccleston.
caradvice.co.au have this story today about a new Peugeot 208 commercial being shown in Brazil.
Here's the ad to enjoy...
It is enjoyable apart from the fiery deaths of The Anthill Mob and the Red Max. Interesting to see the Anthill Mob had an Hispano Suiza as well - and Muttley actually looked quite cute at the end.
For those of you who were not car-mad children of the '70s, you may need to check out this Wiki Wacky page to learn about my favouritest ever Hanna-Barbera cartoon.
There were only 17 episodes made, each covering two races. My favourite car was always number 2, the Creepy Coupe driven by The Gruesome Twosome - I haven't got a clue why.
I always felt that car number 2 didn't win very often but, thanks to some sad person on the Wiki page, I now know that they won 3 races and would have come 4th overall if championship points were awarded according to 1968 F1 rules.
The voices were mostly performed by four actors:
Paul Winchell – Dick Dastardly, Private Meekly, Clyde
Don Messick – Muttley, Gravel Slag, Little Gruesome, Prof Pat Pending
Daws Butler – Big Gruesome, Red Max, Sergeant Blast, Peter Perfect
Janet Waldo – Penelope Pitstop
and this is what they looked like: Interesting eh?
Now, being the BBC's chief F1 writer, he isn't going to answer no to that question - but his justifications don't really add up for me. He quotes some stats that seem to show that drivers are driving as hard as they were before the BBC sold out to Sky but the very fact that the question is being asked is evidence that there is something wrong.
As it happens, the timing of F1's waning excitement is entirely coincidental with the Sky deal - the cause appears to be the Pirelli Tyre rule-changes making it easier to overtake.
What?
Easier to overtake!?
How can that be worse for a sport where processional racing has impacted on excitement for years?
Well, apparently, drivers are having to slow down to preserve their tyres. Lot's of media interest was generated by a Lewis Hamilton quote over his pit-radio from the Spanish Grand Prix - "I can't drive any slower". Here is one example.
Judging by the highest-rated comments on Andy's article, those still enthusiastic on the sport all seem to agree that the tyres are an issue.
This weekend sees the Monaco Grand Prix. This was always the highlight of the F1 Year for me - and for many F1 fans. Now the BBC has even lost the rights to cover this race live - whoever did their negotiations (Ben Gallop, Barbara Slater, Mark Thompson) really were inept beyond belief.
This short series concluded on BBC Two last night. I say "short" because it was only on for three episodes and the first two went out on consecutive nights - so why we had to wait a month for the third I'm not sure.
It was mostly a programme about knights.In the first show, Sir Patrick Stewart spoke about and met Sir Stirling Moss. In the second show, car-nut and chef (but no knight) James Martin enthused about and met Sir Jackie Stewart and in show 3, Sir Chris Hoy learned all about Colin McRae who probably should have been a knight. The BBC info on the series is here but the gist is that someone famous goes over a racing legend's life & career and with a little training, gets to drive that legend's racecar. Since the first shows are now fairly distant memories, all I can really remember is that Stirling Moss is a Jewish name and that James Martin can't say "Formula 1" - he kept calling it "formlia 1" - very irritating. Ironically - no, not ironic just sad - the only one of the legends not with us today is the youngest, Colin McRae, the subject of last night's show. He will be known by anyone under the age of 20 as "the bloke behind those video games" but McRae was, indeed, a racing legend. He was winning from an early age although he did have the best start you could wish for given that his father was the very successful rally star Jimmy McRae, pictured above with Sir Chris. Jimmy played a big part in the show and showed that he hasn't lost any of his own skills. Colin became the first British winner of the WRC whilst driving for Subaru where he proved a worthy match for his more experienced team-mate Carlos Sainz who spoke warmly about Colin in the show. Colin was a driving genius - but I think the show showed us that he was a flawed genius too. His desire to win, meant that sometimes, he drove too hard. In 2001, driving for Ford, he nearly won the WRC again. He went into the last race one point up and was leading when he crashed out rather spectacularly. In 2005, he nearly won the Paris-Dakar Rally (which nowadays doesn't go anywhere near Paris or Dakar but in 2005 did actually still finish in Dakar) when, comfortably leading he crashed out rather spectacularly. It's worth taking a look at him in the US X Games event though, driving too hard while trying to take the lead:He finished second. Sadly he was killed, along with his young son, another boy and a friend in 2007 when a helicopter he was piloting crashed near to his home in Scotland. The inquiry verdict blamed him. His father said, "We still believe we will never know what caused the crash but we were never in any doubt as to Colin's prowess as a fine pilot. Everybody knows from Colin's rallying career that safety is always an issue and that his reactions and eye and hand co-ordination were world-class." He may be speaking the truth - I would love to believe that - or he may be in denial - the verdict statements seemed quite unequivocal. "If in doubt - flat out!"A sad end to a fine career and a fine series.
Caught this rather nice article in the online Telegraph this week. It came with this very cheesy photo:
It's about BTCC driver (and reigning champion) Matt Neal teaching his twin sons, Will & Harry, to drive now that they have turned 17.
William and Harry!!
I hadn't though of him being a Royalist. I also hadn't thought of him as being old enough to have kids old enough to drive. He's only about my age!
His sons will have an excellent teacher and it looks like he is trying to keep their feet on the ground including some professional lessons as well. I'm not as sure of the car choices though, a sporty Corsa and an old Beetle with no seatbelts. The former will cost a fortune to insure and the latter has no seatbelts.
I've not mentioned the BTCC much this year - but I haven't missed a race and they have been just as exciting as every recent season. I've not watched any f1 meanwhile and am not missing it in the slightest.
The BTCC last weekend was at Rockingham and much rain caused much sliding off but there were no major disputes - unlike last year when this excellent picture was taken:
I don't usually credit the pictures I find on the 'Net but this is worth a link and a mention of Life Exposed Photography as this picture perfectly captures Matt in full-on anger mode where no other picture of the incident I've found does.
Here, Matt is launching himself at Jason Plato after a serious shunt in qualifying. Good! - we like some passion in our racing drivers. Jason is wisely keeping his helmet on given that Matt practises martial arts and is considerably bigger than him. Meanwhile, their dads are in the picture trying to make sure it doesn't get any worse.
A very un-cheesy photo - but, then again, racing-driver Matt Neal will be nothing like family-man Matt Neal - I hope! And it looks like it is family-man Matt Neal that Wills & Harry have as their driving instuctor.
1903 that is.Fox News have the story of this Model A Rear Entry Tonneau (presumably the forerunner of the Mondeo) coming to auction with a pre-sale estimate of $300,000 to $500,000 - and it only cost $850 when new.
Pistonheads, meanwhile, are reporting on another item up for auction - the Dunlop Bridge from Donington Park.I won't be bidding because I already have the Scalextric version - I don't need the real thing.
Besides, it doesn't include the metal framework which you would need in order to walk over it! Apparently that was scrapped when Donington were doing all the work to upgrade when they were getting set for their ill-fated venture into hosting the British Grand Prix.
When he first appeared on Top Gear many moons ago, I thought they were calling him Tiffany Dell.
Today, I have learned that his name is actually Timothy!
He doesn't look like a Timothy.
The more disturbing news is how I found out that his hame is Timothy - it's on the Discovery Channel UK Website under "Meet the Team" for the new series of Fifth Gear!
Whilst looking on the MSN Cars site today I found a preview for the new series of Fifth Gear.
And yet Channel 5 have been plugging a new series with this photo:When they put up that photo and the news of the return of Fifth Gear, I guess they didn't realise that Discovery UK had done a deal and would actually be showing it.
It is disappointing for me - it means that it has gone over to pay-TV like f1 did so I won't be watching it - at least not until they start showing repeats of it on Quest or Dave or, dare I say it, Channel 5!?
And should it be called "Fifth Gear" now? They called it Fifth Gear when it evolved from Top Gear and moved to Channel 5. Now it's moved to Discovery it should be called "Searching for a Gear" or "Finding the Right Gear" something to do with discovery anyway.
The good news is the return to Fifth Gear of Jason Plato - if that's his real name.
This weekend, as Barry Norman would say, I have been mostly watching DVDs. We had three Blockbuster vouchers to use up before the end of March so got out three films accordingly - two of them were meant to be motoring related.
The first film, Senna, was definitely motoring-related.
Some of my favourite films have been documentaries, usually involving Morgan Spurlock or Michael Moore and this was no exception. It certainly brought back a few memories including Martin Donnelly, a driver whom I had completely forgotten the existance of. Then there was the time when Senna crashed out in the lead at Monaco in 1988 - I had also forgotten about that but had been reminded of it coincidentally just a few days ago when Jeremy Clarkson used it in his Top Gear Magazine column as an example of why speed limits should be seriously increased on Britain's roads.
Despite being a documentary, it had everything a more usual film had - a compelling story from Senna's start in F1 driving for Toleman, through to his tragic death - it also had the heroes (well, hero) and villains - to a certain extent Alain Prost but more-so Jean Marie Balestre - the forerunner to Bernie Ecclestone. Not to mention the drama of the Japanese Grand Prixs (what's the correct plural of that?) and the aftermaths of the famous incidents where Prost then Senna won World Drivers Championships after causing "accidents" that took them both out of the race.
A very dramatic, educational and emotional film - I have to admit to more than a damp eye when Roland Ratzenburger and Ayrton Senna were killed at the end - even though I knew that this was going to happen - documentaries are worse than other films - because they are based on fact. Difficult but worth the watch.
As film number 2, we were meant to be having that excellent, motoring-related film, Cars 2, but my children changed their minds and got a Scooby Doo one out instead - so I didn't watch it. Although Sarah Michelle-Geller was probably in it so maybe I should have.
The third film was Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law and an actress who reminded me of a young Joan Collins.
Well, take a look at this for starters. In particular, check out the comments bit. All those "This comment has been referred for further consideration."s are a tribute to what the BBC thinks of its audience. That particular blog, by Mark Thompson about the Creative Diversity Network Awards would not have been of interest (and would have not received a single comment) had it not been found by F1 fans desperate for some answers to our ongoing questions stemming back to that fateful day in July when the BBC reneged on its promise (and signed and budgeted for contract) to televise F1 in full until the end of the 2013 Season. That Blog has only been read by F1 fans and a moderator called Heather Taylor - I bet the DG hasn't read it - I wonder if he actually even wrote it. Heather Taylor clearly has no interest in F1 and can't be bothered to find out what the fuss is about. In at comment 29 she wrote:
"Thank you for your continued comments. I am one of the editors of the About the BBC blog (which is why I commented earlier). I wanted to explain why some posts have been removed.
We have in place a set of House Rules: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/moderation.shtml#house and if the comment is off topic, we remove it. This isn't to censor. It's so we can focus the conversation on the topic of the blog post.
We do have a team that handles feedback and complaints. If you would like to complain about F1 or any other item, you can complain to the BBC here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/"
Except, as had already been pointed out to her, there has been no response from the literally (and yes, I am using that word correctly) tens of thousands of complaints and questions raised by this shady deal. And as for keeping the conversation on-topic, there was no converstation on-topic - nobody (and yes, I am using that word correctly) was interested in the CDN Awards. She even had the audacity to remove one of my comments - well here it is again:
"I think that, generally, The BBC does a good job, on screen at least, of displaying diversity. The three awards you have received seem to back this up. Of course, you must never get complacent and when opportunities arise to fill new gaps, care must be taken when filling them.
For example, now that Sky have raided your Formula 1 talent pool, albeit leaving you with a diverse Englishman, Irishman & Scotsman, this is a perfect opportunity to expand out and maybe get a Welshman.
On the subject of awards, I see your F1 coverage had earned you the FIA Broadcaster of The Year Award – congratulations - that makes you the best in the World. I believe that Ben Gallop flew out to Delhi and collected it for you. I suppose that is why he has been too busy to respond to the latest 750 or so comments added to his update on the F1 coverage in 2012. I presume that he is back now so will soon be able to answer those very valid questions therein. I admit that in my comment added to your BBC Annual Report & Accounts Blog, I did rather cheekily suggest in August that Colonel Gadaffi would be found before Ben Gallop – sorry about that, I’m sure Ben was busy working on his update – after all, the 8000 comments added to his initial blog were requiring careful consideration.
Anyway, good luck on the Diversity and FIA Awards next year, although you may need to give Sky the majority of any F1 award and keep the highlights for yourself. Channel 4 picked up two CDN awards, wouldn’t it have been nice to have some sort of collaboration with them?"
Me at my sarcastic best, I think you'll agree? And - I'd tried to be a bit on-topic as well!
Now, if you are wondering where the Hell this all stems from, why weren't you reading my Blog back in July when the BBC/Sky F1 Deal was announced by the BBC's head of F1, Ben Gallop? I posted thus. I treated it rather light-heartedly as I saw it as an inevitable bit of Sky TV's plan on taking over all sports broadcasting. Little did I realise just how dirty the deal was and just how much reaction there would be to it.
A week later, things had moved on apace and I posted again. Ben Gallop's announcement Blog had been closed for comment with 8145 angry comments therein and no sight of Ben himself. Ben's boss Barbara Slater also disappeared off the face of the Earth (but did allegedly briefly reappear to enjoy the hospitality at one sunny Grand Prix)
By the start of September, things had moved on again. I returned from my Summer holidays and posted this. Sky TV produced a "trailer" for the Belgian Grand Prix. I put "trailer" in quotes because it was an unashamed advert for Skybet encouraging people to bet on everything from the eventual winner to the time of the first crash - absolutely disgusting and nothing a public-service broadcaster like the BBC should be forcing their customers to watch. Tony Jardine was involved. I think he did F1 for Radio 5 and know is a Scouser. Being a Scouser should endear him to me but this advert was shameful in both content and quality and he seemed quite ignorant - making quite basic mistakes in F1 knowledge. Sky also unveiled Georgie Thompson (any relation to Mark?) - she had just been convicted of drink-driving after a bit of bad parking in her Porsche - so an excellent choice for a motorsports presenter then.
Things had seemed to swing a bit more in our favour though as a few MPs and one in particular (a Lib Dem of all people!) put on a bit of pressure to get some answers from the BBC and from Bernie Ecclestone. Not particularly successfully but at least someone reasonably high-up was listening to us. Thank you Don Foster MP - although I'm not sure "Don in Bath" is a good title for one of your Webpages.
Bernie, meanwhile started coming out with all sorts of random rubbish:
Then Ben Gallop reappeared! He added this update. More nonsense and no proper answers. The Blog was quickly hidden but has still currently managed 850 comments - my main one is at number 292.
Next came Sky stealing the BBC Talent including Martin Brundle who intimated that he might have stayed if they hadn't handled the whole announcement so badly. They've also nicked ITV's Steve Rider (but not for F1 presentation) so I don't know if he'll still be fronting the BTCC next year. The BBC then nicked Ben Edwards from ITV's BTCC coverage but I'm sure Tim Harvey (who's signature sits on a print of a drawing of two Volvo 850s in my hallway) will cope well with another partner in the commentary box.
Then came Mark's turn...
Jump to 2 hours and 7 minutes to see a bit (although nowhere near enough) of squirming as Mark Thompson struggles to justify not inviting Channel 4 to the table - lots of umms and errs. Shame that the questioner, John Whittingdale feels he has been forced into asking about it "just before we finish". If all you can see is a big white square then you are probably using Microsoft Internet Explorer - try Mozilla Firefox instead - it's much better.
So still no answers really, Ben's gone back into hiding and the BBC are still not listening.
I'll not be following F1 next year - I'll still be watching the BTCC, of course though - but who will be sitting in that seat next to Tim Harvey?
This is where ITV need to be smart and hire...
MURRAY WALKER!He's an old man now, so probably not up to jet-setting around the World but still more than up to a few hours work on assorted weekends around Britain. He's extremely knowledgeable - he makes a few howlers but they add to the fun - Tim would keep the facts straight. He's done BTCC Commentary before - he isn't under contract to the Beeb and he would draw in casual and commited fans alike. COME ON ITV - YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!
Before you check this out be warned that you should probably give up just after the Ford advert and as soon as you get bored with Tony Jardine.
That video is Sky's preview for the Belgian Grand Prix which happened last weekend and unfortunately is an indication of what some F1 fans will have to put up with next year.
It is simply encouraging people to gamble with a little help from Skybet.
Sorry to keep harping on about the dirty deal - it's not as though I can't live without F1 - I firmly believe that the BTCC is a more exciting and more accessible racing championship - however, the way the BBC has handled this - and still refuse to discuss it - is downright disgraceful and is what annoys me so much.
They are also censoring their own Blogs and tweets from their own presenters and gagging their presentation team from mentioning the deal during their programmes.
This chap on the right (No, it's not that Grant Mitchell from Eastenders) is being called before a select committee of MPs to answer some questions about the deal. He is Mark Thompson, the Director-General of the BBC.
Speaking as a fan who contacted his own MP on this subject, I am delighted that, at last, we may get some answers.
It may be too late to save F1 - viewing figures and advertising revenue will plummet - but at least it won't feel like the BBC, an organisation I once admired, will have gotten away with this scot-free.
Ooh, sense the bitterness!
I've also been quite impressed by the Mirror, they seem to be the only press organisation who have been on our side. It was also them who broke the story that Bernie Ecclestone said that he would have done a deal with Channel 4 but the BBC blocked it.
There's a story on the BTCC site today about a race happening between one of the BTCC Ford Foci and an ice-cream van. It won't be as straightforward as you'd expect though because this ice-cream van is a 200mph ice-cream van owned by Jody Scheckter.
This race will be happening on Sunday as part of the Snetterton rounds of the British Touring Car Championship together with a host of support races all of which will be free to view in Britain on ITV4.
This contrasts sharply with how the British F1 fans are being treated. I reported last week about the deal done with Sky and since then the backlash has been amazing and the silence from the BBC has been deafening.
The BBC tried to justify it with a Blog posted by their head of F1. This Blog quickly got beseiged with 8415 comments before the BBC shut it with the rather arrogant announcement:
"This blog is now closed to comments.
If you do wish to make a formal complaint about this announcement, or any aspect of it, you can do so at the BBC Complaints website (bbc.co.uk/complaints).
This blog was kept open to comments for longer than usual because of the volume of responses coming in and the clear interest in the subject matter. However, this blog is designed as a place to debate topical issues, rather than a forum that stays open indefinitely.
We are grateful for the high levels of interest in this issue, and the time it has taken everyone to comment here. We have explained the reasons behind the announcement in the initial blog post, and at this stage there is nothing more to add - but we have reviewed the comments and we thank everyone for them.
Sport Hosts"
The vast number of replies to that Blog are articulate and condemn the BBC for this deal and are looking for a better response. Reply number 5555 is particularly good.
At the same time, a petition on petition-buzz was started. This currently has 30,228 signatures.
The Hungarian Grand Prix came and went last weekend with scant mention of this backlash - it was obvious that the presentation team were unhappy but had been told to toe the party line which seems to be keep schtum. This even applied to the post-race red-button forum which is where the fans are supposed to be able to air their views.
The deal stinks for many reasons. One recurring argument is that the BBC could have let the whole F1 rights go to another free-to-air channel so everyone would be able to see all of the races but rather than allow one of their competitors have that, they would rather do a deal with the organisation they have just spent the last three weeks questioning the ethics and morals of.
If that is true, it seriously stinks and heads should roll.
The official response from the BBC is still being eagerly awaited.
Jake Humphrey posted a Blog entry which has now taken over as the place to post your complaints. It's currently sitting there with 1146 replies.
There is now also an Parliamentary e-petition currently with 6097 signatures (including mine) but I'd be surprised if that reaches the 100,000 that is required to get a debate in the House of Commons.
The BBC have let Murray Walker comment but he is not a BBC employee and reluctantly accepts the deal - he also, rather surprisingly, seems to imply that he can't afford Sky TV.
On many occasions within Metro's Car Blog I have discussed and compared F1 & BTCC. I know which I'll be watching next year.
Overall, the lack of coherent responses by the BBC Sport management to the very real arguments being put is disgraceful.
To quote rock-band Foreigner, they're, "As cold as ice".
Bad news today. Sky TV (aka Rupert Murdoch's News International) have been awarded the rights to broadcast all practice, qualifying and races of the 2012 Formula 1 Season and also the following years up to and including 2018.
It could be worse I suppose, the BBC will still be allowed to show half of the races live including the two important ones - Monaco and Britain. They also get the season-finale race but that may or may not be worth seeing because, like this year, the championship may have been decided earlier.
It could also have been worse in that as recently as this month, there was much talk of a possible take-over of the whole of F1 by Murdoch. I think and hope that the phone-hacking scandal has put pay to all that.
That ESPN article article claims that Bernie is very good friends with the Murdochs but it's apparently impossible to find a photo of them together - I wonder why?
My main objection to Sky taking over another sport though is that I (and there are many others too) am too stingy, poor and Murdoch-hating to pay and will not be able to see as much live action.
It also means we will see less of these guyswhich is a shame.
Still, Bernie here will have done a good deal, he always does.Mind you, Rupert is also known for his hard-dealing - I guess the best businessman will have won out - I'm sure there wouldn't be any dirty tricks involved.
Hang on, isn't Bernie using a mobile phone in that picture?
Saw this F1 story yesterday in my new favourite car news site, Autoguide.com. It claims that "many companies associated with the commercial side of the sport are very concerned about a decline in popularity" possibly as a result of rule changes such as reducing the number of engine cylinders and the max rpm.
I don't see these changes affecting the popularity of the sport - maybe the engine notes won't be quite as roary - but that won't affect the majority of spectators - ie viewers at home. Those at the circuits may survive longer before deafness kicks in as well.
As for the reduction in engine revs, it's already having a positive impact with considerably more cars finishing races. Mind you, the cameras do enjoy a big engine blow-out and cars skidding on dropped oil.
The biggest threat to the popularity of F1 at the moment is Sebastian Vettel winning every race. Last year was much more exciting.
The promoters are considering moving over to Indycars.
This may be fine if they are American-based but the rest of the world is not interested in Indycars. It's a bit like the sport Americans call "Football" and the rest of the world calls "American Football".
Looking at the official Indycar Website, they have a lot of drivers, currently led by Britain's own (OK Scotland's own) Dario Franchitti but the only other ones I've heard of are Danica Patrick and Takuma Sato. They do, rarely, travel outside of the US but only as far as Brazil, Canada and Japan.
I don't ever see Indycar rivalling F1. A1GP tried and failed to do so - they will never have the magic of Monaco or Silverstone or the personalities or the glamour.
They've managed to find an awful picture of Bernie for the article - nearly as bad as his black-eye pics. He seems to have some sympathy for the argument. I don't.
I think I generally like Bernie - he is a ruthless businessman - but not a Rupert Murdoch. He was good fun on Top Gear last week directing Jeremy around the Monaco circuit. I don't even hold it against him that he is a co-owner of Queens Park Rangers Football Club - although some QPR fans might! He also sometimes gets it wrong like when he was reluctant to postpone or cancel the Bahrain GP - as time goes on, it still looks very wrong to go there.
There is one thing that Indycars has over F1 though...
I bring you back to one of the three drivers I'd actually heard of, Danica Patrick.
No, not you, you dozy bint. You're enough of a reason to avoid ITV2 on your own. Go away!
No, not Eddie either. The Chinese Grand Prix was good, with a particularly impressive drive by Mark Webber to get on the podium from 18th on the grid and a nice win for Lewis too.No, not the country of Jordan. Apparently Sebastien Ogier won but I had to go onto the WRC Website to find out. No, I'm talking about this innocuous looking chap here - Andrew Jordan. He won one race and came second in another of the three at the Donington Round of the BTCC. The meeting will be mostly remembered for the carnage though. In race two, Jason Plato had a very spectacular crash...and race three saw considerably more carnage albeit not as spectacular as that one. Those interested (in the UK at least) can watch the races here.
God, I wish that were true. She's an extremely irritating freak. I can't be the only person who genuinely doesn't give a toss what Katie does next.
But, as ever in my Blog, she isn't what this post is about.
No way baby. I'm referring to the fourth round of the World Rally Championship which hits the country of Jordan on Thursday. Did everyone follow the first three rounds?
Of course not. Even The Dave Channel has given up on it this year. That may or may not have to do with a deal with ESPN but what, for all I know, may be a very exciting championship is getting zero mainstream coverage in the UK. And this is the year that was supposed to be more exciting with new rules, regulations and cars and even a third manufacturer team. This team has provided the only mention I've heard this year, when they press-launched the new car:(it's the one on right)
I complained last November and things have not improved - if anything they are worse - the sport has lost a golden opportunity to gain some popularity here in the UK - ESPN money is probably false economy and if people are not that interested, ESPN will also then lose interest.
Anyway, it's about time I did a motorsport review given that we've already had two Grand Prix and one round of the BTCC.
The first Grand Prix, in Australia, was the usual dull opener - mostly processional but, like last year, the second race was much better. The highlights were off-track though, with Vitaly Petrov getting his Lotus-Renault-Lada-JPS-Racing airborne:and Eddie Jordan wearing an even worse shirt than this one from last year:
At least there is one Jordan I don't change channel to avoid.
The use of the new flaps helped and there was some skillful overtaking but still not as much as in...
...the BTCC. The end of the first day of 2011 BTCC saw a similar situation to F1 with the reigning champion comfortably ahead but all evidence is that the BTCC will be as tight as ever and it is still my favourite competition.
Even if one of the cars does look like the sort of thing Jordan would drive.
The Foreign Office say not to travel there on non-essential business.
The race meeting is less than three weeks from now and anything could happen between then and now - the Prince could be exiled to Abu Dhabi by then.
The costs of postponing or cancelling the race would be astronomical but some teams are already threatening to boycott for the safety of their own people and I have to agree with them. According to the article, insurance exists but, as with any policy, they will try to weasel out of it - that's why they call it a risky business.
Bahrain is a geographically and politically very important, oil-rich island so I can see why Bernie wouldn't want to upset them but if I were an opposition protester then this would be too good an opportunity for publicity to miss. That means extra security in place - probably armed - probably army - I dread to think what could happen.
"F1 insiders have told BBC Sport that the teams' contractual commitments to Ecclestone's Formula 1 Management company mean they would be obliged to attend the race if it is held."
So, if they don't get shot by the army, they will get sued by Bernie!
The only other Grand Prix in the Middle East region is Abu Dhabi in November. I would imagine things are much more stable there but who knows?
Gosh, this post looks very serious and sinister.
By the way, did you know that the Bahraini people don't like The Flintstones?
That was the old acronym for Lotus, given that the old Esprits and Eclats were never the most reliable of cars - much smoke and oil-leakage would often ensue.
They seem to have sorted their engines out nowadays so we can use the acronym to describe the wranglings going on in their F1 ambitions instead.
Last month, I gave my take on how I understood the sitiuation to be.
I'm very optimistic about what the new Lotus boss, Dany Bahar, is doing and what he wants to do with the brand - he's already announced a series of five new cars over the next couple of years - and, most importantly, their names all begin with the letter E.
But this is a big gamble for Lotus and I think he's missing a serious trick by getting involved in F1. It will be bloody expensive and it will be linking Lotus with Renault - another Company who have had vehicle reliability issues in the past.
By leaving Tony Fernandes to continue with his plans, Lotus get a load of free publicity (albeit with a less successful and less attractive car) - expensive Court time and bad publicity are avoided and there is a lot more cash available to keep the road car business going while the new models are introduced.
Oops, I've just noticed that I've accidentally put up a picture of Dany Behr - silly me! Here's Dany Bahar:
Yet another BBC story. BBC Sport have announced the new commentary team for the 2011 F1 Season. They've shown Jonathan Legard the door with Martin Brundle now taking over as main commentator and David Coulthard in the sidekick role. I never had any problems with Legard but according to a few articles elsewhere in the media, he "grated" with some viewers.
I thought the 2010 set-up worked very well, especially Martin Brundle's grid walkabouts where he would try and get reluctant drivers, team officials and members of various royal families to speak into his microphone. I also loved the interplay between Coulthard and Eddie Jordan. I hope they still have time for this.
The best ever commentary team for me though, was when James Hunt played the sidekick to this man - the king of motorsport commentators:
No. Mike Ashley is divorced so he doesn't have a wife. So that can't be the explanation for his sudden sacking as Newcastle United manager this week. No, the straightforward answer is that Mike Ashley must be an idiot.
If only everything in sport was nice and straightforward like that.
Take Formula 1 for instance.
For a couple of seasons now, we have two teams sponsored by Red Bull, there's Red Bull and Toro Rosso (which happens to be Italian for "Red Bull") - one uses Renault engines, one uses Ferrari engines. Renault meanwhile had their own team powered by a Renault engine - but then again, they sold their stakes in their team so the Renault team isn't really the Renault team at all, it just had their name and their engine - they also had sponsorship from Lada and a Russian driver - but then again, Renault own a bit of Lada. Meanwhile, Lotus, who are owned by Proton, also rejoined F1 in 2010 using an attractive green livery and a quite unsuccessful car.
Renault and Lotus were both successful during my favourite F1 period from the late '70s into the early '90s with lovely looking cars such as these...It was announced today, though, that Group Lotus has joined F1. Does that mean the existing Lotus team has been renamed?
Does it buggery!
Well, actually it has been renamed to Team Lotus, but that isn't to be confused with Group Lotus who will own the team but also own "Lotus Renault GP" which is what the old Renault-but-not-owned-by-Renault team will be known as..
I think.
So, we'll end up with four Loti (James Hunt invented the word "Loti" as plural of Lotus - I invented the word "Double-decker-bi" as plural of Double-Decker bus), four Red Bulls, two McLarens and two Mercedes, as opposed to two McLaren-Mercedes as we had before 2010, two Ferraris (but at least four Ferrari engines) and Lord knows what other combination of Hispanias, Williams, Saubers and the like.
I think I know which will be the best looking cars on the grid though...
...but good news for Sebastien Vettel! Good news for Sébastien Loeb as well but that's another story. It looks to me like Alonso was effectively scuppered by a mistake by Vettel's Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber.The story is covered by BBC News here so I'll not go into too much detail. Suffice it to say that Mark Webber clipping the barrier with his offside-right-rear wheel and causing a significant spark was not planned but it probably led to him being concerned enough about his tyres and wheel to pit earlier than planned.
This then spooked Ferrari into bringing in their drivers for fresh rubber.
This brought Webber (and the Ferraris) back into the race among traffic they would have been well clear of if they'd waited. Webber got stuck for a lap behind Jaime Alguesari who would have been in a bit of a dilemma due to the incestuous nature of F1 with his Red Bull sponsorship and Ferrari engine and no obligation to let Webber past since they were fighting for track position.
This left Vettel and the Mclarens of Hamilton and Button to take the podium positions and Vettel to take the Championship.
My prediction last November that Jenson Button will not be World Champion in 2010 came true last week when his mathematical chances were destroyed although he did finish up a creditable fifth including a couple of good race wins.
