F1 F1 2024 thread

[Gasometer]

0.27….in his jocks? Poor millionaire

 

[Not Important]

 

[DamoESP]

The GDPA with a very direct statement to the FIA and its President…

 

[Bedi]

IMHO it's all about the professionalism and motivations of the commentary team.

Being biased towards British drivers was definitely NOT the case when Murray Walker and James Hunt was commentating or when Martin Brundle teamed up with Walker. Because they were professionals who cared about the sport of F1 and not what bloody country a driver was born in.

If a driver was shite then James Hunt would call him out regardless of what accent he had. His nick names for crappy drivers were legendary (and totally disrespectful of course in a way that wouldn't be regarded as acceptable in 2024).

This pro British bias has evolved over time as Sky has played a more dominant role in the sport and has reached plague proportions with the recruitment of the likes of Croft, Chandhok et al and as Brundle has taken a step back from attending every race.

There's another UK commentary team out there by the way that in my view is far more balanced and less shouty than the Sky mob. But we will never get to see them here (apart from guest appearances on Ten during the Australian GP) because the F1 broadcasts in Australia have been purchased by Sky's sister organisation Foxtel.

And sadly there just isn't the viewer interest in Australia to justify an Australian broadcaster stumping up the cost to broadcast a Sky competitors F1 feed - especially as more races are taking place in venues with time zones way out of synch with Australia.

Nope, Aussie F1 fans are stuck with the appalling Sky broadcast for the time being I'm afraid unless the global Fox/Sky empire is broken up and sold by his kids on Rupert Murdoch's death.

Heaven help us all when Brundle finally walks away in the meantime.

Was good having Alan Jones and Darrell Eastlake in the chair beforehand too. Just pretty much just cut straight to the race. We are so freakin lucky to have all the qualifying and practice sessions among other content today. For that reason i am not too bothered by current day commentators, but yes Brundell is the only decent one. Need to get Rosberg on there more too. He tells it like it is. Remember Coulthard was pretty good on BBC, too.

 

[Festerz]

The GDPA with a very direct statement to the FIA and its President…

Well said. A reminder that the GDPA is effectively the F1 drivers union with all 2024 drivers being members. George Russell holds a director's position and Alex Wurz, the former McLaren and Williams driver, its long-standing chair.

This is them telling Sulayem to pull his head in. They are saying what the teams want to say but can't.

Strength in unity.

 

[Nuggs Bunny]

The FIA's position is nonsensical anyway. The drivers are the asset. The owners of F1 have made the personality of the drivers as a selling point thus they've got a camera in their face at every opportunity. Now there's shock that the drivers who operate in such a high stress environment (that makes for great TV) aren't always perfect people? Spare me

 

[Festerz]

Rest assured there's been a lot of hectic angry politicking going on behind the scenes leading up to this statement. Putting the spotlight back on the Ben Sulayem, whose reign as FIA President has been filled with controversy, via the drivers' union is a very clever move.

Ben Saleyem seems to think he can use the sport as a platform to mount a personal crusade against western values - swearing, lack of modesty, rappers etc. Great to see him being called to account.

"our members are adults, they do not need to be given instructions via the media about matters as trivial as wearing of jewellery and underpants."

F1 drivers' united stance leaves Ben Sulayem with nowhere to hide

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is on a collision course with Formula 1’s drivers and has created a bigger problem than the one he felt needed to be solved

www.the-race.com

 

[Black_White]

Bottas and Zhou both gone for 2025

“Conditions to continue together could not be met”.
Yeah, that’s because you built a pig of a car that is never in the race. Don’t blame the drivers.

 

[Festerz]

“Conditions to continue together could not be met”.

I think that's code for - we told our two drivers we wanted to cut their pay and bring in a larger share of their own sponsorship money and they said no.