Liberty Media buy F1

[cider_and_toast]

"Dad, why has my favourite driver lost five places on the grid?"

"Well son, he has a thing called an AJDRX/15-D on his car and he has used 4 this season when he should have only used 3"

"Yeah but he set a brilliant lap Dad and that AJ what's it made no difference to how fast he went on the day"

"I know son but the rules are the rules"

"It's ok, he can make up those places off the line, look the race is about to start..... The lights are out and it's go.... You see Dad, three places at the first corner, wow, bit of Argy bargy there but rubbing is racing as they say"

"Hang on Son, message from the stewards coming through. Oh dear, car number 33 and a 1/3 under investigation for causing an avoidable accident. Looks like your man could get a time penalty"

"No chance Dad, the reigning world champion did that in the last race and he got away with it"

"Ah yes but he drives for a team that gets a few extra privileges because they raced for a few seasons back in the 50's"

"How is that allowed? Oh bugger it. I'm off to watch the Formula E race. It has none of this crap"

 

[cider_and_toast]

All joking aside, I watched the start of the FE race and I think it was JEV (happily be corrected as the memories gone foggy) who made a hash of the start and sent another driver into a spin which in turn forced a few cars including Mitch Evans to go very wide and lose a few places. It just shows my expectation after years of watching F1 I fully expected to see a stewards inquiry in progress warning flash up on screen.

 

[RasputinLives]

What's funny about that is that Max had been sent to that race to watch how the stewards work:

*Max and stewards watch start*

Max: So who is going to get the penalties?

Steward: No one for that. That's just a racing incident off the start.

Max: I KNEW IT!!!!!

*later on watches two team mates take each other out*

Max: woah! Busy night for you guys staying behind after trying to figure out who was at fault, what sanctions you put in place and which rules you change to look like you're clamping down on this sort of thing

Steward: Nah. Nothing to do with us. They both lost places. Let team sort it out. We're going to knock off straight after podium and have a kebab.

Max:..........are their any spare race seats?...also I like kebabs can I come?

Steward: Sure as long as you wear a few

Max: Fez are cool.

 

[gethinceri]

My new "reaction" option would be required here.

 

[cider_and_toast]

RasputinLives

My point exactly.

 

[vintly]

Two weeks later...

“Dad, what’s this funny fizzy-whizz parade?”

“This is the Formula E race son.”

“Oh.”

 

[F1Brits_90]

why am I reading weird stories about liberty media leaving F1 & selling up, anyone seen these weird stories
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

edit - just found this
Adam Stern on Twitter

 

[Il_leone]

Having read this it would sound like Liberty Media have raised the white flag and realise you can't take on the manufacturers - Merc and Ferrari and expect to win

This could be now be a very uncertain times for F1

 

[F1Brits_90]

you can't take on the manufacturers - Merc and Ferrari and expect to win

if it true, where I have I heard that before the big team so selfish in their thinking that they'd rather ruin the sport than help. oh yeah thats right every bloody time

im starting to think a dictatorship isnt too bad in F1. these are the rules dont like it tough

 

[Izumi]

It would be useful to realize that advance technology planning, research and implementation takes time. Years and maybe a decade before it matures from early, largely empirical life. Just because Malone so infamously declared some time ago (paraphrasing) - sue me, I have time and money, it does not implies technology sector will bend over and jump over the cliff. One has to go back when a new CA was negotiated, and CVC with FiA were placed into situation when teams put their objectives on the table. I think it was on Ecclestone and FiA to reject those, and let teams to leave. Reality however is, they caved and accepted what teams wanted, instead forming 2 tiers series, which was inevitable. Today who is to blame for what essentially was perhaps shortsighted decision in some offices, including Liberty? Manufacturers have different set of objectives for racing in F1 as perhaps Williams and them similar.

Forming two-tiers racing series is one solution, other is to let some teams go and start over. Dr. Zetsche is leaving in May, and who knows what new Daimler leadership will do. Problem is, there is the visionary future with self-driving vehicles, and Daimler, BMW and VW are exploring collaboration in research of new technologies, which is commendable, however that costs money. A lot of money. I am not convinced that Daimler is interested to race in series where 120MM budget has to cover a lot of budget items. For them F1 is also a show-case for displaying technology acumen. As it is, I think pendulum is slightly off centre aiming South-for leave. I give it 40% they will stay beyond 2020. Ferrari - I am not sure. There is someone else needed between Maranello and New York. I am not sure who it is, so, we are waiting. Changes at the top to follow (methinks).

 

[FB]

I still struggle to understand how Mercedes Benz, a maker of executive cars and mid-size saloons, gets any worthwhile publicity from F1 (I knwo they make a couple of sports cars but it's not their primary business). But then what do Renault get out of it? Both would be better off doing WEC, to prove the durability of their cars, or focus solely on Touring Cars.

Anywho, I struggle to see how a bunch of Americans can run F1 when their own countrymen aren't interested in watching the sport so it's no real surprise that they will be off shortly. Who next to swallow Bernie's poison pill?

 

[Publius Cornelius Scipio]

Their are there there to make money, if the reports that I have seen in the past are true they made loads of money out of F1 so far, it's only natural that they are now looking for potentials buyers (especially considering that the viewers numbers keep on going down, they better sell while F1 has still some value)

 

[Izumi]

I would like to know where would Liberty find a buyer crazy enough to dive in after due diligence of the existing mess is performed. I can't see Ecclestone returning due to his respectable age. Maybe if several automobile companies could get together, scale the operations down, and form a new series to their own image. (But then, maybe I am dreaming.)

 

[RasputinLives]

Weren't Liberty tied in to owning and running F1 the same as Ecclestone lot until 2021 due to Bernie paying out to directors on projected profits? Not a great selling point.

 

[Izumi]

Hard to trust what one reads on various F1 websites, but in one instance I recall they were quoted that their hands are tied by existing CAs, which they had to honor. Liberty "parked" Ecclestone on sidelines, totally ignoring him (which totally hurt his feelings).

 

[Angel]

Don't you think if Bernie got a sniff of being in charge again he'd be there with bells on? I do.

I know it's not as simple as all that though. Seems Liberty thought they were going to swoop in and sort everything out only to find, they can't, despite sidelining Bernie. It's a hard lesson for them and it hardly makes it appealing to buyers. Would you want to spend all that money to take on something that is clearly not easy to run? I think it would make me think twice or even three times.

 

[F1Brits_90]

Don't you think if Bernie got a sniff of being in charge again he'd be there with bells on? I do.

without a doubt. the man spent 40 selling & buying F1
-------------------------
the problem for liberty is still bernie legacy where he tried to the sport over the last 10yrs kf his rejgn that he spent 30yrs building. chasing the money pay tv circuit fees & trying to please the big teams to the detriment of the sport. which has also sent budgets sky high & pay drivers ate creeping in which is lowering standard of the grid

this is big tanker to turn around & its going to take time & help from participants which in F1 isnt very forthcoming. maybe liberty just realised how big

 

[Publius Cornelius Scipio]

Seems Liberty thought they were going to swoop in and sort everything out only to find, they can't, despite sidelining Bernie.

On the one hand I agree, they were supposed to achieve great things but in the end they haven't delivered so far, at least on the sporting side of things: the champsionship has never been so predictable, there no longer is the goal of creating a regulatory level playing field, the viewers are deserting the sport, there are very few young fans, in essence if not dying F1 is in serious trouble.

On the other hand Liberty made a lot of money out of F1, if you look at it from the business perspective they did great, in essence they stripped a considerable amount of value out of F1 for their short term return, this is what investment firms do for a living, I work in financial services and I don't blame them, but when you get a firm who is there only for the short term that is what you end up with, Liberty's talk about how much tender loving care they were going to put into the sport is just PR claptrap (for the avoidance of any doubts, IMHO F1 should be run, on a non profit basis, by the FIA)

 

[RasputinLives]

Shall we have a whip round?

 

[FB]

Didn't the European Union stop the FIA from running the commercial part of F1 due to a "conflict of interest"?