Are casual viewers ruining Formula One?

[RevMaxPower]

I don't know. I just think the deck needs shuffling...

 

[MCLS]

The deck has been shuffled that much in the last 10 years that we've lost some cards

 

[sportsman]

The deck has been shuffled that much in the last 10 years that we've lost some cards

I think you mean marbles.

 

[MCLS]

We have found most of the marbles though, they've turned up on the track

 

[EvilWhippet]

So what's wrong with a reverse grid? Boy - we'd sure see some racing then...

The difference between something like that and DRs is that the driver still needs to deploy DRS and still needs to be quicker than his opponent in the first place. Reverse grids are the reverse of this.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Here's a novel idea; what about random grids, determined by ballot?

 

[AlexM]

Here's a novel idea; what about random grids, determined by ballot?

I've got one!

Slowest qualifier gets an extra set of tyres and a bag of crisps!

 

[RevMaxPower]

The SLOWEST 3 Qualifiers get a MASSIVE fine... This should make a difference and stop the obvious ploy of deliberately slowing down to get at the front of a reverse grid.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Here's a novel idea; what about random grids, determined by ballot?

I only say that because that's the way grids were decided prior to 1933.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

A random Ballot would mean there's no need for qualifying the Saturday, A lot of the income comes from the practise and warm up sessions, if all the action just happened on one day the number of casual fans attending will drop dramatically.

 

[Slyboogy]

A random Ballot would mean there's no need for qualifying the Saturday, A lot of the income comes from the practise and warm up sessions, if all the action just happened on one day the number of casual fans attending will drop dramatically.

Would it?

I don't know a casual viewer that watches practice or qualifying sessions....they mainly watch the race.

It's the die hard fans that watch these sessions

 

[F1Yorkshire]

I managed to find a link with the attendance figures from the 2009 British GP.

Silverstone attracted record crowds over the three days, including 85,000 on Friday, 105,000 on Saturday and a capacity crowd of 120,000 on the Sunday. The three day cumulative crowd of 310,000 was the highest at Silverstone in 15 years.

The diehard fans number around 85,000 as they are the ones who come for every session. An extra 20,000 turn up for qualifying with a further 15,000 who come for the race only. Compare that to the race day figures and if Saturday was practise as well the number of fans attending would be around 35,000 lower.

35,000 people can buy a lot of merchandise and food and drink at a GP, not to mention the loss in ticket prices. As most circuits are running at a loss already an extra 30% drop in revenue will make the difference between wanting to host a GP or not.

I chose Silverstone as it has one of the highest numbers of weekend attendance for a GP, a less popular GP would have an even greater number between those who come just for the race and those who attend the whole weekend.

 

[Slyboogy]

Less popular? I thougt it was very popular....

 

[MCLS]

He's not referring to Silverstone being less popular, i think he means a less popular grand prix like Turkey or China

 

[Jen]

Silverstone has always been a sell-out, so it makes me wonder why BE was so mean to them.

If half the current venues could replicate Silverstone there might not be a problem.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

Silverstone is struggling to make a profit if it does at all for a GP weekend, If you take away Saturday competitive running then most circuits would just come and go after a few seasons.

The alternative to make Saturdays relevant is to make sure drivers don't have to compromise their running on Sunday by posting more qualifying laps. More tyres please Pirelli!

 

[snowy]

It seems rather idiotic to shape a racing series around the hopes and aspirations of a host of people who have totally divergent aspirations, little knowledge of, and even less desire to know the mechanics of a sport.

I couldn't see the rules of tennis being rewritten to cater for a disparate group of people who profess that they would be more interested if the balls were oval.

 

[EvilWhippet]

What ever has triggered this snobby, elitist theme in F1 forums of late?

 

[MCLS]

Well like I said, this thread was prompted by a letter to F1 Racing

 

[The Pits]

I couldn't see the rules of tennis being rewritten to cater for a disparate group of people who profess that they would be more interested if the balls were oval.

The type of balls used has changed a lot over the years, to combat the racquet technology. Snooker is having a radical shape up, including the trial of new formats, and a change to the ranking system. Cricket now has 20/20 along with the one day series, in addition to test matches.

All these are in an attempt to broaden the appeal, to keep people interested, this means as many people as possible whether thet are die hard fans or casual viewers does not really matter, but there must be a critical mass that is required to make it viable, otherwise, why worry?