I recently read that they hadn't agreed a new format as the teams were given 2 options. Either keep the new format or accept the same first 2 rounds of 'new' qually with a 1 minute extension in each session and then the third and final session would be as the old system. But as the teams hadn't been given prior notice of these options before their meeting, no decision has been reached. Does this mean that the 'new' system stays in place then?

But the rumour is that although it will be a FTV sky channel it will be only available on Sky. (Sky only has Pick TV / Sky News on terrestrial )

They had an FTV channel and it flopped massively. Even though it had 24/7 coverage and behind the scenes of the whole race weekend, setting up, tearing down, team sponsor track events etc.

Iirc isn't was £10 a race weekend?

I recently read that they hadn't agreed a new format as the teams were given 2 options. Either keep the new format or accept the same first 2 rounds of 'new' qually with a 1 minute extension in each session and then the third and final session would be as the old system. But as the teams hadn't been given prior notice of these options before their meeting, no decision has been reached. Does this mean that the 'new' system stays in place then?

 

I get the impression this is not what the teams thought was going to happen ? A conversation between Toto Wolff and Christian Horner, after the race, suggested they thought they had the option to revert to last years rules, if it was agreed that the new set up was not delivering the expected benefits.  

Whatever, qualy needs to change as it was boring.

When? Melbourne? or before? I think it was pretty good last year.

re Free F1 TV, I'm not keen on watching low quality streaming of sports but it's better than nothing I suppose and sometimes you find a HD stream. 20 years ago I used to watch the German free F1 coverage on my Sky box, because Eurosport/BBC didnt cover practice or qually. The commmentary did my head in though...

This tactic still works on t'internet. You can watch live F1 streams from other countries with English language soundtracks, and some of the presenters, like David Hobbs ( Brit Le Mans & F1 driver) actually know what they are talking about.

The Sky deal is not the end of the world for F1 fans.

Streams are getting harder to come by. I refuse to pay for Sky as a while ago I worked out it was around £800/year. To put that into perspective for £200 more I had a holiday in Japan for 2 weeks and went to the Suzuka GP. In Europe you could probably watch Spa, Italy and maybe Spain live for that price and would be a better experience.

Problem I have with this is kids watch sport on TV, they like and want to do it and a small amount go pro. With lots of sport going ppv what will happen?

Streams are getting harder to come by. I refuse to pay for Sky as a while ago I worked out it was around £800/year. To put that into perspective for £200 more I had a holiday in Japan for 2 weeks and went to the Suzuka GP. In Europe you could probably watch Spa, Italy and maybe Spain live for that price and would be a better experience.  Problem I have with this is kids watch sport on TV, they like and want to do it and a small amount go pro. With lots of sport going ppv what will happen?

 

Andrew Strauss (ex-England Cricket captain for those you do not know) made a forthright comment saying that the 2M subscribers to Sky Sports had become such an elitist group that it could not be good for the sport and that at least one test of every series should be free to air.

 

Clearly Sky does not care about this as it is a commercial organisation and if they can raise well over £1B in subscriptions in the UK and probably 5 or 10 times that across the world then they are OK with the situation.

 

With Footie we can watch it down the club or pub and Sky are also happy.  There does not seem to be the culture of sports bars in the UK that there is in many other countries unfortunately.  Adoption of this format of watching could help with viewing figures and be a bit of fun.

Problem is F1 and other race series are almost too techie to want to watch down the pub. The social media side of it is growing too. I just hope F1 doesn't implode on itself. There's not much direction lately.

Problem is F1 and other race series are almost too techie to want to watch down the pub. The social media side of it is growing too. I just hope F1 doesn't implode on itself. There's not much direction lately.

 

As someone posted earlier, probably what it needs to be able to start again and reinvent itself.

Alonso out of Bahrain on Medical grounds

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/35934347

Alonso out of Bahrain on Medical grounds

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/35934347

 

Probably the best driver in the field and can't catch a break.

Not certain to be back for China either.

Umm, watching ch4 all morning in the kitchen, it's fine.

 

Now the live quali is on... it's breaking up and crapping out... then comes back when the adverts are on... is it me?

I watched CH4 via a sky box and that was OK. I thought the Eddie/Bernie interview was bizarre, what is Bernie on ? Slagging the drivers off as illiterate/dumb and complaining about Mercedes because they built an engine to the rules. Coulthard should have used the opportunity to point out a few home truths. Bernie is getting off too lightly... Blistering pole lap from Lewis.       

Bernie is an old fool and Todt is no better. It's up to the other teams to catch up. It's not Mercedes fault they've spent money on development to go fast. He mentioned all the V8's were similar. Of course they were! They had a few years to stabilise and these engines will do the same. The tech used here is already being used to help road cars.

Qualifying still needs changing and a great lap from Lewis. The race should be a good one

Thought q3 was a bit better today but mainly due to Ferrari fancying their chances. Still half a second down on a track that was one of their strongest last year. Great lap from Lewis, if only they had tyres that meant they could push more. Should be a good race, I wonder if merc will be better off the line this time.

Well....that was one hell of a couple of laps for the start of a Grand Prix......

Apart from the quali nonsense it was a good race. All the rookies doing very well

Except Palmer....scuppered my Briskoda league with Palmer, Vettel and Button retiring 

Good race. All fell into Rosbergs lap at turn 1, I wonder if he has inherited Sebs 2010-13 luck jar . Makes for an exciting season, the momentum will swing back to Lewis at some stage, 17 points behind after 2 tough races isn't the end of the world. I do hope they change qualifying though. Big question mark about the reliability of the Ferrari too, it is comfortably the 2nd quickest car but now both Seb and Kimi have had a dnf.

Action packed race, I thought Nico may have backed Lewis into trouble at the first corner ? but he deserved the win. There would have been more fun had Vettel not blown up. Still no sense coming from Bernie and Toto made his thoughts plain enough on quali rules in his interview. More fun and games to come.   

I saw yestersays quali q2 and q3. Had to google it to figure out what hell was going on.. i watched F1 every race of evvery season through the 90s, before toyota had joined etc as a young lad/teen. Lost touch when my weekends started to become work instead and... well going out with my girlfriend around the same time the tech had reached the point of pitlane creew adjusting the car set uo mid race fir a oarticular corner kinda stuff. Just got very boring - barring a major accident it was pretty much qualify get grid position drive 72odd laps and cross line in the same order...

So i had some serious catch up to do! Didnt get the race today, little guy needing entertained put a kyebosh on that.

I get what they aimed for with the quali, but its a bit **** tbh...

Also, i watched it because we had eurosport as freeview on the old analogue sky system at the time.

sky taking it over will make it even more elitist,but.. historically F1 was born out of elitism really anyway - rish gentry folk racing their cars for the thrill. Maybe BE an Co see themselves as the modern equivilent of the old money rich kids and have after decade in that circle of patting each other on the back just dont see where its going to end up - ruined by their own stupidity.

Action packed race, I thought Nico may have backed Lewis into trouble at the first corner ? but he deserved the win. There would have been more fun had Vettel not blown up. Still no sense coming from Bernie and Toto made his thoughts plain enough on quali rules in his interview. More fun and games to come.   

How do you force someone to turn into the car that's halfway up their inside?

 

That aside, I agree about qualli; every part is effectively 3 to 5 minutes shorter than the stated time because people are just not allowed to try a forlorn hope unless they're in position about 2 minutes before their "kill time".

Bernie is an old fool and Todt is no better.

C4 played a Pharell track over the montage at the end of the race highlights programme. The song has a bit where he splits up the word "Kingdom" for a pun.

On the King bit, they showed a picture of Bernie

On the Dom / "dumb" bit, they showed a picture of Todt