I hope so, I really want to go for a US team. But Mazepin is such a dick, and it's so hard for Mick to even show anything
To be honest, I think Bottas might be pretty happy with this switch as well. Especially if Alfa runs GIO back as his teammate next year as I think Valtteri will dominate the H2H matchup and solidify himself as a good-to-great driver. Being paired with an all-time great is a really crappy place to be in F1; just ask any of the RB 2nd drivers over the last few years. Hell, Perez has been a solid F1 driver for his entire career and is getting absolutely smashed by Max this year.
Which also makes it an interesting call for Golden boy George. Not going to be as funny next year for this thread when it’s “George, this is James.”
As of this weekend it seems like lots of drama is unfolding. Mercedes wants Albon to be released of his redbull contract if he’s going to race for Williams. Because they don’t want a redbull driver gaining knowledge of the Mercedes power plant. Mercedes is now saying if RB doesn’t do that they would like a Mercedes academy driver (DeVries) to take the seat. Seems like politics in F1 at its finest.
Report out there that Zhou (Alpine academy F2 driver) has a significant sponsor backed offer to get the 2nd seat at Alfa next to Bottas. He's got a worse junior record than Mazepin as far as I can tell but seems like a good person, so there's that.
if the above report is accurate getting a major pay to play driver makes a ton of sense for a ownership group looking to bail.
That's Sauber, Alfa is just a sponsor. You buy an F1 team to get in the game. If someone with a global footprint (like Ford) wanted to get into F1 it's a great idea to buy a team and make it a works team.
Also with the new cost cap rules they’re likely going to become profitable in the near term too. The time is now to get in. The sport’s popularity is only growing. The US market is starting to really embrace it. Ratings are way up, and so is engagement.
Not sure exactly how all the revenue sharing agreements work, but currently FOM gives ESPN the television rights for free. Not sure how long that deal lasts, but it's pretty apparent that whenever it is up there will be multiple bidders and a pretty monster payout.
i wonder how much it will actually be here. 2 straight hours with 0 ads that is usually on at 8am on espn2 with friday and saturday on espnu. i don't think it will be that substantial imo. but i've been wrong before.
It pulls pretty good numbers for a cable network at that timeslot I think. Something around 1m viewers which is definitely an improvement on whatever they'd normally broadcast on that channel. Beyond that, inevitably they'll start monetizing it and putting commercials into the broadcast like they do with NASCAR/Indycar which will drive the real fans over to the F1TV subscription.
They aren't going to change the way they do it because of America. I enjoy it for the very reason of not having ads mid race. Sky/others make money broadcasting it commercial free, I'm sure ESPN or whoever else can figure it out too. Moreover I'd bet their streaming/DVR figures are massive for F1 races in comparison to other sports. With it being too early for those of us out west. I think that plays into it too. I'd like to see ESPN/Sky work together on the preshow stuff where they can make tv ad money etc. especially on the US/Americas races where it will be in a better time slot for the US market.
they had no idea how popular that series was going to be. It was a one off that has now turned into a yearly doc. F1 did the right thing. Get the product on a major network, get it commercial free make the money later. Way to many sports leagues based in Europe take the approach of pay us or don’t have access to us and it’s a terrible business model for the long term health of the sport. Case in point Serie A
Does anyone know if the non-works teams get a vote on future engine specs? Because this could leave RB, Ferrari, and Merc all with 3 votes each.
Yes, and they could break any potential tie. They really messed up losing Red Bull and not replacing them.
I absolutely despise commercials during live action, but if you don't think that's eventually coming then I've got a bridge to sell you. They literally run ads in between pitches in MLB games. I'm sure the conditional rights for ESPN to broadcast were based on no commercial/full broadcast but if NBC comes in waving a fat check FOM is absolutely going to capitalize on that at some point. Again - every other motorsport broadcast in the US is doing something similar (and it sucks ass).
But why doesn't SkyF1, or any of the current F1 broadcasters around the world run ads mid race? I get the point your making, it could be they do something like Soccer where they say "this time is brought to you by Geico or something" but my understanding of F1 worldwide broadcasting rights is that everyone has the same feed, and that during "live racing in Quali and the GP" they cannot cut away at all. That's how they do commercials between Q1/2/3 and in the prerace/post race shows, but not during the live event. F1's a different animal. In the US the broadcasters are calling the shots. IE. NBC tells Indy how it's going to cover the sport. With F1, they tell the broadcasters how they can operate.
We'll see and I hope I'm wrong, but the American live sports TV rights market is a big bounty. If F1 continues to grow in this country the way it has I think it will get to the point where one of those networks throws up a number that can't be refused. F1 (more specifically FOM) dictating that no ads can be run is effectively an investment in the future to help build up viewership. At some point they will monetize that investment once viewership is high enough. Again just my opinion and maybe I'm just a cynical pessimist but I think in the long run it's inevitable.
I don’t mind Picture in Picture commercials but if American broadcast would go to traditional commercials during the race I would likely purchase F1 TV.
I will pay for F1tv if it comes to ads. Hell, I would pay for IndyCar ad free if that was available. NBC is awful with motorsports (and golf)
same. I watch YouTube TV live bc of the buffering issues this year love F1 TV for the archives though
Said it before but I wish Ford would get into it. Just makes sense from the standpoint they are a global auto manufacturer and advertise and sell everywhere. They are already involved in many different racing leagues large and small all over the place. They obviously have the capital. Maybe with F1 growing so much in popularity, it'll finally intrigue them but I'm not holding my breath. With that said, it still makes more sense for someone like Porsche to do it since they're always going to be more about luxury and performance.
I mean when Ocon was looking for a drive it's not like they had the welcome mat out at Torro Rosso for him.