Liberty eyeing Saturday qualifying race

[Calman]

Oh No, here we go again - yet another 'fragile' option on the table by Liberty, in "their vision" of spicing up our tired old sport and making it more attractive for younger fans ("taking F1 to greater heights" - their words!!)

https://www.pitpass.com/61337/Liberty-eyeing-Saturday-qualifying-race

I loved the comment down below (from above link) on how the grid would be decided for the Qualifying Race, PRICELESS!!!

All the best,
Cal

[Dare]

F1 has been broken enough in recents years....leave it alone

[Jericoke]

Liberty hardly 'invented' the idea, and it comes up all the time.  As long as they're happy to run their ideas past the fans before implementing anything, they can come up with as many dumb ideas as they want.

I like the idea of inverted grids, either using previous race results, season standings or award points for qualifying.  Teams will suddenly embrace rules that encourage passing.

I'd like to see F1 2 races on an F1 weekend, but a shorter version of what we have now won't accomplish anything interesting.

[Scott]

Um, I would vote FOR this change.   

Q has become so boring, I record it, but rarely watch it, or ff through to the last minute or two of Q3. 

[lkjohnson1950]

Since it would significantly increase team costs, I bet they would veto it.

[Calman]

I had a conversation with a local when I first came to Canada and to cut a very long story short, out neutral agreement rested on the fact that the North American market/fans/viewers have a different culture towards "Sports Entertainment" than most other parts of the world. 

Now, I am not trying to be unfair to either side, it's just a fact ... and with Liberty Media at the controls, I have had ongoing concerns on how they are looking to change Formula 1.   Indeed, our sport needs "a bit of spice" and an overhaul of rules & regulations, but it's the vision which Liberty Media has, particularly as their priority is making F1 'attractive in the US' and implementing systems which would typical do work in the US styled sport circles.

Mr E could be criticised in many departments, but I do believe that he genuinely looked at F1 as a global sport, with respect and awareness for many nations involved .... and I can't say the same on how Liberty Media see/run F1.

Every time I read Liberty's early comments "taking F1 to new heights" .... I feel physically sick and want to lash out with "Yeah! ... F1 was a back street sport until you came along and saved it!" .. RANT OVER!!! 

Maybe I just don't like change ... or at least to this level?

All the best,
Cal

[guest3164]

I feel there could be a danger of looking at Bernie's reign through rose tinted spectacles.  His intentions were probably originally to look after F1 but by the end it was to look after himself and the stakeholders.  How much money could he bleed from the circuits, from the TV companies, from national governments who wanted the prestige of a Grand Prix.  I am not wholly convinced by Liberty, some of their ideas seem like the typical 'don't fix what ain't broke' sort of thing, but I hope they get the idea that F1 is nothing without a fanbase in a way Ecclestone had long since stopped caring about. 

As for a Saturday race, I can see pros and cons.  It would be more exciting and provide more racing, but it would add more costs to the teams, completely destroy the current regs on engine/tyre limits and I feel more costs would be passed on to us through higher TV subs and definitely higher tickets costs to races. 

[Calman]

Great post Luke and VERY good points made!! 

Yes, getting back to this Saturday "event" ... it would indeed be a painful transition and a significant extra cost to the teams - a problem which doesn't need poked any more than it already does.  You just can't help feel that there have been too many "petty changes" on Liberty's guard already and some of the crucial fixes/early promises seem to have blurred into the backdrop.  Yeah, we all know that we can expect them to hit us with "nothing will be fixed overnight  ... it's a multi year transition process" bla bla bla, but they have already made rash changes in their short time in office, so it will be interesting when they have to face a difficult "boss call" when team costs and pressing technical regs are discussed around the table.

Maybe Liberty could spin the wheel with a "Listen to the Fans Ideas" campaign, how interesting would that be!

All the best,
Cal

[John S]

Just one thing bothers me, what happens when a driver wrecks his car badly in this Saturday balls out race.
Worse still if both cars in a team get totalled?
Some teams are financially on the edge how do they fund repairing more shunts?

[Jericoke]

Just one thing bothers me, what happens when a driver wrecks his car badly in this Saturday balls out race.
Worse still if both cars in a team get totalled?
Some teams are financially on the edge how do they fund repairing more shunts?

I don't have a full grasp on F1 'costs'.  Surely the mechanics they bring to a race weekend are paid whether they're rebuilding a wrecked car or out enjoying the local nightlife, so the cost is replacement parts. 

I don't know how much the parts cost, but I would think most of the cost is in designing them, not manufacturing them.  I would guess the full load of aerodynamic bits of an F1 car cost thousands of dollars to replace.  That is a lot of money to me, but should be within the budget of an F1 team.  Surely the total cost of rebuilding an F1 car (without the engine/transmission) would come in less than $20,000, assuming you're only talking the cost of the parts themselves.

[guest3164]

Consider that straight away the 3 engine rule wouldn't work at all, teams would need at least one, maybe 2 more engines to last the season.  Given last year Williams were already trying to get through with 3 as opposed to 4 due to costs, that would be a huge issue for the independent teams.  Teams would probably need more tyres, more fuel, probably a second set of engineers for the weekend, or at least a few 'reserves', they might need to pack and freight more spare parts as well as manufacture more and they all add up.  New noses and wing mounts together have at times been put at over £100,000 to produce according to a fair few online resources! 

[Scott]

Of course the powertrain rules/penalties would need to be revised (which are stupid anyway), but I've said before and I agree with Jeri, the costs of new parts is not really in the manufacturing of them, but the R&D.  Teams can assign cost of parts based on how much time went into designing them, which probably inflates their estimates.  You can buy tons of carbon these days as bits of cars, bikes, even skateboards...it isn't the gold standard it used to be.

Wrecks happen in practice and Q (perhaps not as likely as a race, but they DO happen), and teams have enough gear to rebuild the cars anyway. 

[cosworth151]

The only way I can see this working is if they bring back the old "T" cars. The T car (T for Test) was a third, ready to race car that each team brought to every race.

I see one major flaw. Quali is probably the best run part of an F1 week-end. why change it?

[Calman]

I see one major flaw. Quali is probably the best run part of an F1 week-end. why change it?

My sentiments exactly!! ... and after taming the ludicrous grid place penalties, this could exasperate the situation all over again (on top of costs which has already been covered above).

All the best,
Cal

[Dare]

It's had enough for some of us to catch the actual race because
of time differences without adding another race. I vote no