The new F1 Boss

[lkjohnson1950]

Bernie has made no secret of his desire to run races at or near the city center or the world's great cities. Paris, Rome, London, New York. He has always put the glamour of F1 ahead of the racing, because he thinks glamour will attract more money. He has made it nearly impossible for the classic circuits to survive, demanding expensive improvements while tying up all the revenue that could pay for them. If F1 is to survive changes will have to be made, I don't what they are, but something has to give.

[John S]

It's supposed to be about the racing. I really don't care a farthing or a fig about the "beautiful people," the pretty buildings or the celebs du jour that I've never heard of anyway.

IMSA used to have a street race in Miami back in the GTP days of the 80's. Pretty building & otherwise great race cars playing follow the leader through a boring circuit. They did get a good Miami Vice episode out of it.

They're not trying to attract us to F1.  They've already got us.  As long as they don't screw it up.

They're trying to attract new fans, they're going to have to try something new, and going to where people are makes more sense than going where people aren't.

You're right Jeri, we are mostly all locked in - unless the FIA makes the pigs ear they've been building for the last 5 years too damn ugly even for us lot. The fans that have drifted away are I suggest not diehards and is just the sort of fan/viewer that the new owners are seeking to reach out to.

I think it's good to see a new boss concentrating on their own area, that's the commercial rights in this case, and for now not wishing to get into how the other half runs the racing.

IMHO it's a certainty that anyone paying such a gargantuan sum for a business is going to expect a healthy return, so some change is bound to happen - how much we'll have to wait and see.

[cosworth151]

It's looking more and more like what I've feared. Now they are talking about Alejandro Agag, the top dog of Formula E, will be coming over to F1.

In Robert Graves' book, I Claudius, the Roman emperor Tiberius appoints the evil Caligula as his successor. He confides that he did it because he knew times would be so bad under the madman that people would remember his reign as the good old day. It looks like Bernie has read that book.

http://autoweek.com/article/formula-one/formula-e-rolls-out-welcome-matt-felipe-mass

[Jericoke]

It's looking more and more like what I've feared. Now they are talking about Alejandro Agag, the top dog of Formula E, will be coming over to F1.

In Robert Graves' book, I Claudius, the Roman emperor Tiberius appoints the evil Caligula as his successor. He confides that he did it because he knew times would be so bad under the madman that people would remember his reign as the good old day. It looks like Bernie has read that book.

http://autoweek.com/article/formula-one/formula-e-rolls-out-welcome-matt-felipe-mass

There is no one else with experience running a top tier continent spanning racing series.  It's either him, or someone from outside the sport.

FOM consists of so many spinning plates atop houses of cards, even the most capable manager will slip up.  And I agree, that's Bernie's 'legacy', to make himself look like the only genius who could keep the whole enterprise afloat.

No matter what happens, someone is going to be disappointed:  it can't keep going like it is, nor can it go back to what it was.

[cosworth151]

I can think of many other people who have been far more successful in running a major racing series. Just off the top of my head:

Scott Atherton - ALMS & IMSA

Joie Chitwood III - IndyCar & NASCAR

Patricia Kiefer - Blancpain Endurance & GT Series

And, of course, the best choice of all - Tony George

[Alianora La Canta]

As far as I know, everyone cos listed is happily engaged in their own series, and not looking for a new challenge at this point. Also, I think they are all too savvy to jump into a series like F1, which I suspect has many as-yet unrevealed skeletons in the closet. Alejandro seems to me to be the sort of slightly naive global CEO who would be foolish enough to accept, especially with encouragement from the sister company.

[lkjohnson1950]

Here's a potential roadblock. The British MP for Marussia's and Caterham's district wants the EU to expand an anti competition investigation because the FIA owns 1% of Delta Topco and is in line for a major windfall.

http://autoweek.com/article/formula-one/british-politician-calls-investigation-liberty-medias-purchase-f1?utm_source=RacingDaily20160926&utm_medium=enewsletter&utm_term=image-top&utm_content=body&utm_campaign=awracingdaily

[Alianora La Canta]

The FIA should have thought that through... It will probably be 2019 before there's a decision, but don't expect things to go well for F1 when it happens.

[John S]

Here's a potential roadblock. The British MP for Marussia's and Caterham's district wants the EU to expand an anti competition investigation because the FIA owns 1% of Delta Topco and is in line for a major windfall.

Yeah but The FIA is a not for profit organisation; so it could be argued that the supposed conflict of interest resulting from a profit, however big, on it's minority shareholding can be said to have a benign effect - unless there are or could be other parties who demonstrably stand to lose from the FIA's allowing such a deal to go ahead. 
 

[Willy]

They say a new broom sweeps clean and so it must for F1.
Doing the same old things gets you the same old results.
A change is badly needed if the sport is survive much less grow with new fans.
As Jeri said " they have us". This is so true and Bernie did nothing that made sense in his ideas to gain new fans other then put races in stupid locations so the governments would pay his huge fees but the people could not afford the ticket prices. That is not growing the sport and gaining fans, that is lining his pockets, as he has always done.
There are 350 million people in the US alone and many would become F1 fans if they could get access to it and understood it. If adding a street race or two in a large American city will help the sport grow then I am all for it. I love Spa and Monza and Silverstone but a race in Azerbaijan....are you f**king kidding me!
Bernie was totally against any new media streams taking away from his strangle hold on TV.
I do not have a cable connection anymore and stream everything I watch. As such I have not seen a second of racing this season.
I would come back if I could stream the races....even for a small fee.

[Scott]

I am hoping to be a streaming only family in the next two years.  As it is the kids hardly watch TV anymore, my wife watches everything on her laptop, and about the only TV I watch are the GP's.  If I download something for the whole family, I transfer it to a thumbstick and plug it into the TV.  Works great.  Now why the heck am I paying 60.- a month again?

Bring on Pay Per Stream.  Give it to me in HD and tons of features and I'll plug in my credit card.

[lkjohnson1950]

Oddly, several of the channels I stream, including F1 on NBC Sports, require you to have cable access. If you don't have NBC Sports on cable, you can't stream it! 

 

[Willy]

Yes Lonny, you are correct that many sites require you to input your cable provider information before you can stream their content. As such I can't access what they offer.

[cosworth151]

Sometimes that isn't even enough for the various Fox outlets. They often don't accept my Time Worthless login for the IMSA races. The Fox owned networks have always been a problem that way. It doesn't give me much hope for access to a Fox-run F1.

[lkjohnson1950]

Other than Chase being a former employee of Murdoch, I don't find a connection between Liberty and Fox. Their largest holdings seem to be Time-Warner, Viacom and Sirius FM. They are trying to develop satellite and interactive tech. Did I miss something?