Another reason to dislike Sprints

[Dare]

It seems all  sporting events are made for the rich now and the rest can eat cake

[Andy B]

Very true but even the cake is expensive! 

[Andy B]

I found another sign of the money now in F1  so is it becoming an elitist sport that only those with deep pockets can join?

https://news.sky.com/story/mclaren-racing-on-track-to-hit-1bn-in-revenue-as-chiefs-pay-hits-record-13592677

[John S]

I'm pleased I'm not alone!

Your never alone on GPWizard Andy,  we all pretty much think same as you.

Excuse the late post, I've been in Italy for 2 & half weeks on holiday, I managed Baku Grid game apart from pole pick - who moved the weekend around? 

Florence is a lovely city but the crowds in the central heritage part remind me of a Formula 1 Sunday at Silverstone, but everyday. 

[Andy B]

The Baku race was moved to Saturday as Sunday was Remembrance Day.

Holidays do get in the way of the Grid game! LOL

[Jericoke]

The Baku race was moved to Saturday as Sunday was Remembrance Day.

Holidays do get in the way of the Grid game! LOL

I totally understand not wanting your race to interfere with other events.

But... maybe have the race a different weekend?

[Andy B]

That Jeri was obviously not an option with how crowded this season has become with the cancellations.

[Jericoke]

That Jeri was obviously not an option with how crowded this season has become with the cancellations.

I certainly understand that making a schedule that makes EVERYONE happy is tough.

I guess I do try to take the side of the local promoters, they're the backbone of F1, if no one can put on a race, then there's no race.  Having the race part of a holiday weekend might let the promoter to get more people in, and make more money that F1 doesn't have their thumb in.

Maybe more F1 races need to be part of a larger regional event?

Monaco used to have that Market Day in the middle of their race weekend.  I'm not sure what that was exactly, but feels like local culture playing a part in the event.

(On the opposite side the spectrum, I remember when the British Grand Prix was moved to the same weekend as Wimbledon.  I know that each event has enough of its own fans that selling out isn't a problem, but why have one less weekend to bring the world's eye to Britain?)

[Alianora La Canta]

I totally understand not wanting your race to interfere with other events.

But... maybe have the race a different weekend?

Money talks. Baku outbid everyone else interested in that weekend slot, and got to determine how the weekend was going to work as a result.

Also, it suited the political purposes of the parade very well. Think how many more people saw the Remembrance Day parade (that was being held partly to cover for a recent controversy where veterans from that war had their pensions messed about) because the hotels insisted on minimum number of nights' stay and there was a Grand Prix a bunch of people had to attend…

[Alianora La Canta]

Looks like F1 is getting less fan following. Races happen and no posts.
Doesn't look good for the future

F1 lost 40% of its audience this spring, not counting the usual losses after the summer break (as it becomes apparent how the championship is going to look; a perennial issue even in the 1990s). Interestingly, a survey I saw last week on Tumblr suggested most of the losses were with people who started watching between 2020 and 2024 inclusive (so, the main "Drive to Survive" group). We are now at a situation where there is an approximately even split between:

- People who started watching before 2010
- People who started watching between 2011 and 2024
- People who started watching in the last 20 months

I hypothesise that the pre-2010 crowd accept that F1 has serious flaws and watch despite them. The people who started in the last 20 months don't quite appreciate how bad the problems are in 2026 because they've barely known anything else. The 2011-2017 crowd, as far as I could tell, were largely put off by Abu Dhabi 2021 and related issues (thus, the ones remaining are like the pre-2010 spectators).

Legal cases are also starting to swirl. I suspect I am going to be involved in two of them; one a GPDR breach that probably won't have big consequences by itself, the other rather more serious that involves questioning why the FIA allowed itself to continue the Malaysian Grand Prix for 8 more laps than the Jules Bianchi legal settlement permitted. (It's one reason I've not been here much: recovering from serious surgery 2 months ago and working on a degree are tricky enough without also being expected to collect information to contribute to multiple legal issues in what is allegedly my hobby!)