No French GP in 2009.

[fpv_gtho]

If you painted them all the same color and set them side by side almost no one could tell one car from another.

Plenty of people say that, but IMO a surprising amount of people could probably hold their own. Renault for instance have that massive low slung nose. The Red Bull teams have more of a duck bill nose. McLaren has very distinctive sidepod winglets. Ferrari have a distinctive overall soft design. I could go on and provide distinctive features of all teams where they'd be set apart from another.

[scottie300z]

Plenty of people say that, but IMO a surprising amount of people could probably hold their own. Renault for instance have that massive low slung nose. The Red Bull teams have more of a duck bill nose. McLaren has very distinctive sidepod winglets. Ferrari have a distinctive overall soft design. I could go on and provide distinctive features of all teams where they'd be set apart from another.

And Ferrari is the one running over people in the pit lane.

[jump15vc]

because they're the only countries that had f1 tracks... dude are you serious??

[teatako]

nowadays F1 is more about politics than racing, sadly.

I agree wholeheartedly with pretty much everything you said. I don´t think F1´s "moving from Europe" though. You make it sound like they´re leaving and I don´t think you should worry about that.

Those are the Europeans. That's why they made the night race in Singapore in the first place.

The fact that there´s new money to be made it doesn´t mean F1 can´t make money off European fans anymore. If there weren´t paying fans in Asia, what would be the point of even thinking about a Singapore GP?
We care about F1 because that´s where the biggest legends in the automobile world have been made. Enzo Ferrari. Colin Chapman. John Cooper. Gordon Murray.
The world has changed, it is no longer a bipolar world. There´s new gorillas beating their chests. Every sport in the world is reflecting that, and F1 is no exception. I believe the real enemy of Formula 1 is not their losing their traditions, but its sporting deficiencies. inconsistent rule enforcing. the general belief that there´s a bias towards a certain team. The explicit and unashamed money first principle that pervades every decision the management makes. The naked greed.


Dumb idea: how about Formula 1 having different tracks each season? like we had Suzuka one year, Fuji the next. Monza one year, Magny-Cours the next. Alternating the 30-odd GP tracks around the globe in a 17 race calendar so each track gets a GP a year out of two. Of course it presents a great deal of problems, but it would be a compromise that´d keep everyone semi-happy. No?

[Ferrer]

The fact that there´s new money to be made it doesn´t mean F1 can´t make money off European fans anymore. If there weren´t paying fans in Asia, what would be the point of even thinking about a Singapore GP?

Probably because authorities or sponsors paid good money to held the Grand Prix there.

But still, the vast majority of people who follow F1 are European. Compare the attendance to to one of those Asian or Arab Grand Prix and then an European one. There's no contest.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Still the price to pay to be at a GP here is way too much.

[teatako]

Probably because authorities or sponsors paid good money to held the Grand Prix there.

But still, the vast majority of people who follow F1 are European. Compare the attendance to to one of those Asian or Arab Grand Prix and then an European one. There's no contest.

That´s just speculation. I´m sure the FIA works with hard data, at least when money is on the line. I´m not sure I´m getting my point through, though. It could very well be the case the vast majority of F1 fans are European...today, but that´s not the point. The point is, they´re expanding to new markets. Why? because they can make more money. As we´ve all agreed, it has nothing to do with the sport anymore, their changing venues

[Bleeding Heart]

They are changing venues... but at the cost of excluding grand prix which has a little bit of history embeded in them... Also, some of the ones they are removing happen to be the ones that were very exciting...