I have a question for Americans on the forums here: Does anybody else find it hard to get into the series due to lack of broadcasting? I do 
I should probably check out speedtv.com for those times that they are on, but they are always on at funny times for me. Kinda like the V8 Super Cars.. I can't get into them because they are never on at the right times, and I hate watching racing off of a taped broadcast.
That, and there isn't a single American competitor or car make or anything that I could relate to in it. I guess I don't feel like I have a horse in the race, so why would I watch it.
I'd love to try and get into the series, but, I just find it difficult to.
I should probably check out speedtv.com for those times that they are on, but they are always on at funny times for me. Kinda like the V8 Super Cars.. I can't get into them because they are never on at the right times, and I hate watching racing off of a taped broadcast.
That, and there isn't a single American competitor or car make or anything that I could relate to in it. I guess I don't feel like I have a horse in the race, so why would I watch it.
I'd love to try and get into the series, but, I just find it difficult to.
Well, live races are bound to be at odd times! I like it thought, whenever they are in Europe its nice to be able to wake up and watch the race immediately.
Better just give up, then.
(I'm 100% fine with DVR'd races.)
Well for Brits/Europeans there's not much we can relate to in NASCAR, it goes on for hours, half the time it's on late at night and we have to watch it through justin.tv but people still watch it. Same with V8s, GP2, Indycar, etc., although the last two do have some British/European drivers in them.
Generally it's a case of keeping up to date with who has won, watch clips on youtube/darcyf1 etc. and then downloading the race later (from RFM) if you didn't manage to catch it live. Not sure why you don't want to watch a taped broadcast, surely better as you can FF if it gets boring
Good thing for you is the final race of the season is in Brazil, so that's 11am http://www.speedtv.com/programs/formula-one/ (or go to f1.com and check the session times in EST)
I know, I don't know how you guys do that
I couldn't.I might give it a swing in 2012 if I can't catch the race this weekend
The race is next weekend
Yeah.. you can tell I hadn't checked for race dates or times yet
I'm at school still 
Petrov might of got himself sacked, after he breached he's contract by critizing he's team for poor car development this season: http://rt.com/sport/motorsport ... s-renault-tactics-f1-533/
I don't think he's getting sacked, given the money he brings to them. It's not like he's telling lies cos what he says is true. They have put too much blame on the drivers, I mean, why did Heidfeld get the sack? He's one of the best drivers in the F1 frat, definately good enough for what Renault need, someone who will get it in the points and race it to the end.
That is not totally correct... Right now there is no contract in place, because the promoter company was in breach but that company has been now put out of the equation and the new deal (whether starting from 2012 or 2013) will be made between the track owner-builder and FOM.
Here's a great summary of events so far: http://austin.culturemap.com/n ... -13-18-facts-and-fiction/
Interesting excerpt:
The scuttlebutt I hear from Austin insiders is that COTA [the circuit] purposely failed to provide the necessary letters of credit due to their falling out with [Tavo] Hellmund [<= the promoter]. It was well known within the organization that this failure would lead to a cancellation of the contract, and it was known that Hellmund could not fund the fee requirements without their help. It appears that they let the cancellation happen so that they could enter into a contract with FOM that did not include Hellmund. I don’t know if this is fact or fiction.
:doh:Moving the debut to 2013 looks very likely, though, with this recent statement from COTA:
“We have been excited for and working towards a 2012 USGP race and now understand that Mr. Ecclestone is interested in moving the Austin race to 2013. We know the U.S. market is important to the teams and their sponsors and 2013 certainly allows time for the Circuit of The Americas to be ready.”
Whole thing was a flop to begin with. I blame Texas, the place sucks.
No surprise really. Anything that has a wiff of public funds being involved when it comes to F1 usually turns out to be a disaster. Even in Venezula now ministers are questioning their WIlliams/pastor sponsorship.
government sponsorship on a driver is a joke, to think tax payers money is paying to keep maldonado on the field so he can create havoc is quite sad.
Which could mean an open seat for Kimi, considering Frank Williams has been living in Qatar for the last 3-4 weeks rallying interest from financial backers. I have a feeling we'll see QNB not just paying Kimi's wages alone, reading F1 Racing mag, Kimi seems more relaxed and reading the article you really get the impression that money isn't important for him in this particular quest.
Quite a few disaster GPs on the calendar right now then... :rolleyes:
Well it is rumored that Kimi wants a share of Williams which might ruin everything if Frank Williams doesn't want to sell a portion of the team to Kimi. Räikkönen has also been spotted negotiating with Lotus (Renault) so it seems Williams might not be his only option. Räikkönen for Renault and Bottas for Williams might be possible. I'd hate to see both Räikkönen and Bottas in Williams since I don't think Bottas is ready for a teammate as fast as Räikkönen. Bottas would lose to Räikkönen in all races and that would not be good for his reputation or to his future in the sport.
Don't worry. Williams is not going to show to door for Maldonado ($$$).
Yeah, I was going to mention the fact that the majority of GPs are funded by governments.
The problem with Austin GP is caused by New Jersey. With two GPs in the USA, regional government bean-counters don't like the possibility that their race's popularity will be undermined by a rival GP in another state. If they believe New Jersey will pull away enough commercial and public interest away from Austin, to the extent that they won't receive a reasonable return for investment, there won't be government funding, and the race will be naught.
Exactly. Unless PDVSA decides to bail out on the payments, Maldonado is staying at Williams (otherwise Frank would be more than happy to kick the git off the team).
It's almost like Petrov and Renault at the moment. Although I'm a bit pissed at Petrov apologising for criticising the team, they deserved to hear that (as much a Renault fanboy as I am), they were needing someone to vent and talk about what's wrong with Renault at the moment.
IMO bottas would give Kimi headaches as a team mate.
I think Kimi's dedication is just as big question mark as is Valtteri's maturity to be an F1 driver. But on the other hand Kimi doesn't seem to be interested doing more rallies or nascar and there are not good team slots left in GP2 for Valtteri either so williams might be the only chance for either one to be in F1...
With Kimi it seems that getting back into F1 is either about convincing himself that he still wants to be in F1 or convincing himself that he doesn't want to be in F1 anymore. Of course it is always hard to read someone else's thoughts but to me he has not shown the kind of dedication he needs to be successful in F1.
Especially when the williams is looking to be a total turd motivation killer of a car with its major contender being the 107% rule and keeping up with the slower ex-lotus team. The williams will no doubt be the worst f1 car he has ever driven. Even the sauber he started with was getting top10s all the time even if it was for the DNFs but still. And he did not know of any better back then (spelling...). Now he has driven for ferrari and mclaren. Going to williams is going to be a big step down.
Plus Kimi wasn't doing all that well against Massa in his last years at Ferrari. Sure Massa may have had his peak then but still just on performance keeping Massa and kicking Kimi was the right choise back then for Ferrari. Is Kimi past his peak too? Massa certainly is.
Bottas/Kimi sounds of course kind of nice and maybe that could actually work really well for both. Having another finn alongside Kimi might make the turd experience of the williams less ehm turdy while having an experienced finnish driver alongside Valtteri might help him too. From finnish perspective it is kind of awesome and brutally awful. Having 3 finns in F1 is awesome but having 2 of them in that turd williams and the 3rd one in that caterham isn't...
Of course it is all speculation. I'd really like to see Trulli getting booted and really see some strong driver to compare with Kovalainen. I still don't rate Kovalainen very highly but I'd really like to see someone like Sutil with kovalainen in that car if Sutil is getting booted from Force india...
With Kimi it seems that getting back into F1 is either about convincing himself that he still wants to be in F1 or convincing himself that he doesn't want to be in F1 anymore. Of course it is always hard to read someone else's thoughts but to me he has not shown the kind of dedication he needs to be successful in F1.
Especially when the williams is looking to be a total turd motivation killer of a car with its major contender being the 107% rule and keeping up with the slower ex-lotus team. The williams will no doubt be the worst f1 car he has ever driven. Even the sauber he started with was getting top10s all the time even if it was for the DNFs but still. And he did not know of any better back then (spelling...). Now he has driven for ferrari and mclaren. Going to williams is going to be a big step down.
Plus Kimi wasn't doing all that well against Massa in his last years at Ferrari. Sure Massa may have had his peak then but still just on performance keeping Massa and kicking Kimi was the right choise back then for Ferrari. Is Kimi past his peak too? Massa certainly is.
Bottas/Kimi sounds of course kind of nice and maybe that could actually work really well for both. Having another finn alongside Kimi might make the turd experience of the williams less ehm turdy while having an experienced finnish driver alongside Valtteri might help him too. From finnish perspective it is kind of awesome and brutally awful. Having 3 finns in F1 is awesome but having 2 of them in that turd williams and the 3rd one in that caterham isn't...
Of course it is all speculation. I'd really like to see Trulli getting booted and really see some strong driver to compare with Kovalainen. I still don't rate Kovalainen very highly but I'd really like to see someone like Sutil with kovalainen in that car if Sutil is getting booted from Force india...
Just be happy you have drivers in F1! And ones that can win / have won too.
America isn't going to miss out, alexender rossi is a possibility for caterham(part of there driver program) and they refuse to say if trullis contract is with a race seat.
Rossi did awesome in formula 3.5 this year coming 3rd, with a couple of wins the best of the non carlin drivers.
I think Bottas is quick enough. Renault would be an option but I don't think Petrov will get booted, if it's anyone it's gonna be Senna. Other than Williams and Renault the last real option would be Force India, and a high possibility too. Maljya keeps saying he won't call a decision etc, well why would he not if Sutil and Di Resta are staying? Obviously Sutil is gone for next year, whether or not they get Kimi or use Hulkenburg is another matter though.
Well in the news there is the conflict of PDVSA and Venuzuelan congress, that state money can't be used unless it's been approved in congress. So maybe he will get his funding pulled, and then he would DEFINATELY get the boot. To me Maldonado is just a void
nomex race suit.
@ Hyperactive - You may think Kimi isn't dedicated but he's just a quiet, reserved person who will only make comments if they are true and doesn't care for small talk, to some this is reflected as being uninterested and unmotivated. To be honest the true mark of a champion is to come back out of retirement and win again and not even Schumacher managed it yet and I think for Kimi it's a greater possibility to win another WDC in a few years time if he can climb the ladder back into (Red Bull maybe?). Apparently he's spoken to Red Bull, and they've considered him greatly in 2013 but it's all speculation and rumours, although there's no reason why it WOULDN'T be true.
Formula One Season 2011
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