Formula 1

[Bungle73]

Tickets on sale again and exactly the same things happening again!

It is cheaper and easier to go abroad to watch the F1

Is it? Brexit and Covid have made it a total pita. I can't see me ever going abroad again.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Tickets on sale again and exactly the same things happening again!

Reports on the news yesterday suggested the problem is that the website has dynamic pricing activated, so the higher the demand the higher the prices... I would have thought they could disable that for an event with fixed price tickets...?

 

[Bungle73]

I've seen prices for the Farm Curve grandstand go from £299 to £319 to £339 and now £359! It's disgusting. And it keeps changing between "Sold out" and "Last few remaining"..

 

[najaB]

Reports on the news yesterday suggested the problem is that the website has dynamic pricing activated, so the higher the demand the higher the prices... I would have thought they could disable that for an event with fixed price tickets...?

Something is seriously wrong with that. If was running things it would be fixed price, first come first served until the initial allocation are sold out (say up to 85% capacity) and then an auction for the remaining places.

 

[Bungle73]

General Admission has gone from £179 to £199 to £259! It makes me so angry! They deserve to go bust!

 

[DelW]

General Admission has gone from £179 to £199 to £259! It makes me so angry! They deserve to go bust!

When the British Grand Prix got too expensive for me in the 1980s (! - probably a tiny fraction of today's price), I started going to watch stock car and banger racing instead. About a quarter the price and much more action for your money, plus you could see it all close up instead of peering at identical looking specks in the distance.

 

[kristiang85]

I was just in the pub with a mate discussing which race to go to next year. We didn't even consider Silverstone, given the cost of it.

Imola and Budapest look most likely.

 

[Bungle73]

It's not the cost that's the main problem, it's the prices spinning away in front of people's eyes like some kind of demented fruit machine. There's even a suggestion that Silverstone may be acting illegally by advertising one price, and them showing a different price at checkout.

When the British Grand Prix got too expensive for me in the 1980s (! - probably a tiny fraction of today's price), I started going to watch stock car and banger racing instead. About a quarter the price and much more action for your money, plus you could see it all close up instead of peering at identical looking specks in the distance.

I've been twice, and had a great view, at Stowe and at Club Corner. I had a great time.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

When the British Grand Prix got too expensive for me in the 1980s (! - probably a tiny fraction of today's price), I started going to watch stock car and banger racing instead. About a quarter the price and much more action for your money, plus you could see it all close up instead of peering at identical looking specks in the distance.

Totally agree you get up close to the action and can walk around the pits (ok junk yard in case of bangers) but the drivers and teams all engaging an let you put the kids in the cars and you can really see the passion for their part of the sport. £25 for five hours of entertainment

General Admission has gone from £179 to £199 to £259! It makes me so angry! They deserve to go bust!

They won't unless there is a buyers strike.
.

 

[Bungle73]

Totally agree you get up close to the action and can walk around the pits (ok junk yard in case of bangers) but the drivers and teams all engaging an let you put the kids in the cars and you can really see the passion for their part of the sport. £25 for five hours of entertainment

They won't unless there is a buyers strike.
.

Well there are a lot of extremely unhappy people, this has made its way into some sections of the F1 media, and there are still some tickets left, which is not surprising when they're asking £729.00 for a seat at Club Corner.....

 

[Broucek]

Nothing will change as long as people will be willing to pay that much. I decided some time ago that I wasn't but I seem to be in a minority....

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Nothing will change as long as people will be willing to pay that much. I decided some time ago that I wasn't but I seem to be in a minority....

Not quite i decided that as well once they pulled out of Brands Hatch.

 

[PG]

I see the 2023 race calendar has been published by the FIA. Can't quite get my head round the Belgian GP being the last race before the summer break instead of the first one afterwards Will this be the last season to have a race at Spa?

 

[najaB]

Will this be the last season to have a race at Spa?

It's possible. Though I would expect the Spanish GP to go before Spa does.

 

[Townsend Hook]

It's possible. Though I would expect the Spanish GP to go before Spa does.

As a fan I'd much rather see Barcelona get dropped than Spa, but if even half of the rumours are true it seems the writing is on the wall for the Belgian GP, with them only securing a last-minute one year deal.

 

[357]

What do we think about these cost cap rumours?

Personally I have a feeling that Red Bull may actually be compliant but feeding the fire plays into the brand image they desire of "pushing things to the maximum".

If a team has massively overspent last year, it would be interesting to see the response from the FIA.

 

[christopher]

I'm just hoping it's Mercedes to make Toto look even more of a idiot

 

[SynthD]

I'm just hoping it's Mercedes to make Toto look even more of a idiot

Almost his entire pre F1 career was in finance. It won't be them.

The rumours are Aston Martin (Silverstone, formerly Jordan, Force India) overspent by a few tens of thousands; Red Bull (Milton Keynes, formerly Jaguar) overspent by millions, possibly £7m which is into the 5-10% range.

 

[kristiang85]

Christian Horner has come out strongly against the rumours this morning. He doesn't sound like a man who's about to be indicted in a massive cheating scandal. Though I could be wrong, of course.

I would say there is some confusion between Red Bull spending and Red Bull Power Trains (which are exempt), which is being cleared up. Somehow this has leaked, and the ever odious Wolff has jumped on it and it's blown up into a big story in the media.

At least we will find out on Wednesday. I was looking forward to this race weekend, but now this seems to be the dominating issue, and stirred up the usual toxic elements of the F1 fanbase, which is all so tiresome.

If Red Bull are found guilty though, the FIA will be in a very difficult position, as there's no clear sanction process, just a long list of possibilities.

 

[357]

Almost his entire pre F1 career was in finance. It won't be them.

Red Bull (Milton Keynes, formerly Jaguar) overspent by millions, possibly £7m which is into the 5-10% range.

Agree with your first part totally, unless they have a fundamental misunderstanding of the rules.

However, regarding the two teams mentioned - what sources have named them apart from some guys on Twitter and Mercedes?

I must admit, if anyone other than Mercedes has named Red Bull then I would have given it more credit. They are still stuck in Abu Dhabi in many ways, and going on international TV making these claims will do damage to Red Bulls reputation even if it turns out not to be proven, or to be another team.

If Mercedes knew this for months, why did they only mention it this weekend after everyone else jumped on this rumour?

I hate to be one of the "wait until the RAIB report" mob, but in this case I think we need to wait until next week before we can get the true facts. Everything at the moment is rumours.

 

[Broucek]

Reputationally, MB is a huge listed company with a conservative brand that doesn't want the scandal. RB is controlled by one person and has an "edgy" brand....

 

[DelW]

Reputationally, MB is a huge listed company with a conservative brand that doesn't want the scandal. RB is controlled by one person and has an "edgy" brand....

One of my habits when out walking is to collect discarded aluminium cans which low-lifes see fit to scatter around the countryside. A remarkably high proportion are Red Bull cans (two out of eight in three miles this morning). Maybe antisocial littering is also regarded as "edgy"?

The alcoholic equivalent is Fosters whose cans I also encounter frequently. They've been into sports sponsorship too, though not F1 as far as I remember.

Even without their consumers' bad habits, nothing would tempt me to drink either of those liquids. The smell of Red Bull in particular is disgusting, sickly sweet and artificial, so it must be even more revolting to drink.

Unfortunately the only person I know who works in F1 works for the Red Bull team, though they also can't stand the owner's product.

 

[kristiang85]

One of my habits when out walking is to collect discarded aluminium cans which low-lifes see fit to scatter around the countryside. A remarkably high proportion are Red Bull cans (two out of eight in three miles this morning). Maybe antisocial littering is also regarded as "edgy"?

The alcoholic equivalent is Fosters whose cans I also encounter frequently. They've been into sports sponsorship too, though not F1 as far as I remember.

Even without their consumers' bad habits, nothing would tempt me to drink either of those liquids. The smell of Red Bull in particular is disgusting, sickly sweet and artificial, so it must be even more revolting to drink.

Unfortunately the only person I know who works in F1 works for the Red Bull team, though they also can't stand the owner's product.

I do feel sorry for Red Bull drivers, always having to be seen drinking the stuff. It really is vile.

Give me Lucozade Original any day (preferably before they changed the flavour)

 

[SynthD]

I do feel sorry for Red Bull drivers, always having to be seen drinking the stuff. It really is vile.

Red Bill sponsor a lot of elite and edgy sports. They make sports drinks, sold in the same packaging. At this level it’s just a branded bottle with a custom drink in.

 

[najaB]

They make sports drinks, sold in the same packaging. At this level it’s just a branded bottle with a custom drink in.

On a point of order, Red Bull don't make anything:

 

[birchesgreen]

I quite like Red Bull myself, i always put my cans in the bin too!

 

[gswindale]

The alcoholic equivalent is Fosters whose cans I also encounter frequently. They've been into sports sponsorship too, though not F1 as far as I remember.

Pretty sure that particular brand of gnats pee used to be the title sponsor of the British Grand Prix at one point.

 

[Bald Rick]

One of my habits when out walking is to collect discarded aluminium cans which low-lifes see fit to scatter around the countryside. A remarkably high proportion are Red Bull cans (two out of eight in three miles this morning). Maybe antisocial littering is also regarded as "edgy"?

The alcoholic equivalent is Fosters whose cans I also encounter frequently. They've been into sports sponsorship too, though not F1 as far as I remember.

You must live on my lane, I reckon half the cans I find are RB or fosters.

Fosters did Sponsor the British GP, certainly from 2001-2006 and IIRC for a long time before that.

 

[DelW]

You must live on my lane, I reckon half the cans I find are RB or fosters.

Fosters did Sponsor the British GP, certainly from 2001-2006 and IIRC for a long time before that.

Unfortunately I think the habit is widespread

I'd evidently expunged Fosters' sponsorship of the British GP from my memory, though I still occasionally think of Surrey's ground as the Fosters Oval many years after their sponsorship changed. There again I can still remember Cornhill test matches and (back on topic again) the introduction of Gold Leaf Team Lotus, probably the very first F1 sponsorship.

I still think the JPS Lotus cars looked good in glossy black and gold though.

 

[Bald Rick]

I still think the JPS Lotus cars looked good in glossy black and gold though.

Absolutely. The first F1 race I can remember is, I think, Spain 1978 with Andretti and Peterson finishing 1-2. For me that car is the very definition of an F1 machine (although the McLaren MP4/4 runs it close).