Formula One 2016

[Adam]

F1 is just so tedious now. A short time ago Ii'd have been really annoyed that it's going fully behind that Sky paywall but now, it just saves me the need to feel like I should actually be watching it because I can, since I won't be able to. They've just spent quite a few years gradually ruining the entire sport piece by piece.

[GA!]

I stopped watching properly after the Japan race in 2014* because the sport was boring me anyway. This announcement just makes the divorce mutual.

 

*Coincidence, by the way, how it was the race that ultimately killed Jules Bianchi. Strangely I started watching properly the race after Senna died, so this has weird symmetry to it.

[hugobomb]

11 hours ago, Lineker said:

Sky Sports will become the exclusive home of F1 in the UK and Ireland from 2019.

I like how they tout paying £6.99 to watch Sky Sports for ONE DAY as a great deal. 

[GA!]

It's amazing in an age of streaming and downloading, and an age of television living and dying by immediate social interaction, how so much stuff in the UK is locked behind a paywall (well, Sky Sports is a paywall behind another paywall). At this point, Sky - and BT now - is buying up all the lucrative sports and popular television shows just because they can. It's the Man City subs bench logic: better having them sat there doing nothing despite paying millions than them doing well elsewhere.

[Lineker]

Quote

Formula 1 chiefs will vote on the fate of qualifying on Thursday, deciding whether or not to implement a hybrid format.

This would see Q1 and Q2 continue in the new elimination-style that made its debut on Saturday ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, but with minor tweaks.

Q3, deemed such a disaster given the lack of action, will revert back to the old set-up to ensure audiences, both in the grandstands and at home, are kept entertained through to the last minute.

The move is a departure to what was initially determined by team principals on Sunday morning in Melbourne.

Following the apparent failure of the new system, and the wave of criticism that followed, team bosses voted to revert back to the old format - that had been in place since 2006 - in its entirety.

That was to be with immediate effect from the forthcoming Bahrain Grand Prix, but keeping the door ajar for changes to be introduced from 2017 following more in-depth analysis of how, and whether, another scheme would work.

At higher levels, that has not been met with universal approval, and on reflection, and with the heat taken out of the situation, a more measured response has since been undertaken.

Any change now requires unanimous approval from the F1 Commission, the 26-member panel that comprises representatives from the teams, promoters, sponsors, and tyre supplier Pirelli.

If the hybrid qualifying, which is seen as a compromise solution, fails to gain such support, then F1 will continue on with the knock-out system in its current guise.

It is anticipated, however, such unanimity will be granted, which will result in it then going forward to the World Motor Sport Council for ratification.

Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley made clear he was against such a radical plan as going back to the old qualifying system, suggesting instead minor alterations should be made.

[Lineker]

Quote

Formula 1 qualifying will remain unaltered for the forthcoming Bahrain Grand Prix, with a further review of the elimination system to follow that race, Autosport can confirm.

The decision was taken following Thursday morning's meeting of the F1 Commission, a 26-member group comprising representatives from the teams, the FIA, Formula One Management, race promoters, sponsors and other technical partners.

The belief is rather than taking a knee-jerk reaction, the elimination system that made its debut ahead during the Australian Grand Prix weekend should be given another chance, and then be thoroughly reviewed ahead of making potential tweaks.

"They're going to do what I proposed, which is leave things as they are for this race [in Bahrain]," F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone told Autosport.

"After that we will then have a good look and decide whether what was done was the right thing to do, the wrong thing to do, does it need modifying, does it need scrapping?

"This was an FIA idea in the first place, so I've said to them we'll support whatever they think is the right thing to do.

"But as nobody knows what the right thing to do is, we've said we'll stay where we are and have a look after this race.

"Then two races in we'll see, as it was a prototype, what was right or wrong.

"The teams didn't understand what they were doing either, which didn't help at all."

A hybrid version of qualifying was on the table as an option for the Commission.

That would have involved Q1 and Q2 continuing under the new format but with minor tweaks, while Q3, deemed a disaster given the lack of action in Melbourne, reverted back to the old set-up in place from 2006.

For the moment that option is on the backburner and could be revisited if the same level of inactivity takes place in Bahrain as occurred in Australia.

The decision comes as a complete volte face to what occurred in Melbourne on Sunday when the team principals voted for an immediate change back to the former system after what had taken place the previous day.

They suggested it would come into immediate effect from Bahrain, but keeping the door ajar for changes to be introduced from 2017 following more in-depth analysis of how, and whether, another scheme would work.

Even Ecclestone suggested the new system was "pretty crap" after watching it on television, while drivers and team bosses almost universally condemned it.

There were those, however, such as Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery and Williams technical chief Pat Symonds who suggested the knockout format should not be so quickly abandoned.

So incompetent  

[Meacon Keaton]

All this talk of Sky and Sky Sports and paywalls...

Doesn't make watching it on NBC Sports seem so bad now. 

[Adam]

Wait, does that mean they're still doing the shit Q3 that didn't work in Australia?

[The Lusophone]

Yes

[Katsuya]

Fucking hell. The GPDA should have a field day with this.

[JasonM]

Well, can't wait to make a sandwich in the final minutes of every session...

[Chris2K]

Wow... that's just ridiculous and yet somehow completely unsurprising.

I wouldn't have minded the amendment to the final session only but I can understand why they were reluctant to choose an option that took them by surprise.

[Katsuya]

So apparently, Red Bull and McLaren refused to agree to any changes because the preferred option of the 2015 Qualifying system wasn't on the table, and they felt like they were being forced to agree to something they didn't want to do.

[Lineker]

Honda has confirmed it is to replace the entire power unit in Fernando Alonso's McLaren for this weekend's Formula 1 grand prix in Bahrain following his Australia crash. Alonso's MP4-31 was destroyed in a frightening accident in the season-opening race in Melbourne, with the Spaniard fortunate to walk away unscathed. Unsurprisingly Honda has been unable to salvage any parts from the engine, meaning Alonso will be on to the second of five available systems this year for the race at Sakhir.

[MJB]

Two years in a row that Fernando has lost an engine at the first race. Although I suppose it was technically Kevin Magnussen last year.

[Katsuya]

Two years in a row that Fernando will miss a race now too...doctors won't clear him to compete as his chest hasn't recovered enough.

EDIT: Presumably this means Stoffel Vandoorne will debut this weekend. 

[Lineker]

Better safe than sorry. And yes, Vandoorne is the stand-in.

[Chris2K]

I have this feeling Vandoorne is going to out-qualify and out-race Jenson on his way to taking his 2017 seat...

[Meacon Keaton]

Oooooooo I hear laughter in Bahrain

I love these races that start later in the morning. Gives me a chance to catch some footie at 7:30/8 and then focus on the race at 11:00. It's such an exciting time of year to be a sports fan. 

[Lineker]

Quote

Fernando Alonso has revealed his Australian Grand Prix Formula 1 crash left him with broken ribs, a pneumothorax and the risk of further lung damage.

The McLaren driver will sit out this weekend's Bahrain GP, with GP2 champion and team reserve Stoffel Vandoorne making his F1 racing debut in Alonso's place.

Alonso had a violent accident when he ran into the back of Esteban Gutierrez's Haas in Melbourne.

Though given the all-clear by the medical team at the time, he explained that pain in his chest increased in the following days - prompting a CT scan and the discovery of a small lung collapse and "some rib fractures".

He explained that the problem was not the pain level but the danger of additional consequences.

"The risk is driving because in F1 there is a unique position in the car and with the g-forces the fracture could move into the lung as well," said Alonso.

"This is not a broken leg or a broken arm where you can deal with pain.

"This is in the chest where there are some organs.

"The problem is the rib [damage] is too fresh, and still not completely improved.

"The risks are small but we all want zero risk."

Alonso was officially sidelined from the Bahrain race when he had an FIA medical examination at Sakhir on Thursday morning.

He expects to undergo another set of checks "in the next eight or 10 days" to determine whether he can race in the next event in China in a fortnight.

"I'm disappointed - obviously we want to race," Alonso said.

"When you come here and you cannot even try, it's sad.

"It's understandable. I respect the decision.

"I tried until the last moment to be able to race.

"There have been some painful days with some pain at home but I was ready to go through this pain somehow in the car and make sure I could race.

"At the end of the day, the pain is manageable if you don't think too much.

"The doctors think it's a risk, I understand."