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OTD Lite: 2001 – The sponsorless Ferrari and the ‘thug’
Podromou faces huge challenge at Mclaren
Teams confront Bernie over falling race attendances
Heidfeld defends Formula E after Vettel attack (GMM)
OTD Lite: 2001 – The sponsorless Ferrari and the ‘thug’
Apart from the badge on the nose cone, the Ferraris appeared at the 2001 Italian Grand Prix shorn of all recognisable sponsorship in salute of the victims of the 9/11 atrocities. Yet, despite the intentions of the team, they had to get written permission from all their sponsors before being allowed to run in effectively national racing colours.
The nose was painted black in remembrance of those killed as the race weekend ran in a sombre mood. Michael Schumacher remained in a reflective mood all weekend and many believed he had finished fourth on purpose to avoid the podium and subsequent press conference.
Today also marked the first Grand Prix win of Juan Pablo Montoya who despite wearing a black armband seemed genuinely delighted at his break through victory. Never the brightest bulb in the box, this thuggish racer waved enthusiastically as he accepted the trophy.
The Jackal
Podromou faces huge challenge at Mclaren
Mclaren proudly announced the start of a new era with their recruitment of Peter Podromou beginning his second stint with the team. He originally worked for Mclaren between 1991 and 2006 before following design genius Adrian Newey to Red Bull.
Of course down in Woking the champagne had barely touched the floor before both parties expressed their delight in combining forces once more.
“It’s fantastic to return to McLaren, and to see a mixture of faces old and new,” Prodromou said. “Of course, I have first-hand experience of just what a passionate, focused and capable race team exists within these walls, and I’ve already seen the enthusiasm and positivity that exists to return McLaren to world championship-winning glory. I, too, am determined to work flat-out to do everything I can to help initiate a new chapter of success in McLaren’s history.”
With Mclaren’s last victory coming at the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix McLaren’s CEO Jonathan Neale stated that his appointment shows the team is ready to return to winning ways. “I’m delighted to welcome Peter back to McLaren, he joins us at an extremely exciting time: we’re making exciting progress with our new engine partner, and our entire design department has been galvanised and motivated by an ongoing restructure that has really begun to bed-in and deliver results.”
“We’re under no illusions that we’re yet there, but Peter’s appointment is a very significant one, and is also a very public reminder that we’re adding strength in depth to our organisation all the time.”
Whilst a team would never willingly make a statement suggesting that they weren’t delighted with their new signing, the hiring of Podromou has merely stemmed the flood of engineers leaving the team for pastures new – although no-one is on record as to their true thoughts of the man responsible for the 2013 Mclaren – Paddy Lowe.
Either way, during his first career at Mclaren, he was involved in the 1991 winning car and the Newey designed cars that won titles in 1998 and 1999. But mysteriously, with the genius of Newey not being able to work his magic in Woking, it was only when Peter and Ade teamed up once again in red Bull that their collaboration bore fruit.
James Allison joined Ferrari last year at a similar stage of the year and effectively had no input into this years car and likewise Podromou will have limited input into next years Macca so it may well be 2016 before we can truly assess if this man has the nous to follow where Newey led..
Teams confront Bernie over falling race attendances
Ever since Sky replaced the BBC season long coverage of F1 on free to air, the viewers subscription model has coincided with an era of depleting TV audience figures across Europe. When the BBC initially came to an arrangement with Sky it was given the new spending constraints issued by the UK government, the broadcaster couldn’t justify funding Bernie’s demands. That said, paying for a few hundred people to carry their productions to other global sporting events was deemed acceptable.
This writer saw a Sky producer defending the agreement as the only way to keep free-to-air service on the air waves. A member of the TJ13 responded and questioned whether RAI and the other European broadcasters were subject to the same tax payers ransom with regards monies spent on entertainment. Unsurprisingly, Sky refused to comment.
This year has witnessed some epic battles throughout the field, a dominant team that has drivers at war and yet events are struggling to entice sponsors. The pay driver is more prevalent than ever and the crowds are staying away.
At long last the paymasters – the manufacturers – have begun to understand that without an audience there is no requirement for the vanity of the ‘beautiful people.’ So the teams have approached Mr E about the prices of tickets driving the spectators away.
High tickets prices obviously discourage people from attending which is directly attributable to the massive hosting fees charged to race promoters by Mr. E. Further, race promoters used to be able to pocket track advertising/race sponsors fees together with charges to the concession stands. All this now goes to the FOM “Empire” leaving the promoter with little else other than the cash from gate receipts.
Back in F1, Ron Dennis the British Bulldog who has fought many a back street dog fight with Mr. E has revealed, “We have dared to discuss ticket prices, and we discussed the impact and the importance of the traditional circuits like Spa, like Monza, like Hockenheim, races like that need to be part of the race calendar. This is a global sport.”
“We need to go abroad and we need to conquer new territories and new countries, this always has been the case, but I guess it is pretty clear what needs to be done to fill the grandstands in the traditional races such as Hockenheim and Monza.”
Dennis suggests F1/FOM go do some proper market research as to why F1 is struggling to attract spectators. “How can we go to Silverstone and Austria and it be absolutely full, and then we go to Germany and it’s half full? There must be a reason. We can all guess, but that’s not very scientific. We’ve really got to understand why these things happen. Is it ticketing prices? Is it national heroes etc? Whatever it is we have to address it.”
It wasn’t long ago that a day at the Grand Prix meant a full itinerary with motor-sport from morning until dusk. The teams and drivers were more accessible and air shows and variation in food and non corporate vendors encouraged people to join in the festival.
In the 21st century, as in society, the cult of celebrity has overtaken the sport and the public has been herded further and further away from being able to touch and feel the burning rubber and oil. ‘Die hards’ still pay to go, but an individual with a casual interest will never darken the doors of an F1 race any more. For a family of 4, the cost of going to F1 represents a luxury holiday week away.
(sourced from GMM with TJ13 comment)
Heidfeld defends Formula E after Vettel attack
Nick Heidfeld has defended the new Formula E series following criticism from within the F1 paddock. F1’s reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel recently slammed the fully electric powered series – which kicked off on the streets of Beijing last weekend with an all-star grid and global interest – as “cheese”.
Ultimately, German Heidfeld – a veteran of no less than 185 grands prix and 13 podiums – was arguably the star of the show, spectacularly crashing in a last-lap lunge to take victory from Nicolas Prost, the son of the F1 legend. But Vettel said recently: “I’m not a fan of it (Formula E), and as a viewer I would not be interested.”
Heidfeld, who drives for the team co-founded by Hollywood actor Leonardo Dicaprio, was asked by the German-language Spox to react to Vettel’s attitude. “I like Sebastian and I don’t know in what context he said that,” the 37-year-old answered.
“But I think that Formula E cannot currently compete against formula one and actually it does not want to. The concept is quite different. But the series is justified when you consider the development of electric mobility and the interest the manufacturers have in it. How successful it is, we will have to see. I think even formula one is currently struggling with some negative headlines, but it is the peak of motor sport and that will long remain the case. But that doesn’t mean that there can’t be something else as well,” Heidfeld added.
It has been said that, at least for now, Formula E will never pose a danger to the success of F1 because of the speed of the cars. In its report, Spox said the laptimes show that Formula E is “more formula 3” than F1.
“Compared with formula one, the performance is modest,” Heidfeld agreed. “We have almost 300 horse power in qualifying and the cars are 900 kilos. And the Michelin tyres we are using are not slicks, which is slower but we can use them in the wet and the dry. Ultimately they are normal single seater cars, which are always difficult to drive on the limit. But another reason I chose to race is because of the opponents — in terms of the quality of the drivers, we don’t need to hide from formula one,” he said.
Heidfeld explained that the trend is therefore different to F1, where so-called ‘pay drivers’ are wielding unprecedented levels of power in the increasingly expensive sport.
“Compared to some years ago, the difference is obvious,” he said. “It is difficult to get into formula one now only with talent. I don’t want to criticise the teams, clearly they would prefer to sign drivers based only on what they can do on the track. But they also have to pay them. Formula one is too expensive for most of the teams, which is a shame — but that’s the way things are.”
Finally, Heidfeld commented on the declining age of rookies in F1, with Daniil Kvyat, Max Verstappen and now Mercedes reserve Pascal Wehrlein all signed up as teenagers.
“Basically,” Heidfeld explained, “maturity and experience goes up the older you are. We saw that it worked out with Kimi (Raikkonen in 2001), but even he was older than Max,” said the German, who was Raikkonen’s first teammate in 2001. “On the whole it would be better and safer if there is a minimum age in formula one. Clearly it’s possible that there are exceptional drivers like Kimi and maybe Max who can do it. But it is very difficult to predict beforehand,” Heidfeld added.
TJ13 comments: Here in the Judge’s chambers, the mood is remarkably sanguine in regards the latest comments from the German superstar. Earlier this year the chambers came under attack from bovine excrement at the mere mention of Vettel’s use of the word ‘S%*T’ but this time we should be safe quoting his application of language here… although is the cheese a mild mature cheddar or a strong distinct Parmiggiano… or one which is chilli infused…. we just don’t know.
It is should be a concern that Heidfeld is considered the star of the show because he had an accident that could have been fatal and it would seem that his reasoning is still not fully returned when he speaks of the stars of Formula E being comparable to Formula One.
Of course we have the legendary Senna and Prost battle which should get all the old timers shuffling around the nursing homes once again shouting their allegiance – although Heidfeld may have unwittingly given the game away as to the future of these electric Formula cars.
Here in the UK, ‘development of electric mobility’ means one thing – mobility scooters – and judging by the speed and charging times of these cars it may be possible to carry your shopping in a basket on the back too..
Hippo explains: When someone is describing something as Käse (cheese) in German. It’s basically just a less rude form of saying “it’s rubbish”.
Singapore Weather
Might get interesting….
Race History
2008 Dry
2009 Hot and Dry
2010 Dry
2011 Hot and Dry
2012 Hot and Dry
2013 Dry
Twitter on the radio ban
Yes Will – the lunatics (plural) have officially taken over the asylum.
Mmm. Surely the “F1 school of silly ideas’ thought of this – there must be a problem with it.
Fernando is old school – or just utterly desperate.
Re: Falling attendances
Can the Judge clarify what is the message/conclusion from the article.
Vettel is moving to Ferrari according to Sky Italia? And Alonso is going to RBR according to them (unlikely?).
According to you, Hamiltons management confirmed he received an offer from Ferrari? So it would be likely Ferrari sent the same offer to Vettel?
The tension is building…
But RB won’t have Alonso, do they? Come to think of it, he would fit well in the after Newey era. The car’s rubbish, but nobody notices.
@verstappen How is the car rubbish? They are running second in the WCC this year. But on your first point, Alonso to RBR doesn’t make sense with Kvyat & Max in the system to replace Vettel in the next year or two.
@curmudgeon,
I meant it as a little peak into the future, the Newey after life.
Re: Formula E.
To be fair to Heidfeld, there’s a lot of talent that, for various reasons, fails to make it to F1. It can only be a good thing that there is somewhere for them to race, other than taking a backward step to F2 or F3, and I don’t suppose all of them want to race in DTM either.
Motorsport manifests in all manner of weird and wonderful ways, and it should be celebrated the there are people willing to invest in a new form of it. Time will tell if is going to mature into a serious championship or disappear up its own backside, but they should be allowed a fair crack of the whip.
The tone of the F1 voices deriding the series reminds me of the snobbish attitudes of skiers when snowboards first started to appear on the pistes.
Typo…. ‘that there are people’, not ‘the there are people’.
Also, if it helps to develop mobility scooter technology so that they can get up to 30mph then maybe we can get them off the f*****g pavement (sidewalk) and onto the road!!! I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve nearly had my ankle shattered by one of these ‘silent killers’.
…needs a trumpet to play an exhaust sound……
A-ha! Then we’ve found a use for the Mercedes bugle that they tested earlier in the year. Huzzah!
I must admit that without sound the cars seemed to look, well, slow! I know they weren’t that fast but surely they are along the lines of F2 cars but seemed very, very slow.
Judge, i don’t have to many complaints about the Pirelli tyre, execpt this one, and the drivers commented on it as soon as they used them, is how useless thier wet weather tyre is, having qualy regularly suspended as there is a bit of water on the track. My fear is we just wouldn’t get a race.
The racing is suspended in wet conditions because it’s too easy for the cars to aquaplane. This is because the teams run the cars low for aero benefit and the wooden planks allow them to run very close to the ground.
Next year we’ll have metal plates which, if run close to the ground, will wear down significantly and thus the cars will fail the FIA post race inspection. As a result, ride height will be higher next year so we’ll see less chance of aquaplaning. Oh, and we get sparks which are ‘fun’, right?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but the wooden floors are there for the simple fact that they show the wear much faster and significant than a metal floor.
According the Charlie Whiting, wooden floors can be run closer to the ground and still pass the tests they undergo. The ones used next year won’t and will increase the minimum ride height…
But that is CW speaking…
Strange. But if Charlie says so 🙂
This was covered a few months ago in the DN&C, it had something to do with how and where the teams placed the metal within the plank.
The teams were using titanium which has a lower ware rate, but from next year, they’ll have to use tungsten instead which has a higher ware rate and will be of a pre-determined measurement, I think it’s set at 20cm. Also, they’ll have to be placedt in a now mandated area of the floor. Currently, they can place them wherever they like. So that’s one of the reasons why they’ll have to raise the ride heights.
Or is that the other way round? Maybe someone will correct me, I’m just going off memory at the moment.
The other way round.
What they are actually changing is the skid blocks that stop the plank wearing in the spots that the FIA measures. By changing from tungsten to titanium the skid blocks the blocks firstly weigh less so if the come loose they will cause less damage if 1 is sent flying, also they will wear quicker (hence sparks) and that will allow the plank to wear too as currently the tungsten ones can run far more than a GP distance without significantly wearing away. This is why, with the quieter engines we can hear the cars scraping the floor a fair bit during the races without the plank getting overly worn. So next year the teams will have to run their cars higher to stop excessive wear and run the risk of a penalty.
It was just the media that picked up on the sparks and didn’t convey the other reasons very clearly.
Sorry mixed up tungsten and titanium, tungsten is the softer material.
The ‘skids’ on the floor are apparently made out of stellite. It is much tougher than titanium and mega expensive and very tricky to machine
No I had it right,
some one delete my drivel lol
@judge “It is much tougher than titanium and mega expensive and very tricky to machine” and believe me, titanium is already f*cking tricky to machine… but I do believe the guys in f1 are given pure materials. And that’s always better to machine than the rubbish we, non f1 millers, get.
…That may well be… but that information was from someone who heads up an F1 machine shop….
Thank you Judge, you put me out my misery!
I dunno, I just can’t wander round being all dour about formula e, the race was pretty good, then end was getting quite exciting, and there were a few interesting drives going on. The circuit was a bit pants, but overall, I am happy it exists and that there is something else to watch, especially in the winter. Next year when they start to develop the cars and the series, it could be very interesting.
A lot of what Heidfield said makes sense to me, and perhaps he is flattering the grid comparing it to F1, but I guess all he means is there are some decent drivers there, and they are of a known quantity, so we do have a bit of a frame of reference.
I do however refuse to call it formula e, from now on it will be called ‘The Torro Rosso retirement home, for rejected drivers’
Re- teams approach Bernie on ticket prices.
It’s not just the ticket price, especially here in the UK, yes I can’t afford a ticket but that I take sky to get the F1 channel. I am very lucky to be able to afford the Sky coverage as it wasn’t a big price rise as I already took broadband and phone from another supplier and to move to sky with TV as well was around £8 a month more. Still that is £96 a year (almost the cost of GA at Silverstone I believe), now my problem is the way Bernie squeezed the British free to air broadcasters unroll they could no longer afford the price. This I feel is very very short sighted, yes, it will give guaranteed income for the duration of the contract, but when the contract renewal comes round I have little doubt Sky will not extend as the number of people watching their coverage is dismal, i can’t fund figures but I’m sure I’ve read that they are not great. I know several people who struggle with the current BBC line up too, so are less inclined to watch and the BBC are just not giving it the budget for their live and highlights shows. This then leaves Bernie (or who ever is in charge then) with 2 problems, the 1st is that viewing figures are so poor that sponsors don’t feel it gives them the same exposure anymore so cut the level of funds they want to pay per unit of advertising (this hits the trackside, team and broadcaster advertising) so less money is coming into the sport, also when the UK tv rites are up for contract renewal then people will see how much of a rubbish return Sky got so the contract itself will be worth less so less money into the prize fund and less for the teams. But if BT sport toock it on, all the people locked into sky contracts are screwed for switching that season. Not to mention a very large proportion of rural UK is still not serviced by high-speed optical fibre (I don’t and I’m only 5 miles from a town which does have the service and there is almost 300 homes in my village alone) so less people have the option to take up with BT sport anyway.
It’s loose loose for all concerned except Bernie as he gets his % of commission and he’s not short of a few quid. This is Bernie E all over. I recently read ‘No Angel’ which is a biography concentrating on how he had his fortune and the deals he did on the way and he never looks that far to the future, it’s about here and now and doing a deal now.
If only I could find a way to watch the complete F1 coverage, all sessions in HD I would drop sky 2moro. I do like the Sky production it’s like the natural progression from where BBC started with Jake, DC and Eddie, they really do give great insight into the sport, the tech and the personalities, but I’d still drop it if I could find a cheaper alternative as I can read about the tech etc. Nothing beats watching the sessions live, especially the race.
Anyway, the point I want to make is that I would expect the problem with TV exposure not to be exclusively to the UK but all the places that have switched to pay tv. This is the problem that needs addressing as it involves far more fans than the races themselves. I think the decline in race attendance is a) there is so many other exciting days out available now compared to 20 years ago and then b) obviously the cost for a family to attend a track, individual fans are 1 thing, but I’m almost convinced that if you got taken to an F1 race as say a 7-10 year old, then there is a good chance you will have some from of interest for the rest of your life, so it’s families they need to get through the gates to ensure the recruitment of the next generation of fans.
Apologies for not reading it through 1st, but I would hope you can all get what I’m trying to say. If any moderators want correct it, feel free.
Thanks CV
I agree with all of your points there, Clear View. Pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter.
Another great loss with the switch to pay TV is that now, as the BBC only puts shows that it has broadcast onto iPlayer, Joe Public can’t come home from work on a Friday and catch up with the practice sessions for half of the years races.
Nice piece. I agree with your analysis of mrs. e’s short-sightedness with regards to the tv rights. Remember, he is 83, greedy bastards will be greedy till the day they die, and he is not long for this world. Corpses have no long term goals.
The American mantra of “he who dies with the most toys wins” is probably tattooed somewhere on his body.
The only way for anything to change is for him to go, one way or another.
Maybe the new guy will have a better concept of the “series of tubes” the rest of us use to communicate.
I love how bernie, the teams, hell any large company, keeps talking about how they are struggling to “monetize” social media. It makes me laugh. Companies used to pay large percentages of their budget to advertise in news papers, on the tele, on the radio, and there was no guarantee as to how many people got their message. Now, one idiot with a twitter account can sit in his basement cubical and reach tens of millions for free.
The company just saved millions, possibly HUNDREDS of millions of dollars in advertising costs, and now they want to CHARGE ME, to see their advertising?
What has the world come to.
I guess most people in F1 are waiting for Bernie to die before anything changes for the better. As far as social media goes ? Bernie just doesn’t get it nor how powerful it can be when used properly. McLaren’s social media presence is fairly good if a little bit stiff in presentation terms. As far adverts go ? You can use it to hook people into your brand and communicate directly without needing to go through radio, newspapers and tv. It’s a bit of a wild frontier at the moment.
As for Formula E ? I liked what I saw, the cars sound a bit like scalextric when they are accelerating tbh. I doubt it will rival F1 anytime soon but I think it will settle into it’s own niche soon enough. Interesting to note that Williams and McLaren are heavily involved in terms of batteries and powertrains. Driver wise ? There should be some interesting battles to watch over the course of the season. Prost Jnr is a chip off the old block. Though it appears Bruno Senna’s run of bad luck behind the wheel continues.
Well it recently came to light he is allegedly having regular blood transfusions….. and not out of necessity…. the search for eternal life goes on….
As long as he doesn’t talk to Kurzweil…
Let’s hope the technology Tad Williams proposes in the Otherland books (my current bathroom read) doesn’t come to pass….
The main character is 200 years old, having used his fortune to develop ways to maintain his body by machine and about to transfer his conscious to a computer to live forever…
….Horner is already displaying a consciousness remarkably similar to Ecclestone…. maybe the transfer is already taking place…. and the beard is wierd!
And the Judge has hit upon exactly why the drivers in F1 are getting younger and younger…
Verstappen…
“Gee Doc, why did you have to take 2 liters of blood for my super license physical?”
“Well son, we need 5 grams for the screenings, the rest goes to bernie for safe keeping.”
Well I doubt he’ll reach the point where it becomes technologically possible to transfer human consciousness into an electronic form.
If I were Bernie I’d be praying the boffins manage to grow a fully functioning heart in a lab and then transplant it into a human being without any side effects….
If we see a wet race in Singapore then it could be lots of safety car laps, punctuated by multi-car accidents. Maybe we will see Marussia get their second points score? (i expect Caterham to be involved in the accidents LoL)
Toto Wolff talking to Andrew Benson from the BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/29173761
Someone please enlighten:
What do people mean by Mickey Mouse circuits when describing the Tilkedromes and assorted butchered monstrosities?
It means, in the UK, that something is not very good.
Re: Banning radios
I see that TJ13 is positively p*ssed at this, and that many vent their frustration on the twatasphere. It’s all nice and dandy to blame all on Plutocracy and the Strategy Group, but what exactly is wrong with this ban?
Of course it decreases safety (a driver not knowing she’s on a puncture sounds rather short-sighted to me), but who said that the FIA under the direction of Charlie Brown is about safety? What else is wrong?
I for one am quite open-minded to the argument that only multi-tasking fellas like Fred would be in a position to shine under the circumstances. Mouth-watering prospect, if you asked me, to see Danny Boy stop short of fuel on the last lap while in the lead; or Britney overshooting his tires and without realizing it needing to pit with 3 laps to go..
So what is wrong with the ban?
The ban doesn’t apply to pitstops, so it might not be so detriments as yet.
*Detrimental
I think it’s not the ban per se which pisses TJ off, but
– the knee jerk (a-fokking-gain) implementation
– the referral to an article which possibly opens pandorra’s box
– the possible consequences and controversies
From what I gather, anything which makes F1 harder, is good according to TJ. And that’s good. Make it harder and let Max proof himself 🙂
Agreed. It should be tougher for the drivers…. so happy they are getting less info….
but we want to hear what the drivers are saying – but that will be cut down too in the vain hope we will fall down and worship a none squealing Jenson Button, Vetttel and Alonso – ‘Heroes’.
Judge, in my understanding the squeals and the “get out of the f*cking way” will continue unabated. And continue to be broadcast.
BTW, you may recall that full radio broadcasting by the FIA is a rather recent introduction (2-3 years ago). Before that, the FIA had a plug on team-sensitive communications. That’s how I remember it, anyways..
….My information is that driver to pit radio was already significantly reduced in Monza….. based on the ‘make drivers heroes’ brief
Because teams will find a way to get the information to the driver, even without the board radios. A CPU isn’t that heavy and the fuel rate/ driving strategy, delta laptimes, etc. could be calculated in the car itself.
Whether that will be seen as driver assistance, that will be another long fight. But then we could start discussing whether an indication in which gear is selected is driver assistance, most motor cycles do not have such luxury.
What is next? Drivers are not allowed to take a smart watch with them in the car because they can receiving driving tips on them?
“A CPU isn’t that heavy and the fuel rate/ driving strategy, delta laptimes, etc. could be calculated in the car itself.”
Isn’t the ECU there specifically to control these things? I guess the FIA will just decide what can and what cannot be displayed, and teams will have their hands tied (short of cheating, which could go very ugly). Now code-words is a much tougher prospect to police, and let’s hope the senile Charlie Brown is up-to-date with current slang used by the kids (yup, that’s you Maximilian).
Maybe the teams can just pass a note to their driver during the pitstops, that tells them which buttons to press to make the car go faster.
Well, that certainly would not work.
You seriously expect a driver, during a 2.1 sec pitstop, to take his hands of a wheel (in gloves I might add), take a piece of a paper unseen, read it, understand it, give it back (or else risk a sanction if he is found to be in its possession), and then fully focused accelerate out of the pits. Not realistic by any stretch of imagination.
I would much easier accept th idea of glasses/visors/contact lenses with an integrated screen rather than that.
it was a joke
Your Honour, I really don’t think it’s appropriate or fair to publish slurs against drivers, and while calling Maldonado “Crashtor” is kinda amusing though still unfortunate, referring to JPM in the following terms is, frankly, offensive!
“Never the brightest bulb in the box, this thuggish racer…”
It’s not offensive b/c my lily white ears are too delicate for such words – rather, it’s the boorishness to call him a “thug” and stupid – wtf?!
On my browser bar, the F1 sites I have are, in no particular order, F1FanaticUK, JAonF1 (James Allen), TJ13, and PF1. (links to other F1 news sources are in a folder, less accessible.) On none of those other sites would I expect to come across such insulting and derogatory language.
I honestly don’t know why you tolerate it here, since it evinces serious bias on the part of whoever writes it, and a massive lack of respect for the individuals in question and the readers who object to this kind of gutter-talk.
I’m not going to stop reading – or commenting – but I will continue to point out stuff like this, which isn’t about political correctness in the least (Since I’m the least squeamish guy out there), but rather, about the level of basic respect that all of these athletes deserve – they’re still people, after all, and unless the author would be willing to door-stop Montoya and call him a dim light-bulbed thug to his face, I don’t know how they justify printing that rubbish here.
We readers frankly deserve better than that and sometimes, when you persecute these Spanish-speaking Latin American drivers, I genuinely wonder what’s going on…
Judge, while we’re addressing feedback to the editor, would you consider granting the longtime request of properly identifying the author of each piece. We already know when The Jackal is writing, and we can mostly identify when the Judge authors a piece in DN&C (mostly reflective and striving for impartiality) or FH (follow the penile extensions and bovine excrements, along with unadulterated love for some drivers and indiscriminate scorn for others).
But it would be a so much nicer reader experience if we didn’t have to guess all the time who actually authored a piece, and how seriously we should take the arguments exposed in it. I remember that this was discussed once in the past, and that nothing concrete was done wrt this.