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| Updated: 08 March 1998 | Pre Season Issue |
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Once again, Bernie has shown his complete disregard -- or is it utter
contempt? -- for U.S. race fans. By canceling ESPN's coverage of the
Australian G.P., he has left only a handful of communities with live
coverage of F1. I know only one person who gets Speedvision. Most
people have never heard of it. As for delayed broadcast on Fox Sports,
because of the last minute move by Ecclestone, no television schedules,
not even Fox Sports' web page, have broadcast times.
Ecclestone fails to understand the U.S., where fair play is expected even in business. I hope the rest of the world enjoys F1. I guess I'll just read about it on Atlas F1 and in AutoWeek and National Speed Sport News.
Tom Hinshaw
As I got online Friday morning on your great page (I really mean that) I was schocked to see the News that ESPN had lost the rights to show the F1 season in the US. If Bernie is so intent on being able to get the F1 Circus to the States then would it not stand to reason that we were able to see it on TV ? Speedvision is the only way to see F1 this Year and unfortunatly my cable company does not provide this, shame on them (TCI) So in a mad rush I got my brother to arrange for a converter box from his cabel supplier (MARCUS, Hurray) And by 8pm Friday night we saw Qulifying Live. I and all my friends are looking forward to a great race tonight, so let me just send a Thankyou to my Brother Greg and his Wife Allison, although by end of the season he may not want me in his House.
Jeremy Hartmann and the rest of our F1 Gang
In response to news of March 5, 1998, I do not find it surprising that the FIA would consider banning tobacco ads if it can be proven that they lead to people starting to smoke. Why? Well, despite the threats that F1 can be run in places where tobacco ads are permitted, lets face it, if all of Europe bans them, there is a huge market lost. F1 needs Europe. Look at any F1 calendar--this year's and those from the past. Where are the majority of the races? Europe. Moreover, this is about money. Formula One is a business, and if going along with the tobacco ad ban makes good business sense--that is, money can still be made, and people like Bernie can continue to move up on the list of richest--then it will be more than tenable. All the FIA will need to do is to court a new line-up of, or increase the role of some current sponsors: soft drinks, beer, petroleum companies, car makers (Ford's increased support of Stewart could be a welcome start on this front), and hey, there is always the monopolistic folks at Nike and Microsoft... :) I saw a neat one on a Formula Atlantic car at Montreal last year, it was a movie ad! Of course having a movie maker as sponsor might mean slight changes to the cars from race-to-race (and that would be hell for those of us who update GP2 to the latest carsets :), but surely if $200 million can be put out to promote one Movie (Titanic) then maybe F1 is a good market for that type of advertising? I know that I do not feel tobacco ads contribute to people taking up smoking, but who knows. I have no problem with being wrong on that one. And why not have cars with Pepsi and Coke, or Nike and Adidas,... racing it out for top rung? Who knows (and this will no doubt come across as a bit utopian), but maybe a new set of sponsors will spread the wealth a little? Maybe competition could be spurred not by rules that slow cars down, but by smaller teams getting bigger budgets. All that aside, I always look forward to watching F1, and this year is no different. I hope all readers enjoy the season. Cheers from Canada!
Bob Pearson
Hello, I'm very interested in all news on your sites. Only one thing can be improved: The GP-Odds are ok, only the flag of Eddie Irvine is wrong. He is an Irish, not a british driver. Have a good time and good sports next weekend.
Walter
Walter: Yes and no. Eddie Irvine was born and raised in Northern Ireland -- hence he is a citizen of the United Kingdom. Currently, he does live in Ireland. But if we followed that convention, most drives would carry the flag of the Principality of Monaco. Irvine does, however, race under a Republic of Ireland Racing License. And while there is much arguing about it, in the end, he is a citizen of the UK by birth and as such, he has the Union Flag. Regards,
Paul Rushworth
Would anyone know of any sure plans of holding an F1 race in Zhuhai, China this year? And, if so, when? Also, Would you know if Star TV Asia is still going to broadcast the qualifying and the race live on March 6 and 7? The last I heard was that they won't be carrying the races; which means i won't be enjoying their feeds in the cable TV in the Philippines... I hope this is not true because I look forward to watching these new cars every two weeks.
Henry Tiong
Good News... New Zealand will have live F1 coverage this year. Sky TV (the local broadcaster) and Formula One have reached an agreement. I can now sit and watch all but 2 races at 1-3am on Monday morning...
Gavin Crawshaw
I was appalled when Eurosport lost coverage of F1. As a British viewer, I used to watch all warm-up, practice and qualifying and bits in between. A race weekend started Friday lunchtime and went through to after the race. Now all we have is what ITV meter out, which falls way short. I now read more and more about TV coverage problems and to see the New Zealand situation reported in readers comments (21/2/98) makes me most concerned. Do we have anything official on that?
Pete Brazier.
It's not unlikely that New Zealand will be missing Formula One Coverage. It seems Sky TV (the local broadcaster) has been asked for an increased sum this year and don't have the money to pay it. I guess the Formula One Association can be proud that they are receiving no doubt more money from the likes of ITV and ESPN so they can post a bigger profit. Where does that leave us?
Gavin Crawshaw
It is a pity in some ways to see that the current financial troubles in South-east Asia are blowing to bits Bernie's threat to relocate the World Championships there. I was ready to suggest Afghanistan, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka as starters, as there would have been every possibility that local rebel groups would have kidnapped Max, Bernie,Frank, and Ron and held them for ransom. And who in their right mind, would have put up a brass cent for the release of that lot?
Peter Chapple
Dear Paul, My name is Brendan Duck and I am currently studying for a computer science degree here in Australia. I am a huge F1 fan and have taken it upon myself to run a tipping comp for the 1998 season. This comp is non profit, I am running it entirely out of enjoyment for the sport. It also departs from your standard tipping comp by not just focusing on the winners. I am writing to ask if it would be possible for you to mention my URL within Atlas F1 or even run a link to it. Here is the URL if you would like to have a look for yourself: http://golum.riv.csu.edu.au/~bduck01/tip/ I appreciate if you could let me know either way. Thank you for your time,
Brendan Duck
Brendan: Looks like fun!
Paul
It is sad enough already to see that the Tyrell Formula One Team as we know it will disappear from F1 next year, and with the signing of Ricardo Rosset, Ken Tyrell might just leave even sooner. I have nothing against Rosset, but if it means sending away one of F1's most respected personalities, I have no choice but to be against the signing of Rosset. BAR should respect Tyrell's preference in driver choice (Verstappen) and if they want Rosset, sign him next year!
Patrick Lee
Dear Everybody, What on earth is Max Mosley doing regarding the Belgian Grand Prix? He wants to cut the race from the 1998 season schedule. Why? The Belgian anti-tobacco laws for 7 years. Can someone please motivate this for me, I fail to see the logic in this. Obviously Max is reasoning that cutting the race out will give him (FIA) more money than having the race in the schedule without tobacco advertising. So far I follow. The problem I have is understanding how FIA will make more money without the Belgian Grand Prix. If they don't replace the race they will receive no TV rights and no advertising money from any company. If they replace the Belgian Grand Prix with some other Grand Prix, say in Asia or perhaps another European one, I don't think that can generate more money. First people love the Spa race. Secondly the race already has long time sponsors that might not follow to a new race. Thirdly TV revenues will not be as high for any newly inserted race. Can tobacco advertising for a new race make up for what F1 will lose with the Belgian Grand Prix? NO! So stop this silly sandbox game, Max. The world is changing, tobacco isn't as almighty as it once was. I understand the money coming in to F1 today, but look at what the teams are doing now. Mobil for McLaren, Repsol for Jordan. The teams have already realized that they can get non-tobacco sponsors to run a team and are slowly merging over.
Peter Sjöström
Peter: I'm sure your happy about the recent announcement.
Paul
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