Formula 1 2020 - General Discussion Thread (See MOD warning on first post)

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AMKC wrote: »

Lol. So Red Bull think they might have done better if Ferrari had not cheated and that is only if Ferrari did cheat which no one can prove.

I do not think Ferrari cheated. They worked hard and found some extra performance in the engine. Would people prefer Ferrari were not competitive with Mercedes now and Mercedes run away with it again and again until they get bored and leave F1?

I agree totally nothing proven and they it was the most interesting part of the season last year when Ferrari was able to get a slight advantage.

Charlie-Bravo

Finished watching Drive to Survive. Not as good as Season 1 but still a decent watch. Yeah, it was a bit dramatised but that's the essence of making it interesting. Not sure why people have issue with how Will Buxton speaks, he's always been like that and that's why I think he's watchable to a lot of other people. I do enjoy his Paddock Pass as he's not constrained, and he's had that cheeky grin plenty of times before.

Anyhow, all in all, still watchable so I'd recommend. Even the better half sat through it with me, so it must of ticked a box!

muckwarrior

A couple of friends in work watched it and asked me how they could start watching F1. I gave them the sky link and their response was "Lol **** that! I could buy like five Netflixes for that!".

I imagine that will be the response from a very high percentage of the people who could otherwise have become new F1 viewers due to Drive to Survive.

This is it

muckwarrior wrote: »

A couple of friends in work watched it and asked me how they could start watching F1. I gave them the sky link and their response was "Lol **** that! I could buy like five Netflixes for that!".

I imagine that will be the response from a very high percentage of the people who could otherwise have become new F1 viewers due to Drive to Survive.

I'd imagine anyone with any interest would find a way to watch it without paying Sky subs if they really wanted to.

AMKC

muckwarrior wrote: »

A couple of friends in work watched it and asked me how they could start watching F1. I gave them the sky link and their response was "Lol **** that! I could buy like five Netflixes for that!".

I imagine that will be the response from a very high percentage of the people who could otherwise have become new F1 viewers due to Drive to Survive.

You could have just said its on Channel 4. Sure not live but then they would not have to watch all the boring parts. I would say if some of them that did watch Drive to Survive actually watched say Melbourne, Monaco or Singapore live they would be bored of it in 10 minutes and switch over to something else. Sure there might be the maybe one that will actually like it and get into it but the maturity will get bored of it if they were never into it before.

I got my two sisters into it years back and one even went to the British GP with her then boyfriend but they are not into it as much now one has a little baby now but does have it on in the background sometimes and the other is busy with enjoying life.

GarIT

muckwarrior wrote: »

A couple of friends in work watched it and asked me how they could start watching F1. I gave them the sky link and their response was "Lol **** that! I could buy like five Netflixes for that!".

I imagine that will be the response from a very high percentage of the people who could otherwise have become new F1 viewers due to Drive to Survive.

I haven't paid a penny to watch F1 since 2014.

Inviere

GarIT wrote: »

I haven't paid a penny to watch F1 since 2014.

Same. Though that's not on principle. If Virgin Media carried Sky F1 & offered it as an extra, I'd likely pay for it. OR, if Sky offered it as a single add on, & I didn't need to subscribe to an entire Sports bundle of channels that I'd never watch, I'd strongly consider that too. But the way it is, it's nowhere near worth the price imo.

g1983d

Inviere wrote: »

Same. Though that's not on principle. If Virgin Media carried Sky F1 & offered it as an extra, I'd likely pay for it. OR, if Sky offered it as a single add on, & I didn't need to subscribe to an entire Sports bundle of channels that I'd never watch, I'd strongly consider that too. But the way it is, it's nowhere near worth the price imo.

I got it in sky by subscribing to the hd package €15 a month, every year ring to cancel and they know 50% off so €7.50 a month

At the time they were promoting the hd package so not sure if still available but worth a check

murphyebass

Rewatching the 1998 Belgian GP last night.

What a race.

So many retirements and crashes.

But also some amazing racing.

I hope we get some wet weather this year. Feels like every race it threatens but never happens.

Definitely adds to race day, unpredictability etc..

Wanderer78

I'd love to know how people are watching this, as my sources are pure crap

Inviere

g1983d wrote: »

I got it in sky by subscribing to the hd package €15 a month, every year ring to cancel and they know 50% off so €7.50 a month

At the time they were promoting the hd package so not sure if still available but worth a check

That offer is long gone afaik. €7.50 a month is a nice price point for a channel I'd watch usually twice a month 9 months of the year. The price today to get the channel is farcical imo.

murphyebass

Wanderer78 wrote: »

I'd love to know how people are watching this, as my sources are pure crap

Sky sports F1. Simple. There are no other legal “sources”.

You pay your money and enjoy.

Can not wait for Australia!!!

Wanderer78

murphyebass wrote:

Sky sports F1. Simple. There are no other legal “sourcesâ€.

As others have said, it's too bloody expensive, it's killing sport

GarIT

g1983d wrote: »

I got it in sky by subscribing to the hd package €15 a month, every year ring to cancel and they know 50% off so €7.50 a month

At the time they were promoting the hd package so not sure if still available but worth a check

I had it for €5 a month, on top of the sky basic package but they were trying to take it off me at any opportunity. If I wanted to add broadband they would take it away because thats a new contract, if I wanted sky to fix my dish they would take it away because I'd be on a new contract. I can't remember why I lost it but cancelled sky the same day.

murphyebass

Wanderer78 wrote: »

As others have said, it's too bloody expensive, it's killing sport

Ah here if you enjoy the sport pay your money.

I have zero issue in paying for sky so I can watch every race on the calendar. I watch a bit of fair bit of the qualy and GP2 too so there’s plenty of value there when you break it down.

Not everything is free in life.

Channel 4 do highlights for fair weather cheapo “fans”.

Wanderer78

murphyebass wrote:

Ah here if you enjoy the sport pay your money.

I don't as much as I use to, I think big money is killing sport in general, and subscription services are playing a major role in that. I'm amazed of the amount of sports fans flocking towards alternative sources to view, I wonder will live sport fall faul to its own 'success'. Don't blame people moving either, it's just too damn expensive

murphyebass

Wanderer78 wrote: »

it's just too damn expensive

Is it though?

If you’re going to watch it alone you’re paying what €40 a month for sky sports? So if all you watch is 2 races a month that’s less than a price of a pay per view.

I can’t go to every race so as a fan I would happily pay that.

Just like I can’t get to every boxing match so I’d happily pay €25 or whatever the PPV is to see the likes of Wilder V Fury.

A ticket to the actual stadium along with travel etc to see these events would cost exponentially more.

I hope to go to a race this year but I outside of that will more than happily pay for sky.

I just wish the F1 channel would do a bit more with it than repeats etc. Could be so much more for the fans.

Wanderer78

murphyebass wrote:

Is it though?

Yes, sports subscription is too expensive, hence the increase in alternatives

corminators

F1 themselves were selling it to US fans for $2.73 per race this month via F1 tv Pro (if you bought the whole season). I signed up for their US marketing email list to see their offerings.

So $5 per month is what F1 think F1 is worth.

Sky = ripoff.
End of.

Zagato

murphyebass wrote: »

Is it though?

If you’re going to watch it alone you’re paying what €40 a month for sky sports? So if all you watch is 2 races a month that’s less than a price of a pay per view.

I can’t go to every race so as a fan I would happily pay that.

Just like I can’t get to every boxing match so I’d happily pay €25 or whatever the PPV is to see the likes of Wilder V Fury.

A ticket to the actual stadium along with travel etc to see these events would cost exponentially more.

I hope to go to a race this year but I outside of that will more than happily pay for sky.

I just wish the F1 channel would do a bit more with it than repeats etc. Could be so much more for the fans.

If Sky didn't have exclusive deal, we'd be able yo pay €50-100 for the entire season on F1TV Pro. So compared to that it is too expensive. Too much of the money that you pay sky going in footballers pockets, and I've no interest in paying for that.

Also, I did manage to subscribe to and watch F1TV Pro last year for just about €60. But it was cumbersome (due to the geoblocking) and could not put it on TV, but worked quite well on phone/laptop.

flazio

murphyebass wrote: »

Channel 4 do highlights for fair weather cheapo “fans”.

Channel 4 have a far more professional team. (Yes, even Steven Jones would have more class then to ask two drivers their feelings on the Hubert death just as they are walking from the tribute at the front of the grid back to their cars)
I know Eir don't get a lot of things right, but I miss their bare bones live access to Ben Edwards and David Coulthard commentary.

Inviere

murphyebass wrote: »

Not everything is free in life.

Who said people want it free though? People are noting it's priced quite highly, and that's a valid observation. The best I can see here is a basic, one tv sub to Sky TV, with the Sports add on, in HD, is €63 per month. Now for you, that might seem like value if you watch a lot of sports, and you'd get the value out of it. Imagine though there are people out there who would literally only be interested in turning that Sky box one for a few hours a month. The value proposition drops sharply. That's a basic package, one tv, no broadband, either.

Channel 4 do highlights for fair weather cheapo “fans”.

What a knob thing to say :rolleyes: F1 throughout its history has been legally free to watch, until the Sky deal. There are people out there who've watched decades of the sport, and who might struggle to find another €60 per month to keep watching it....and in your eyes they're now 'fair weather cheapo fans'? Feck off outta that.

El_Duderino 09

murphyebass wrote: »

Ah here if you enjoy the sport pay your money.

I have zero issue in paying for sky so I can watch every race on the calendar. I watch a bit of fair bit of the qualy and GP2 too so there’s plenty of value there when you break it down.

Not everything is free in life.

Channel 4 do highlights for fair weather cheapo “fans”.

Yeah I'm a "fair weather cheapo". No way I'm paying for sky just to watch F1.

The "fair weather cheapo" highlights are also the only way new fans can get into the sport without a subscription. So its absolutely about to die on its feet.

Going behind a paywall is a death sentence for a sport -with the exception of football. Motorsport isn't something you can play in real life. Football needs minimum 2 bloke's and a ball to play. Motor racing needs loads of equipment.

So new young people will just never get Into it en masse and it will die. I'm,watching the same thing happen with Rugby. It's about to go entirely behind a pay wall and, it too, will diminish.

antodeco

I'd pay €10 a month for access to it no problem. I'm not paying €65 a month for it.

I'm a lifelong huge F1 fan. The reason I don't pay it? I don't want to give sky the money, and secondly (and more importantly) when 75% of my salary is spent on rent, I really need to sacrifice certain things

murphyebass

Inviere wrote: »

Who said people want it free though? People are noting it's priced quite highly, and that's a valid observation. The best I can see here is a basic, one tv sub to Sky TV, with the Sports add on, in HD, is €63 per month. Now for you, that might seem like value if you watch a lot of sports, and you'd get the value out of it. Imagine though there are people out there who would literally only be interested in turning that Sky box one for a few hours a month. The value proposition drops sharply. That's a basic package, one tv, no broadband, either.



What a knob thing to say :rolleyes: F1 throughout its history has been legally free to watch, until the Sky deal. There are people out there who've watched decades of the sport, and who might struggle to find another €60 per month to keep watching it....and in your eyes they're now 'fair weather cheapo fans'? Feck off outta that.

Just because something was free in the past doesn’t mean it always will be.

€60 is €2 a day approx so for less than the price of a daily newspaper you could watch the sport you supposedly love.

Wanderer78

murphyebass wrote:

€60 is €2 a day approx so for less than the price of a daily newspaper you could watch the sport you supposedly love.

So when you pay more for something, you love it more?

antodeco

murphyebass wrote: »

Just because something was free in the past doesn’t mean it always will be.

€60 is €2 a day approx so for less than the price of a daily newspaper you could watch the sport you supposedly love.

That is comparing apples and oranges. It's not €2 per day. It's €30 a race...

If there was a race everyday, then yes it's €2 a day but there's not...

Inviere

murphyebass wrote: »

Just because something was free in the past doesn’t mean it always will be.

Once again, nobody is asking for it to be free.

€60 is €2 a day

If there was a race every day, yeah. That's not how it works though. Not only is there a race every two weeks usually, there's a near x4 month gap in the off season too! Let's break it down:

€63 per month, so €756 for a year.
21 races for the 2019 calendar.
€756 into 21 races equals €36 per race

That's for x1 tv in the house, with no broadband (a far more important utility than broadcast tv these days I would say). In comparison, F1 TV is .50 cent per week for the year. Granted it's replay based, not live, but considering the savings...Sky is insanity if you only want F1 imo.

pjohnson

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

Yeah I'm a "fair weather cheapo". No way I'm paying for sky just to watch F1.

The "fair weather cheapo" highlights are also the only way new fans can get into the sport without a subscription. So its absolutely about to die on its feet.

Going behind a paywall is a death sentence for a sport -with the exception of football. Motorsport isn't something you can play in real life. Football needs minimum 2 bloke's and a ball to play. Motor racing needs loads of equipment.

So new young people will just never get Into it en masse and it will die. I'm,watching the same thing happen with Rugby. It's about to go entirely behind a pay wall and, it too, will diminish.

Strange how F1 is gaining in popularity.


Nowadays the vast majority watch sports and tv shows that are paywalled/subscription based for free. New fans can easily watch races, easier than bothering with subscriptions.

GarIT

murphyebass wrote: »

€60 is €2 a day approx so for less than the price of a daily newspaper you could watch the sport you supposedly love.

I can't afford to pay for a daily newspaper either. For probably half the population €60 a month is the difference between being able to fix your car when it breaks so you can still get to work, being able to buy that thing your kid wants, not being cold for the winter, or even for the 20% on the poverty line just being able to eat. Plenty of things are worth more than an hour and a half of watching Hamilton and whoever is closest behind him while the TV director ignores everything else.

I had a subscription when it was €31 but not at €60. And I still get bombarded with the advertising at the race, I buy a Red Bull now and again instead of Monster or another brand, I have a Red Bull hat, I have a Ferrari backpack, I sometimes buy the games, I bought some tech made by Trust over another brand because they sponsored Minardi back in something like 2002, I've been to Monza not too long ago. They definitely get their money out of me, and if asked I'm sure they wouldn't say I should stop watching F1.