Debate: Were FOM Intentionally Ignoring Mercedes in Japan?

[John_GTL]

wouldn't like to see the top teams all with the same engine -- f1 has never done that, and it never should.
that would be like gp1. no thanks.

as for the topic - no, don't think mercedes were being ignored.

Are you forgetting the Cosworth DFV era completely? An engine that dominated F1 for nearly a decade with Ferrari the only real competition.

 

[Chris]

To say that 9/11 thing you said in the first post, well that in itself is actually preposterous and shows how insanely ignorant you are with regards to events, governments, agencies. politics on a large scale, and just the way things work in general. It also shows that you have never researched, or just simply ignored (ohhh how it feels good applying ignorance to make things seem simple and to feel better) a ton of evidence of which there is about 100000s more than the conspiracy theory the government and western propaganda/media tell you. It also shows that you are most likely incapable of an absolute shred of critical thinking and just some plain-old common sense.

On a slightly different note, I'm guessing you think that China and Russia and most Middle Eastern countries are the "bad guys" while the imperialistic world bully-empire known as the United States, along with it's followers (for the most part: Australia, Canada, Western Europe, Israel, and Saudi Arabia), are the "good guys".

I hope one day you stop absorbing the western mainstream media that gets spoon-fed to you all day, every day. Try to wake up and loose the delusional mind-state you're in no matter how much the truth, and thinking for yourself, hurts.

Really? One sentence and you launch into a personal attack?
None of what you said has anything to do with the article, so if you've nothing on topic to add to the discussion, then keep it to yourself.

 

[paracletus]

ah, yes DFV did dominate a long time that's true. So I stand corrected - not since the modern era of f1 (80s on). And at least there were others trying to catch up all along; took a long time but they eventually did.
You need competition to encourage development. Otherwise, when you just have one engine for all the top teams there is no incentive to spend money developing it to beat your competition.
A good example is how the competing v10s gradually increased in power year after year; they started around 700 bhp but eventually were producing over 900 bhp in less than 10 years. quite incredible.

there was some speculation that Mercedes could sell some info to Renault & Honda about the merc engine in order to alleviate this engine crisis.
although that's not a great prospect, it would be far better than a one-make formula.

 

[Blkout]

I don't think Mercedes was being ignored; there just wasn't much action to watch there. Arguably, Vettel and Raikkonen didn't get much media coverage either but there wasn't much action there either.

 

[Deleted member 130869]

Mercedes can't complain. Their cars weren't DQ'ed from the Monza GP.

 

[InsaneOzzie]

Meh!!!........Who cares, F1 is a circus run by clowns IMHO.
As far as Merc being ignored by the tv coverage "Big Deal" I don't watch F1 anymore due to it's predictability.
If the teams were not under these pathetic rules over engines, and went back to a standard v8 design instead of these expensive Hybrid V6 lumps of technology, that only the top teams can afford to develop, and as we are hearing, don't want to supply RBR or the other teams with A spec engines in 2016 for fear of being beaten. It's all part of the circus parade.

"Bernie........Send in the Clowns"

 

[snyperal]

Of course Hamilton was being ignored, he drove off into the distance, no point in focusing on his car when there were more battles and drama further down the field. I think people want to see the action and not a dull sounding engine lapping.

 

[Aki Korhonen]

Who wants to see if Hamilton wins in the best car? good car driver is not so much the best .. alex rossi wins races if driving a mercedes..boring do something on the car wings it is annoying when drivers cant pass or drive behind somebody..and hermann tilke dont make any more tracks because they suck and there is no overtaking because long and tightens turns!

 

[Steve William]

Maybe because we all got fed up, with the mercs, and the two littles kids with the drama they have.
its amazing i have been skipping every single footage they show about them since 2013.

 

[Thomas Alderton]

I don't think they were "ignoring" mercedes I think that there was no action following Hamilton driving 50 laps in the lead isn't what the Cameras watch.
If they were it's not a bad way for smaller teams to grab better sponsorship money for the coming season when more established teams have probably already got the next seasons sponsor signature already.

Does it matter? No
Was the race to watch good? I'd argue it was better than ones where we have followed Mercedes the whole time.
Was it good way at looking at the F1 race "from the back"? Yes.

 

[Terry Rock]

Who the heck builds a great engine, then hands it to their direct competitor....one with the best chassis on the grid and four consecutive WCC + WDC?
Seriously! Who in their right mind would do that?
Just in case you didn't notice...this is a business with almost a billion dollars in prize money at stake.
If Bernie did in fact direct the cameras to boycott Mercedes, then he is one wicked bastard.
I enjoyed the Verstappen dicing though.

 

[Kevin Pheiffer]

The average person in the street who doesn't know much about motor racing or as much as most of the guys here couldn't care less about engine suppliers, chassis builders etc. All they want is to see racing cars and see their favorite driver. We don't all enjoy watching back markers fight for 15th place. ALL the drivers should get at least SOME airtime.
Because you better than the rest, you get ignored for 98% of the race?
If you want to run with the big dogs, you can't pee like a puppy!!!

 

[Niki Đaković]

Milton Keyns Mercedes please stop ruining motorsport. Did not even notice they weren't shown that much. Get it to your head, you're boring.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Mercedes please stop ruining motorsport

Because they have the best car and two excellent drivers they are ruining motorsport?

With that logic I'd like to claim that Ferrari, Sauber, RBR, STR, Lotus, Manor and all other outfits are ruining F1 for not being able to catch up with the fastest team

 

[Chris]

Exactly.

People got all up in arms when Red Bull were finding grey areas in the rule book in 2010-2013 with holes in the floor, flexing wings etc. etc., but in this case you cannot artificially restrict Mercedes by allowing others to develop because Mercedes have not exploited any loopholes, they've simply done that much of a better job.

Notice how Ferrari were moaning like a bunch of pork chops last year when they were uncompetitive? Well they've certainly changed their tune this year now that they've made some gains.

People blaming Mercedes for having "ruined motorsport", should actually be pointing their fingers at the likes of Red Bull who have done nothing but complain and bad mouth the sport simply because they've done a poor job. No wonder Renault wanted out, because the got a shellacking from RBR because they did a terrible job with their engine.

It's the teams that have done a crap job that are the ones to blame.

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

Because they have the best car and two excellent drivers they are ruining motorsport?

With that logic I'd like to claim that Ferrari, Sauber, RBR, STR, Lotus, Manor and all other outfits are ruining F1 for not being able to catch up with the fastest team

How shouls teama like Sauber and Lotus catch up when they have to pay a lot more millions for their engines now? Merc was one of the main drivers for these new engine regs. A bit like Citroen in the WTCC, but that one is even more extreme. In the past Merc had no issue selling their engines to teama like McLaren, so why do they now have an issue selling one to RBR? In the past simply all engines were good even the Cosworth was decent, but now Ferrari and Merc are the only ones with good engines and all other teams depend on their mercy. You simply have no chance without a good engine.

 

[Niki Đaković]

Exactly.

People got all up in arms when Red Bull were finding grey areas in the rule book in 2010-2013 with holes in the floor, flexing wings etc. etc., but in this case you cannot artificially restrict Mercedes by allowing others to develop because Mercedes have not exploited any loopholes, they've simply done that much of a better job.

Notice how Ferrari were moaning like a bunch of pork chops last year when they were uncompetitive? Well they've certainly changed their tune this year now that they've made some gains.

People blaming Mercedes for having "ruined motorsport", should actually be pointing their fingers at the likes of Red Bull who have done nothing but complain and bad mouth the sport simply because they've done a poor job. No wonder Renault wanted out, because the got a shellacking from RBR because they did a terrible job with their engine.

It's the teams that have done a crap job that are the ones to blame.

no man, rbr had competition and they simply did the better job in racing, cars were almost same pace

heck even ferrari had competition with montoya and kimi... back in the days.

milton keyns mercedes are so boring they're ruining motorsport

 

[Bokonon]

Bernard Charles Ecclestone Needs to go he is the Brian France of F1

Don't know who Brian France is, someone high up in Indycar I suppose, but I agree. Kudos to Ecclestone for getting F1 to where it is in terms of Global awareness, but he is more interested in power and money than he is in motor racing now. Too many bad decisions, too much control and too little regard for any opinion other than his own. Back OT I find it highly likely that he instructed the directors to give Mercedes the cold shoulder. I would like to see him step down as soon as possible, voluntarily or otherwise.

 

[Bokonon]

Isn't Suzuka / Japan generally the way it was for this race in the way that the TV guys actually focus on the race for whatever position rather than following just the leader like most of the other countries? Or at least to me it always seems like we see more midpack stuff from Japan than most other GPs...

I always thought that the world feed was put together by some group from the country of the GP and then sent around the world rather than being solely directed by FOM.

It used to be the case, but I think due to the varying quality of the broacasts depending on country it was homologised to provide consistent quality of coverage.

Isn't Suzuka / Japan generally the way it was for this race in the way that the TV guys actually focus on the race for whatever position rather than following just the leader like most of the other countries? Or at least to me it always seems like we see more midpack stuff from Japan than most other GPs...

I always thought that the world feed was put together by some group from the country of the GP and then sent around the world rather than being solely directed by FOM.

 

[Nox]

It really just goes to show the sad state F1 is in at the moment where this is what people are discussing after a race. Most other racing series I watch actually talk about the racing after. Suzuka was such a bland race. I love F1, but this year it is seriously boring where the highlights have been Hamilton's hair (pun intended), conspiracy theories, tire-gate, and how crap McLaren have been. If it wasn't for Verstappen popping in a few ballsy overtakes, there'd be nothing worth watching.