F1 2023 News/Misc.

For the first time since 1990 RTL will not be showing any F1 races.
After showing 4 races in each of the last two years, the network will instead focus their sports coverage on soccer and the newly acquired NFL rights.
According to the article below, a new sub-licence agreement with Sky failed because Sky demanded €10 million per race and RTL wanted to show more than 4 races.
Sky is currently under contract to broadcast F1 in Germany until 2027, the contract requires 4 races be shown on Free-TV. Negotiations are reportedly underway with ARD/ZDF and Pro7.
RTL viewership hit a new low with just 2.04 million viewers for this year's Dutch GP. Back in the early 2000s races were watched by up to 15 million(!) people.
www.speedweek.com

Schock für deutsche F1-Fans: RTL zeigt 2023 keine GP!

Jahrelang war die Formel 1 für RTL das Flaggschiff der Sport-Berichterstattung. 2021 und 2022 wurden nur noch je vier Rennen in Sublizenz von Sky gezeigt. Auch damit ist nun Schluss.
www.speedweek.com www.speedweek.com
 
The dynamic between the FIA and F1/Liberty grows more untenable each week.

For context - last week a report leaked that the Saudis, through their PIF, made an offering to purchase the sport early last year for at least $20B (Liberty purchased in 2017 for $4.4B ). Obviously no deal was made, but the state still has interest in it should Liberty decide to sell. MBS had something to say about what a potential buyer what should bring to the table as well as questioning the reported offer price, and the series is not happy about it.





 
Great !!! Thats all we need, LIV F1.
What a weird dynamic Liberty /FIA.
Liberty owns it but FIA sets the rules? I dont understand.
 
Hotrod said:
Great !!! Thats all we need, LIV F1.
What a weird dynamic Liberty /FIA.
Liberty owns it but FIA sets the rules? I dont understand.
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Think of the FIA as the regulatory/governing side and Liberty as the commercial/promotional side.
 
Someone went way back to 2000 to dig up something offensive that Ben Sulayem said. This whole thing with Ben Suylem and @FIA and @F1 is about to get dirty.

racer.com

Ben Sulayem's past remarks about women ‘do not reflect’ his beliefs - FIA

Historical remarks from Mohammed Ben Sulayem about women “do not reflect the President’s beliefs”, according to the FIA. An old version of Ben Sulayem’s personal website – first cited in The Times …
racer.com racer.com
 
Red Bull are launching this year’s car in NYC February 3rd, lots of rumors swirling over them announcing their sticker badging partnership with Ford as part of it.
 
Cadillac is honestly a great fit for what GM is trying to achieve. It sure as hell isn’t your granddaddy’s Cadillac anymore, the strides they’ve made in becoming a true performance brand recently is pretty incredible, and have made a pretty big splash into EVs very recently too. How many people thought Cadillac was a weird fit for racing before gaining motorsports pedigree in sports cars? Probably most. It’s not much of a consideration anymore.
 
It’s good to see a major American OEM get involved with F1 again. Certainly a bit disappointing they’re not building their own units from the ground up like Audi, at least better than previous strict badging deals Red Bull have had in the past. While RBPT develops the ICE Ford will utilize their EV background on the electric side:

  • Ford will provide expertise in areas including battery cell and electric motor technology as well as power unit control software and analytics
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Kiante said:
Re-badging RBPT engines for the time being.
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The real benefit of the Ford connection, at least for now, is in Ford's expertise with hybrid units.

I also have no doubt Red Bull is now fully capable of building their own IC unit. Setting up their own engine operation is a smart move because they now control their own fate with engines, which will go a long way to avoiding hung with a dog motor again.

You don't have to like Red Bull, but you do have to give it to them for being their own dogs and doing it their way.
 
I don’t really watch rallying but the M-Sport Pumas look pretty incredible. Hopefully Red Bull and Ford partner to make a livery look like what they have in the WRC.
 
I wish they had put last year's color scheme on the Alfa. The car looks really sleek but I don't like the color scheme.
 
donthaveanickname said:
To me it looks like they ran out of paint but apparently this paint scheme is getting a whole lot of praise on social media :idunno:
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I love it.

Simplicity goes a long way, but it goes to show the impact of the Orlen relationship adding the white to the livery. Alfa is meant for their "Alfa Rosso", so I have zero issue with it. Honestly, Alfa has never missed with a livery.
 
So, so much bare carbon fiber this season. Everyone’s trying to save weight at least somewhere.
 
Doc Austin said:
Silver Arrows are supposed to be silver.
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The car doesn't look great for sure but you could say this is one hell of a throwback.
89 years ago the Mercedes GP cars were found to be overweight (by one kilogram) before the Eifel race. The white paint was scratched from the cars overnight and the silver arrow was born.
Actually this is motorsports history repeating itself in a way.
 
racer.com

Mercedes goes back to black with W14

Mercedes has returned to a black livery as it launches its 2023 car — the W14 — at Silverstone. The Black Lives Matter movement played a major role in Mercedes switching to a black base…
racer.com racer.com

..........as the team signaled its commitment to increasing diversity by deviating from its previous silver look.
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Meanwhile the drivers are forbidden to make political statements. Are we going to have a "politically neutral" sport or not?
 
FLRacingFan said:
So, so much bare carbon fiber this season. Everyone’s trying to save weight at least somewhere.
Click to expand...
They could dump the hybrid nonsense and save a bunch of weight there. The current cars are sled and would be a hell of a lot quicker if they dropped a hundred or two pounts.
 
Doc Austin said:
They could dump the hybrid nonsense and save a bunch of weight there. The current cars are sled and would be a hell of a lot quicker if they dropped a hundred or two pounts.
Click to expand...
Then teams, manufacturers, and sponsors leave because it’s irrelevant to what any of them are trying to achieve.

The days of cars being 600, 650, 700kg are long gone. They are definitely too long, too wide, and too heavy though, and the plan is to reduce the dimensions and shed 30-35kg for the 2026 regs.

the-race.com

F1's plan for lighter and shorter cars in 2026 - The Race

Formula 1’s 2026 cars are set to be lighter and “quite a lot shorter” with the size reduction creating the opportunity to reduce the mass.
the-race.com the-race.com
 
Hybridization is here to stay or all of the growth you see from interest you see in the likes of sports cars and F1 would be all for not.

Also, the "new" sustainable fuels are huge. We either stick with or begin to lose interest.
 
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