TBK-Light.com

Not to mention that Mercedes will have second thoughts if they don't nail it next year.

The frustration is it could so easily be avoided. It's just pure and simple greed by a select few that fucks it up for everyone else. Prices that F1 teams have to put up with are a total joke, not to mention how it affects media. You need sponsors to make it work, but FOG have taken it too far. Emirates was meant to be a massive McLaren sponsor for 2013 but Bernie heard about it, offered them less for track signage and stole them. I got so angry once when I heard a VIP (the 'P' should have stood for prick) display such crap knowledge of the sport that he wouldn't have known an F1 driver if he was having lunch with him.

As Rencken says, teams are being fucked over by the lure of trackside signage.

Also, by screwing certain countries [such as India, although they're also screwing themselves], F1 loses out on a massive market for the sake of short-term greed. They're also so anti-Internet that only in the last four years have they started letting web media into the paddock and they're missing out on the Internet still. F1 has a problem that so many fans are older and they're missing the younger generation.

As for fans... pay a lot of money to get shafted.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

I simply can't afford to go to F1 races these days, and I don't think it's good value. £350 to sit in the same seat all day at Spa/Silverstone and watch 5 or 6 races. General Admission is slightly more affordable but you really have to get there early for any chance of a good spot, and even if you find one, you'll soon be crammed in.

Or £10 - £30 to watch some national racing. 10 - 12 races. Viewing from wherever I want. Pitlane access. Photography friendly circuits. A chance to see the cars and talk to the drivers. British GT, BTCC... Absolutely no contest in terms of value for money. (That said, I'd probably still go to F1 if I had lots of money )

There is a strong possibility I'll be in Austin on the GP weekend, thanks to a work event on the Saturday elsewhere in the city. I've already looked at single day tickets prices, my reaction was "fuck off am I paying that".

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

Supposedly hotel prices in Austin are so expensive that everyone's staying an hour away.

But yes, ticket prices are so expensive. F1 has basically fucked the traditional fan base by having such high prices (Silverstone's a joke) yet in some places they basically hand out tickets.

I paid £10 to go to WEC practice. Barely anyone there, plenty of top drivers, paddock access. £10!

F1 is the best of the best [apparently] but the prices can be eye-watering.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

So Sunday general tickets are $140, which is pretty good. But then you start the add-ons, like park & ride, booking fees, plus taxes. Pretty quickly you've spent $200 easy and you haven't got to the race yet.

I'll be able to put a flight and hotel on my company expenses, although I'm fully expecting the rates to be eye-watering (to which I've warned my company of).

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

No doubt they'll be pricey!

In my situation, every penny saved helps. Because Spa was on bank holiday Monday weekend, I opted to drive back on Sunday night to save money. Otherwise Eurotunnel prices were doubled.

Oh, not to mention food. You can bring it in at some circuits but at others they can be militant.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Dieter's written about the rip off nature of the fan experience before as well, from hotels/accommodation to food at the circuits, it's much more than just the ticket price. I can't afford even the latter (not without giving up other things I enjoy and can enjoy year round for a one-off event) to entertain things like the former. When I went to testing this year I took two night trains to get my travel and hotel at the same time - and I was going to testing because it cost €15 ... and even that used to be free!

£350 is my entire Le Mans budget. From getting in the cars with petrol in England, the ferry to France, the camping, the food, the admission ticket, the fuel through the entire weekend, the toll money, and the return journey. Add on an extra £20-£40 for traveling to England and the food for that. I'll do Le Mans every year without hesitation if I can. I'll never consider F1 if I'm paying.

£350 was my budget for the whole of the weekend at Spa and that was without having to pay for tickets or breakfast & lunch. Hotel prices can be a joke, because FOG book out the best for the cameramen/FOM people and then the teams take the next nearest (or get shafted by FOG) so media/fans are left with hotels miles away or at a ridiculously high price. For Monza, most people are in Siesto San Giovanni which is 20 mins walk, then a train, then another walk. Hotels in Monza are a joke. It's the same in a lot of places.

My aim is to get to testing plus six races next season. Even with sharing hotels and other aspects with people, I'm looking at £2000 or more, which is simply hotels and travel.

I noticed that on Sunday the media centres are listed as being open between 07:00 and 'when the last journalist leaves' - tempted once to ask whether that means as I'm a journalist, I can stay until Monday morning!

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

seems like Pjetrov has Gazprom backing worth over 30 million euros. He would supposedly take the places of Sergey Sirotkin's, whose financial backers are apparently behind in payment.

Petrov? Urgh!

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

Even for testing, my friend who works for Autosport told me their accommodation was distinctly unpleasant but the only thing their budget could get in Barcelona at that time. I don't know whether that was FOG related or to do with Autosport's budget. Barcelona isn't exactly tourist gold during February.

It's worth trying. My attempts to argue the case for bicycle access in Catalunya were ultimately unsuccessful (until the security guards went home and I could just ride in, obviously) but hilarious ... I maintain that his defence was shakey and that's why I was escorted out of the circuit officer's office. It may also have been because I had no right to be there.

A friend of mine has something booked provisionally for Jerez but to get there will either involve two flights or a road trip.

I'm sure everything's easier second time around, but everything's an experience I guess... The issue for me isn't the quality of the hotel (unless it's a proper shithole) because in all likelihood you're there to sleep. It's the fact it's miles away/expensive.

I hope you called the security guards 'plebs' for denying you access with a bicycle. Or maybe their account would be made up?

I chatted to one journalist and we both thought that camp beds in the media centre would be a tip-top idea...

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

Massa has supposedly signed a 5 year deal with Williams.

btw, yummy

Camp beds? Pffft.



Can't find the pic of someone sleeping underneath two chairs

Yeah but the chairs are pretty uncomfortable

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Probably best to get things booked early - where's it to? The Autosport Barcelona job did sound like a bit of a shithole ...

Jerez isn't far from Seville if you can get there by plane, but I'm not sure how many routes there are - I've only been there from Gatwick with Ryanair. Portugal's driveable (but there's a toll one way) as well, to be honest, if you can get to Faro for example.

I tried to convince them of the flaws in both their arguments and defences (no mention made of bicycles on any list of prohibited items, in any circuit material; and the fact that the circuit has a cycle lane) in the hope they might go back on it. This didn't work so I went in, found my way through to the circuit manager's office and tried the same with him. He started discussing it with me before stopping mid-sentence and asking how I had got to his office. I refused to say and he had me escorted to a public area by car.

I slept in the media centre at Spa but that was during a 24 hour race. A camp bed would have been excellent.

People who work at circuits can be overzealous in carrying out their instructions. At Silverstone on Saturday there was no pedestrian access beyond Stowe so Caterham had to call a car for me, even when I could easily have walked to The Wing. Monza's excuse of 'you can't walk this way, there's more cars today' was hilarious considering that the tunnel under the track has no pedestrian path.

Exactly (regarding beds). Could save £££ per race.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011