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I wish I had half the talent Maldonado has....Add a 10th of his budget and I probably be doing some nice things on a national level

Same thing happened here in Finland.

MTV3 bought the expensive rights (when they out-bid Canal+) and made their own ppv-channel for men. Before this happened, about 1 - 2 million people watched F1 in almost every race, which is respective 20 - 40 % of the nation. About half of the people in Finland witnessed Mika Häkkinen taking his first and second title in Suzuka, eventhough it wasn't prime time.

So the F1 went to PPV-channel, and only 150 - 200.000 households got the channel, which meant that the ratings plummed down to 250 - 500.000 viewers. Highlights were shown for free on prime time 6pm on every Sunday. The ratings were around 200 - 300.000, half a million at its best when Räikkönen sealed his title in 2007. Now, since there's no Finns to win (or even to score points) the ratings are around 100 - 200.000, even though the last two seasons have offered much more action on track. So in less than a decade, the ratings dropped down to TENTH of what it was before ppv-channel. Of course we have to remember that during the late 90's and early 00's there were lots of "glory-hunters" watching our fellow countrymen to win a race after race, but back in the day, when scoring points was almost as rare occasion as it is today, the ratings were three times higher than what it is today.

Now tell me, what sports can survive long if it loses suddenly half of it's normal tv ratings? Take a look at Indycar, for example. They've been growing up slowly from their worst days, but the road to back their golden days is bumpy - and quite many questions if they ever make it back.

If Valtteri Bottas gets a seat for next season from a good team and Heikki would be driving for points in every race, it still would take few years to get our ratings even close to a million, a rating which was concidered bellow average just a few years back.

So yeah, good luck for UK (that is, viewers, broadcasters, advertisers, future drivers...) if your broadcast goes to PPV, the ratings won't be the same for anytime soon.

I wonder if Barrichello has done one season too many. In 2010 he was good this season not so much. Williams said last year he was so good with the car development, yet now there's been no praises from that department (for obvious reasons), whilst Barrichello has been very critical of the car. For someone in his 19th F1 season and the most experienced man ever, its not what you expect to hear

This story of me wanting to stop is a big joke... WHAT I MOST WANT IS TO CONTINUE and im working to have a good car next year.

Badmouthing Williams would be shooting myself in the foot... problems exist and good thing they exist. Let's fix them.

I wonder if Barrichello has done one season too many. In 2010 he was good this season not so much. Williams said last year he was so good with the car development, yet now there's been no praises from that department (for obvious reasons), whilst Barrichello has been very critical of the car. For someone in his 19th F1 season and the most experienced man ever, its not what you expect to hear

For a summer break, a new quiz by me:

http://www.sporcle.com/games/Bleu/f1win ... ntrycombos

Hint below:
[spoiler]Only team that I counted having won as two nationalities is Benetton[/spoiler]

I know that I didn't make German or Hungarian GP quizzed before those races, as I was little busy. But I will do them at some point before the next race in Belgium.