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Old 31 Jan 2017, 11:46 (Ref:3708064)   #128
Moneyseeker
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I think you can alsomst quantify BE and F1 as pre the 113 year rights deal and after....

Good bits - he organised the teams and made F1 promotable, without this the RD's and SFW's of the world would still be scratching around trying to hold a race team together on half a shoestring. He did the selling and they did the racing and then developed into selling when they had something to market.

Safety and medical - he listed to Prof Sid Watkins and recognised the poor or inconsistent for medical care at across the race calendar and the ongoing safety improvement at circuits, cars and equipment.

Personally I think the 113 FIA F1 rights deal has led F1 to where it is. It provided an almost unassailable rightsd holder, with a security of tenure unknown elsewhere and at a fraction of the value. This led to no competition for the rights, no review on perfromance , no competitive tenders for the rights which led to no incenctive for FOM to do promote F1, create value for stakeholders and be accountable for what F1 has become.

This in turn made F1 a safe long term cash cow for an investor and in came CVC who were on the same hymn sheet as Bernie - maximum profits for minimum spend and no real investment in the 'product'.

The result of all of this is an F1 that has chased the dollar around the world to whoever will pay the most, a grid of teams some of which can barely afford to take part (as shown by Manor) let alone compete, heritage circuits that can't afford to stage the races and TV companies who have paid masses rights fees for falling viewer numbers.

None of the above effects FOM's bottom line, it makes no difference to them if a circuit sells no tickets or the TV coverage attracts not a single viewer, they have banked their cheque before a car has turned a wheel. This can only be a bad thing and even where someone is brave enough to grumble about the 'show' then the FOM 'hand' is put into the lucky dip of gimmicks and pulls put the next great idea than may, might, could improve F1.

This is what Liberty have to reverse and I hope that RB can give them good direction and they listen and implement it.
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