Zoxxo

Formula One - SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS Schedule on NBC Sports Network AND ON CNBC!

THINGS ARE DIFFERENT THIS WEEKEND SO HEADS UP

*LIVE* COVERAGE OF QUALIFYING will be on the CNBC network and *NOT* ON NBC SPORTSNET.

ALL OTHER SHOWINGS WILL BE ON NBC SPORTS NET!!

Practice is being shown only ONCE.

Qualifying will be shown THREE times.

The Race will be shown TWO times.

The Pre-Race show is built in to the schedule this week.

The post-race show "F1 Extra" is shown immediately after the race
show whatever time that may be. So the simplest way to make sure you
record it is to simply added enough extra time to the race broadcast to
get (a) any extra time that was needed to record the entire race
including any delays, and (b) "F1 Extra".

I pull this info from from my Tivo's schedule. I have no guarantee that
it is correct but it usually is. I double check it with the NBC Sports
NET schedule, too.


------------------------------------------------------------------
ALL TIMES PACIFIC DAYLIGHT TIME !!!!! Eastern time in parens
------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday August 22, 2014
-----------------------

NOTE: THIS IS THE ONLY SHOWING OF PRACTICE
Saturday August 23, 2014
--------------------------
Sunday August 24, 2014
------------------------
Monday August 25, 2014
------------------------//////////

Zoxxo

I played around with Google Earth last night.

This weekend, when David Hobbs reminisces about the old, long track
at Spa, you can refer to this pic to understand what he's talking about.

The green line follows the current track. The yellow line shows where
the original track ran and where it connected to the current track. At
the very bottom of the pic you can see the hairpin in the town where
the *original* track ran. That was bypassed and the yellow line follows
the bypass.


Imagine Porsche 917s doing laps on the old track. The fastest lap
for the old course was ~165 mph -average- in a Ferrari 512 PB. That's
a lap of what you see there in 3 minutes and 12 seconds.


For a good history about this great track:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spa-Fra...amps#The_track

Z//

0Chin Motorsports

I had a chance to visit that track last week on vacation; granted it was closed as they were preparing for F1, but got to drive around the perimeter, see various parts of the track, and watched a few maintenance workers hand painting the curbing!

Eau Rouge is so much more of an elevation change in person; photos and videos do not do it justice.

Zoxxo

Due to "contractual issues" this weekend, Marussia driver Max Chilton will sit out the race and his place will be taken by reserve driver Alexander Rossi.

Excellent!!

==============

Cut to the next day...

The Marussia weasels and the Chilton weasels decided to screw over their reserve driver. Now Rossi will NOT be driving the race. Their pay driver appears to have found the money (but no ethics.)



Z//

BrianCunningham

The old track must have been real nice

93Polo

http://www.speedhunters.com/2012/08/...-temple-speed/

much of it still exists as public roads.

tytek

Thanks!

hklvette

so... racing incident?

0Chin Motorsports

Thought so, and it looked that way, until the news came out about the post-race meeting with Rosberg, Hamilton and Mercedes, where Mercedes confirmed that Rosberg said he hit Hamilton to "prove a point". Nico then released a video blog stating that he didn't say that, but wouldn't go into details, and that he wants to move on from this... I'm not buying it.

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ro...cedes-confirms

hklvette

*shakes head* Prost and Senna all over again?

froggy47

It is hard for me to think that Nico would intentionally hit another car with his. The risk of damage to each high enough to make the car retire. These are not Sprint Cup cars.

Zoxxo

What I took away from all the post-race finger pointing and rationalizations (especially Toto Wolff's "[Nico] felt he needed to make a point" bit) is that Rosberg felt that in the past he was being "a *****" (my words ) and letting Hamilton get away with stuff that he shouldn't. LH was counting on Rosberg to give way whenever he was pushed. Hamilton can rightly claim that it was his racing line and NR wasn't legitimately alongside, etc., which will sell the race stewards but Nico was basically pointing out to the powers at Merc that LH was NOT acting in Merc's interests - that LH should have given him more room and protected the greater interests of Merc.

And no NR has not forgotten that the wonderful "battle of equals" at Bahrain turned out not to be as Hamilton was using "unapproved" engine mapping during the battle to fend off Rosberg's attacks. Rosberg was seriously PO'd by that (Wolff was too, supposedly.) So, rather than once again give way he decided to let LH know that in the future he'd best think twice.

And don't forget Hungary where Rosberg was literally told that Lewis would let him pass and then Lewis said, "I think not." So clearly it's ok for the drivers to override team instructions at will and when that becomes the rule then you have, in fact, handed control to the drivers and the Merc folks should be surprised by the results.

I think that both drivers have decided that the manufacturer's championship is already in the bag for Mercedes so the only real fight left is between themselves (and they are probably right unless they get *really* stupid about it.)

Is this Prost vs Senna? Not yet. There was serious hatred between those two - decidedly more animus than between Hamilton & Rosberg. It might get there, though. But then Merc could easily eject Hamilton (they just signed Rosberg to a multi-year, megabuck contract) in favor of a number two driver with less of an ego issue. Grosjean would shine in that car - he's another Ricciardo waiting to be snapped up.

Z//

hklvette

Emphasis mine. I too would love to see RoGro picked up by a competitive team. I would be very surprised if he didn't have the "I'm just happy to be here" attitude that Ricciardo has if that happened.

froggy47

Best analysis I've read so far, good call.

Much better that the three guys that call the race for NBCSN

Zoxxo

To be fair they are severely limited in what they can say. Both for time constraints and for political reasons. And remember that they are here in the U.S. so their contact with "insiders" seems to be limited to Matchett making phone calls to old friends. The British announce/interview/color/analysis teams are right there in the paddock much of the time (and even then they are clearly reticent to say anything "controversial"). If you ever watch the Sky show called "The F1 Show" you can see what I mean. Ditto watching them cover the races. Not all all unlike what we get.

I think that if you could sit down with Hobbs over a beer or two you'd get some wonderful insights, opinions, and analysis. He knows his s**t. But the race coverage is not where he can really show it.

Think back and ask yourself how much analysis *any* on-air team did/does re: Bernie's legal issues, the future of F1, the gross prize money inequity, pretty much any of the politics, rules changes, etc., etc., etc. All one small notch above nothing.

NBCSN can rightfully argue that they are there to entertain by covering the races and they do that by describing what is happening on track, what it means, what it means to the season, who the drivers are, etc. - all that basic sports page + People Magazine stuff. They can also rightfully argue that the number of people watching who give a rat's re: the politics and insider stuff is small and would bore the stuffing out of those folks that they are trying to win over to F1 and then keep long enough to educate themselves enough to join in this complaint.

If you're like us here, you roll your eyes now every time Diffey - and Varsha in the old days - launches into the explanation of how qualifying works. But that's just it - every race weekend they have to assume that there are new viewers watching and that in order for them to (learn to) enjoy F1, they need it explained (and they are right - F1 is seriously obscure.)

Added:

I was just reading stuff on Planetf1.com and this little bit demonstrates just how easy it seems to be to get folks to drink the Kool-Aid. In a story on Alonso's take on the Hamilton/Rosberg intra-team issues, they said this:

"The tension went up a notch at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday when they collided on lap two, which left Hamilton with a puncture and damage to his car's floor that eventually forced him to retire late in the race. Rosberg went on to finish second and he opened a 29-point lead at the top of the standings."

Bzzzzzt! Wrong. That's the story they will tell Charlie Whiting and it's the story they set up over the radio just prior to the pit stop, BUT the previous radio chatter clearly showed their intent to save a transmission change, and life on the engine (and who know what else) by parking the car "due to mechanical issues". Anyone paying attention during the race knows that (presumably including Mr. Whiting ) so how does a major F1 web site manage to proffer the Merc fairy tale vs. telling the actual story?

Z//

froggy47

Funny you mention qualifying, it cracks me up that NASCAR recently switched their qualifying to something similar to F1. I still don't watch the NASCAR qualifying & limit my viewing to the last 10 laps of most races (gotta love the dvr).

Zoxxo

That's 10 laps more than I do.

Back when NASCAR announced the new format they bristled when asked if they hadn't simply ripped off F1 for the idea.

Z//

hklvette

There is no shame in copying what works, as long as you give credit where it is due

Zoxxo

Replying to my own post as it's the easiest way to follow up on a couple of things.

Here's Maurice Hamilton (espnf1.com) on this topic:

"It's worth adding that if Lewis thought Nico was an easy touch - as in Bahrain and Hungary - he now has second thoughts going into the final seven races. Which was perhaps the thrust - no pun intended - of the message at Les Combes."


Here's Mark Webber:

"The thing is, who is now going to try to put this back together? Is it the people who pay Niki's and Toto's wages? Because at the end of the day, if the drivers are not listening to these guys, do they have to say, 'Lewis and Nico, you go chat to the big guys at Mercedes, because they're paying you guys to get the job done in a team environment.'

"At the moment it's not a team, it looks like the drivers are doing their own thing."

Webber again:

""They are going to win the constructors' easy, so the drivers know that the constructors' is done, so all that's left is the drivers' championship."



Also from various F1 news sources:

" Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton have agreed to postpone contract talks - and not approach other parties - until the intensity of the title battle calms down.

"Hamilton is contracted at Mercedes until the end of 2015 but team-mate and title rival Nico Rosberg recently renewed on a multi-year deal. With the battle for the title set to become even more intense, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said he had agreed to wait for a quieter time to continue negotiations with Hamilton."

Webber again:

"“It’s going to be interesting, not just for the rest of this year but can they drive together in the future? Is it okay for 2015 for the team to have the two guys together?"


Here are the links to these interesting pieces:

http://en.espnf1.com/mercedes/motors...ry/172919.html

http://en.espnf1.com/mercedes/motors...ry/172857.html

Z//

Zoxxo

Mercedes drivers still free to race as Rosberg apologises

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg met with Mercedes team bosses Paddy Lowe and Toto Wolff at Brackley this morning to discuss the Belgian GP incident – and the drivers were reminded that they are free to race, but must not make contact.

Rosberg meanwhile took responsibility for what happened at Spa, and apologised.

A team statement said: "During this meeting, Nico acknowledged his responsibility for the contact that occurred on lap two of the Belgian Grand Prix and apologised for this error of judgement.

"Suitable disciplinary measures have been taken for the incident.

"Mercedes-Benz remains committed to hard, fair racing because this is the right way to win world championships. It is good for the team, for the fans and for Formula One.

"Lewis and Nico understand and accept the team’s number one rule: there must be no contact between the team’s cars on track.

"It has been made clear that another such incident will not be tolerated. But Nico and Lewis are our drivers and we believe in them.

"They remain free to race for the 2014 FIA Formula One World Championship."

///