There have been earthquakes in England, figuratively-speaking, in recent weeks and this has meant that everyone has been talking about Brexit, Boris and “that twat Farage”, but an English summer is a lively business and so as the country is left in the hands of its second woman Prime Minister, life will return to normal a bit and everyone can go back to talking about the weather. I have often wondered why it is that the English love the weather so much and the conclusion is that it is a story that has never-ending permutations and is thus always a topic of conversation so Englishmen and women are never short of opening lines and thus are at ease with the world. Whether it be “lovely weather we’re having” or “Can you believe this rain?” the English have something to say. Back in 1995 (which I am amazed to calculate is now 21 years ago) I wrote a column about the British GP, which I think says pretty much all you need to know.
“There are times when England can be a wonderful place,” I wrote. “Early in the morning, with the sun shining brightly on the mottled countryside and the early morning mist rising gently from the hedgerows, you can cruise into the Silverstone track and meet the local wildlife: a deer, a rabbit or perhaps even a fox. This is a green and pleasant land in mid-July, probably because the usual summer rain makes sure that the landscape does not turn brown and gold. Silverstone has a special place in the hearts of all British racing fans and they are often surprised when they find out that many of the visiting continentals don’t really like their annual visit. They reckon the food is like British women: white, lumpy and miserable. They think that the hotels are quaint, but have creaky floors and dodgy plumbing. The beer is served warm and disgusting to drink and you cannot buy decent wine in a British pub. The English drive on the wrong side of the road – and to make matters worse it almost always rains…”
The green notebook was rather soggy after the downpour that hit the grid on Sunday and the paper has now dried and is rather crinkled, but it was a typical British GP weekend. Silverstone is always a big event in terms of numbers and this year’s spectator total over four-days was 350,000, with no real sign of any decline in interest. Britain still loves F1 even if other countries are flagging a little.
The British GP was the fourth F1 race in five weekends and, with many of the F1 fraternity had spent the fifth weekend at Goodwood, people were tired. The mad dash between Austria and Silverstone was reckoned to have been the worst ever F1 back-to-back because it did not involve planes. It was more than 300 miles further than any previous ground-based double-header and involved the crossing of the English Channel. The story of how all this was achieved has been told in detail in this week’s GP+ magazine, but to give you an idea, and to be true to my notebook, here are some numbers that are jotted down therein. My aim was to calculate the number of 40-ft semi-trailer trucks involved in the process. The idea came from my journey on the Monday after the Spielberg race, when I drove past convoys of F1 transporters, all heading for the UK. It was impressive and I wondered how many vehicles were actually involved in this mass exodus.
The biggest construction in the F1 Paddock is the Red Bull “motorhome”, which they call the Energy Station. This is a home for the two Red Bull teams and most of the paddock people who have nowhere else to go. It has to be bolted together by crews of riggers and requires several cranes, in addition to a fleet of trucks. I was taken aback to discover when you add up the team trucks and the Energy Station vehicles, the total of Red Bull transporters is an impressive 50. When I began asking around about other teams, I discovered that this is not as crazy a number as I imagined. McLaren’s fleet is 27 trucks, with Mercedes (26), Ferrari (25), Williams (19), Renault F1 (16), Force India (12) and Sauber (12) following on. Haas F1 added a further 10 and Manor nine, while there were also three Honda transporters, bringing the total of team trucks to over 200. The Formula One group’s TV production facility added 21 transporters plus a motorhome for Bernie Ecclestone and its own support truck. In addition there was a fleet of 15 DHL trucks for the Paddock Club VIP hospitality equipment, plus another 12 provided by a German company called Wagner GmbH & Co. KG Sport Signage, which not only transports all the F1-related vehicles, such as safety and medical cars and VIP minibuses, but also moves everything relating to the trackside signage. Then one must also add Pirelli’s fleet of trucks, which fluctuates between 10 and 15 trucks, depending on the races taking place. The FIA had a total of eight transporters for its people and there were six fuel tankers.
After Austria there were also a number of sleeping coaches following the convoys, in order to provide rest for the off-duty drivers. In addition to all of this there were 35 transporters for the GP2, GP3 and the Porsche Supercup teams, plus around 20 trucks used by the TV companies that broadcast the sport.
The grand total is hard to establish because of random diamond screen transporters, merchandising and so on, but the number seems to be around 340 in total…
One hell of a circus.
There are lots of good stories about the adventures along the way, and the routes taken. When I reached Silverstone everyone was talking about one of the Ferrari transporters having been stoned by migrants in Calais. Given that it clearly had happened, it was slightly daft of the team’s logistics head to deny it. He also told me that they had only 14 trucks when there were 16 lined up on one of Silverstone’s runways and other people who know these things told me that the team’s total is always 25 because they have a non-branded deal with DHL Italy for half their gear. I never understand why any organisation thinks it will gain anything from telling bald-faced lies, but that seems to be the culture at Ferrari under the current management.
The scrawls relating to F1 news were somewhat limited over the Silverstone weekend because there had not been much time between the races, but there is one that says that there are whispers from Princes Gate, home of the Formula One group, that there is another round of intensive due diligence going on, which suggests that there is another serious bidder emerging in the process of selling the sport. The whisper is that the latest bidder is Apple Inc., which is a company with $161 billion in net cash at the moment, despite having spent $117 billion on share repurchases and $46 billion on dividends in recent years. Apple doesn’t typically make big purchases but usually buys small business and incorporates the technology into its products but the viewing habits of the world are changing, with traditional broadcasters, cable and satellite networks under threat from “over-the-top” content providers. This basically means the delivery of content via the Internet, without requiring users to subscribe to a traditional cable or satellite pay-TV service. This has led to a gold rush of companies moving into streaming and looking for the most attractive content to bring in customers. Apple TV is one of the most popular streaming devices around and has Sling TV, a content-driven hub for sports fans and television viewers, providing consumers with the opportunity to watch their favourite shows and channels live and on-demand, with one simple registration at a nice low price. There is also the possibility of what is called a la carte television, where you pay for what you order. Going direct to consumer is a way to multiply revenues by cutting out the middle men (i.e. the TV channels) and owning the content is thus desirable. It should also be remembered that Apple is on the verge of launching into the world’s automotive markets, with an electric car that remains a secret, although it is hard to hide such a project when you hire more than a thousand engineers to work on it. The Apple car is expected to appear by 2020. Thus, there are three elements that would make the purchase of F1 a logical step for Apple. It can afford it, it can boost sales of Apple TVs and get people thinking about Apple in relation to cars. Strangely enough, no-one is willing to confirm or deny the stories.
Formula 1 continues to move slowly towards new technologies, but Formula E is much more active in this respect. The electric car championship has just announced its new calendar for 2016-2017 and there are a number of races that will annoy the F1 people. Formula E will return to Mexico City and Monaco, but will now add Montreal and New York. There has also been talk of a race in Singapore, but that has not been confirmed. The New York race will take place at Port Imperial, where F1 was going to race if it had not wanted too much money. Formula E has now lost its London venue in Battersea Park, but is trying to do a deal to use parts of the St James’s district, perhaps even including The Mall. It remains to be seen if this will happen.
Silverstone marked the first appearance this year (and probably the last) of Force India owner Vijay Mallya, who is stuck in the UK at the moment because the Indian government has cancelled his passport because he will not return to his home country to answer questions about his business activities, notably the collapse of Kingfisher Airlines, but also a string of other dealings which are under investigation. Mallya owes around $1.5 billion to Indian banks and made the mistake of having an overly-ostentatious birthday party while many are suffering because of his failure to pay his bills. Mallya says that there is a witch-hunt against him and said at Silverstone that he does not think that his behaviour is bad for the sport, although beneath the surface questions are being asked, not only because he is a high profile team owner, but also because he is the Indian representative on the FIA World Motor Sport Council. Despite all his adventures (and those of Subrata Roy, his partner in the business, who has spent the last two years in jail) Force India is doing a terrific job, despite the fact that money is tight.
The Renault team is spending money at the moment, but not really producing the goods and so CEO Cyril Abiteboul, the MD of Renault Sport Racing is relocating full-time to the UK to look at ways to make the team more successful in the long term, while team principal Frederic Vasseur will continue to run the team at events, while also overseeing other Renault sporting activities.
Elsewhere, two former F1 team principals Ross Brawn and Adam Parr have joined forces to create a book called Total Competition, in which they promise to reveal some of the secrets that Brawn used to win a string of World Championships with Benetton, Ferrari and Brawn F1. It’s an odd idea, but will probably make interesting reading.
Another interesting idea is Damon Hill’s Professional Racing Drivers’ Association, which is still be be formally announced but has come to light as a result of a company registration made in the UK in March. Professional Racing Drivers’ Association Ltd has been incorporated as a private company limited by guarantee, this is a form of incorporation that is primarily used for non-profit organisations which exist not as purely commercial entities, but require a structure to allow them to operate in a commercial manner. It remains to be seen if there is demand for such an organisation, which Hill believes would be useful to give drivers more of a voice in an industry that is dominated by promoters and teams.
Money is always a topic for discussion in Formula 1 and so it is worth noting that billionaire’s son Lance Stroll is continuing to build up his credentials to become an F1 driver with a plan to conduct a programme of private F1 tests all over the world, using a 2014 car to avoid political troubles. The word is that he will have 15 days of testing at tracks that he has never visited. This will cost a fortune but will help him be more attractive for teams in the future and help him be competitive if he does get an F1 break.
Elsewhere, there was the sad news from the United States that Carl Haas has died at the age of 86. Haas is no relation to Gene Haas, who is currently running his own F1 team, but – bizarrely – was the last US team owner in F1, back in the 1980s when he launched the Beatrice-funded Formula One Race Car Engineering Ltd team. FORCE was generally known as Haas Lola, with drivers Alan Jones and Patrick Tambay, and Ford factory engines, but the Beatrice money ran out after the company was taken over and the team closed after just two seasons. The team was where the young Adrian Newey and the young Ross Brawn learned the ropes. Haas also ran a very successful CART team in league with actor Paul Newman, Newman Haas racing winning titles in 1984 with Mario Andretti, in 1991 with Michael Andretti, in 1993 with Nigel Mansell and in 2002 with Cristiano da Matta. Later they would win four consecutive titles with Sebastian Bourdais in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.
On that note, it is worth noting that FORCE still exists today, the company being owned (privately) by a BC Ecclestone.
joeblogsf1 
Its raining here in Woking today…
A Ross Brawn book? I’ll be camping outside WHSmith from now on…
“A Ross Brawn book? I’ll be camping outside WHSmith from now on…”. That’s sad! If you wait a while you’ll get it for pennies on Amazon
Wut iz a trook? Speek engrish, mon! 🙂
The Apple tie-up could be interesting –
The company is lagging behind in the emerging virtual reality sector so there is potential for F1 broadcasting in this medium to help them catch up – once suitable consumer hardware is available.
No comment on another race starting under safety car because it was wet?
If you read GP+ you would see the comment
I was at the race and to be honest I’m not critical of them starting the race behind the safety car. If they had, there would have been an almost guaranteed crash which would have brought out the safety car anyway and cost the grid a few cars. The rainfall was variable across the track, indeed when it first started showing heavy rain on the grid it was still bone dry on the national pits straight and although it did eventually rain there it didn’t seem like the same level that had fallen elsewhere on the track. So it makes sense that they started behind the safety car to get some sighter laps and move some water.
My only criticism would be that the safety car stayed out too long. Once the drivers had got 2 laps under their belt and the field was more seperate than it would be at a standard race start, the safety car should have released them. It was silly to keep it out until inters were a useable option.
This is why I find the fuel flow restriction strange. I am all for saving the environment. So how about reducing the 340 trucks by say 20% and let the cars have more fuel to race each over.
Do they really need all that equipment there?
I worked out a few years ago, before ERS and the fuel flow rate, that the return flights for two F1 teams (staff only) to Melbourne for the first race, equalled the CO2 emissions for the entire grid running their engines at max power for the entire duration of every practice, qualifying session and race for the entire season.
The F1 establishment would argue that trickle down effects on car engine design and efficiency improvements would have a greater impact than reducing the CO2 footprint of the F1 circus. They might be right, although the delay in industrialising and mass producing an improved engine, followed by the relatively long time taken for older cars to be scrapped and newer designs purchased would mean that any such effect might take time to be proven.
Oh how you like to provoke! As someone who has also travelled a fair bit I reckon British accommodation and food now ranks as some of the best in the world these days. The near continent is sadly lacking, still believing the myth. Mind you, I don’t suppose what’s offered to the fans has changed a great deal since 1995, unfortunately.
You probably don’t travel much in rural Buckinghamshire
Yeah it’s all white and lumpy all over!
Ouch! I assume you’re already back, if not I’d put your foot down!
the noisey floors and crap showers are very true of every Inn I’ve stayed in during the Silverstone weekend. I don’t mind the beer though 🙂
Try hotels or B&Bs next time – there are great examples of both everywhere. At the low and of the market you have to be choosy, sorry sometimes it’s down to what you pay. Don’t forget, the best are bagged well in advance by, say, F1 personnel!
Well I’ve travelled a fair bit in the UK and I can tell you – British accommodation and food still ranks amongst the worst in the world when compared to other countries
It depends where you go, what you eat. I don’t agree – I’ve had superb food, friendly service, spotless rooms. Every country has bad examples – I’ve noticed that some Brits switch off their cricitical faculties when they go abroad and become hyper critical at home where they feel more comfortable to express their disatisfaction.
Or the visiting locals could be right…
Joe, I’m sure you are writing this from your luxury air-conditioned suite at the Ritz (if you got that far from the pitch fork wielding locals at Silverstone and their wobbly floorboards that is!).
Have you been smoking rope again?
I agree Stephen Deakin, and some of the nicest places i’ve stayed in on overnights or longer breaks, have been Inns. There are some cracking pubs about with great facilities and terrific food & drink….for Joe there are even British wines that take Awards for being amongst the best in the World!
Yes, we’ve really upped our game over the years. Having a real fusion of culinary cultures means greater variety in our food whereas many countries have stagnated in that respect and still serve up the fare they’ve always done without improving the quality.
And some Brits want to throw out those cultures
So do Farage, Gove and Johnson work for Ferrari or vice versa ?
Joe, you said… “Apple TV is one of the most popular streaming devices around and has Sling TV.”
Well Apple TV has a lot of app based services on it. Why is SlingTV important? If you were suggesting with the word “has”, that Apple owned Sling, Sling is owned by DISH TV, not Apple. Were you implying something else is important about Sling technology? Because Apple TV has Netflix, You Tube, HBO Now, Hulu Plus, Showtime etc. All you could say something similar.
The more logical reason to suggest that Apple would by F1 is because Bernie has resisted new technology and a streaming company could really innovate a media experience and make some money. As was recently suggested VR for example. So Ironically, if this or a similar deal happens, the Luddite Bernie made F1 attractive because of the lack of innovation and Apple could see the opportunity it affords.
Now where this gets interesting is that Apple TV is expensive compared to Chrome and is lacking cool new offerings like Amazon Fire are working on… Top Gear crew for example. So a leak like this maybe designed for a bidding war. Apple may get outbid by Amazon, with Google on the edge taking a look to keep people serious. Nah, forget SlingTV, red herring. This is about content and Apple is getting thin on the ground in recent years, but does not want to give up. But I suspect Amazon is the more likely home if they think Apple will bid. The Amazon Fire device has greatly improved during its lifetime and in my opinion makes a better home for F1. Any of these companies will want to bring more people in with F1 so they will innovate. Good for F1 as we have already been disappearing behind a firewall anyway.
Didn’t even know Apple did tv at all! I have Freeview of course, now standard in the UK and also an add on NowTV box (Basically a Roku box) which gets the various catch up apps Utube and also Sky tv if you buy passes for Sky. This is via normal copper wire broadband but it struggles up here in Lincs at about 4-6Mbps as the wire is probably 30 years old and well oxidised. It is also dug up in the village every month and messed about with. We have FTTC (Fibre to the cabinet) which reaches to within about 300m of us, but that 300, would still be on the same old copper wire. No cable service round here!
rpaco, if you can get FTTC do look at it as 300m of dodgy copper is better than the several km you probably have at the moment.
If Apple isn’t being confirmed or denied then perhaps look at Alphabet? Both Apple and Google would have the cash to buy, the knowledge of how to promote and the licencing business strategy to understand the long term value – including virtual reality viewing.
I kind of makes sense why they’ve been talking about VR so much in recent months…
And a Ross Brawn book! Interesting
“Formula E has now lost its London venue in Battersea Park, but is trying to do a deal to use parts of the St James’s district, perhaps even including The Mall. It reminds to be seen if this will happen.”
It does not matter where the race is held, as it is between high walls with no view or impression of the surroundings. All the FE races I have seen could have been in the same place!
If however, they got someone with a different perspective (literally) on camera placement and shot framing it could create a massive difference in the tv viewers impression of the track and its venue. Apparently you can hear tyre noise and motor noise at the trackside, well not much on the tv, so some sound men need to be brought in to mic up the track so as to make some sort of atmosphere perceptible to the tv viewer. (we need mics about 0.5m above the track surface) Otherwise it is just Scalextric.
Yes I did enjoy the article on the great F1 migration in GP+
Still like to see a documentary made about it though, or several showing the differences according to team money.
I’m with you.
Joe,
The Provençals are every bit as obsessed with the weather as the British and just as likely to start any conversation with a discussion of it. The only difference is will be about the wind strength, direction and temperature rather than rain or dry. There are 32 different named winds in Provence, one for each point of the compass.
I’d be surprised if the Apple rumour amounted to anything. I doubt the company would want to risk its reputation by getting involved with all the shady characters behind F1. And while its desire to develop electric cars fits with the company’s culture and ethos, bankrolling a sport which is a byword for venality and chicanery – and a disaster environmentally – would seriously jar with millions of its customers. Formula E? Now that I could understand.
No news on Sauber?
It is happening
Next time anyone mentions cost control dig up this post. The circus has gone mad. 50 Trucks to get four drivers to finish a 200km motor race in mobile fizzy drinks adverts. 350 for the whole circus, How does that compare to WRC…
And the curious aspect of the F1 ” bubble “, ( a place that left the rest of motorsport behind some 15 or more years ago ), is that it produces these high tech bastardised power units, that are supposedly to showcase how ” Green ” F1 is…..and then uses 300 or so artic trucks to buzz hither and thither with the “Green” power units stashed away inside them……call me old fashioned, but it really is a tad “Alice in Wonderland ” to me…..
+1 Damian.
Green because they (believe) they’ve GOT to, and not-Green expensive travel/truck arrangements because they CAN do.
Maybe expensive trucks are the only way F1 can show a one-fingered salute to Green bigots.
Exactly, what a farce
@Damian, Ben, Jonathan, et al
It seems odd to contemplate the efficiency of the F1 roadshow/cars/etc. – call it a system.
By definition the system has 0 efficiency as it produces nothing (all the cars end up where they started, both on a race by race basis and on a season by season basis).
It’s a sport/entertainment product and its purpose is to entertain and make money doing so. Provided the energy costs are covered by revenues, it’s all good.
One of the marketing techniques of the sport/entertainment product is to produce more efficient engine technology that can find its way into road cars where it might actually have a beneficial effect of the green variety (depending on your views you could argue the beneficial effect might be quite small).
The only reason you might care about all this is because you preferred the sport when it had V8/V10/V12 and/or old school turbo chargers. Time to move on in that case because those days are not coming back.
Swiss Robin, no for me it just highlights hypocrisy in the Sport. The amount of difference hybrids have made to the popularity or appeal of F1, has been very limited. No one other than tech geeks or Greens ( who hate motorsports anyway! ) is interested in the PU’s and truth be told, WEC does that miles better and the Motor Industry does so too.
In a future 10 or 20 years from now, if you go to Goodwood, and seek a crowd, you won’t find them hanging round a 2016 Ferrari, they’ll be stuck to the exhaust beat of a 1990’s one.
I like the Apple rumour. I’d buy Apple TV if they had F1
Joe, can you shed any light on this Halo testing, why would they test it on a race car and on a Friday instead of testing it during F1 testing on Tuesday/Wednesday? Is there a contract in place?
No idea
I have read that the test showed, visibility is still no good and the whole thing needs a re-think. I have always thought the screen is a far better idea since it approximates what was used in days of yore and incorporates the very strong compound used now to reinforce all visors. Of course light polarisation patterns could be a problem with the scree and the visor.
The Apple part feels like something by Sylt. Lots of companies won’t comment on rumours.
That sort of remark gets you banned from here.
There seemed to be a lot of empty grandstand seats, even if the general admission areas of banking were packed. Perhaps a sign that tickets are too expensive even for the home grand prix of the current world champion.
I cannot say I saw any
I was sat in Stowe C on Sunday, it was about a quarter empty, Stowe A had slightly higher occupancy while Stowe B had about 20-30 empty seats. For qualifying there were a lot of empty seats, but that is more normal.
Empty seats clearly visible on the TV broadcast. 350,000 I wonder is that individuals or some combination or variation of 87,500 with 4 day tickets. Helicopter views showed a fantastic layout of the whole area much changed from my days in the 70’s and 80’s.
If they did have 350k at an average of 50 quid a head (consevative guess) over the 3 Days then they have enough to pay bernie’s £17m so assuming they made a bit on top of that the show can go on which has to be good news.
It costs nothing to put on a Grand Prix?
I’ll agree. I was sat in general admission on the mound at Stowe and my Mrs was getting a bit narcy that she was in a camping chair and there were empty seats on the Stowe grandstand. One wonders whether the cheaper general admission prices this year (and next) have dissuaded people who would normally book a grandstand seat to come and join in the fun with the rest of us wanderers?
It all depends when you bought your tickets.
I bought mine at the start of June and there was a £4 difference between general admission and a covered stand on the national pits straight.
The great thing about getting a stand ticket for the weekend is that it’s a roving ticket for any stand on Saturdays so we got to watch qualifying from the Becketts complex stands. Apparently other European races don’t give you this option. I think that for a lot of stands the fact that a child ticket cost the same as an adult one is something that puts people off.
I would say if i had any annoyance with empty seats it would be the stands used by hospitality. Great seats that don’t get used because people are too busy getting drunk and annoying. Silverstone Six would be a great place to watch the race from but it was less than half full for most of the race.
Superb description of Farage.
Couldn’t put it better myself.
Joe you certainly shoot from the hip.
Square between the eyes of Farage.
Farage has now squirmed his way back in his floor board cracks while gaining as much EU expenses he can get before the Gravy Train fails to stop at his doorstep. I hope he gets nailed outside Tower Bridge in a few years time when Scotland tries to breakaway from GB. Though I assume he would be better suited for The Rack after which he should be fired into the Channel on a rainy day as part of a 21 gun salute on Remembrance Day.
” I hope he gets nailed outside Tower Bridge in a few years time when Scotland tries to breakaway from GB. Though I assume he would be better suited for The Rack after which he should be fired into the Channel on a rainy day as part of a 21 gun salute “.
BK, have you stopped to think that you put yourself in exactly what you consider to be his mindset with making this sort of suggestion!
Ben M
Yes I know and agree with you
re: “pitching a tent at his level”.
I should hold station and bite my lip.
But it’s difficult when you see Farage he is the slim that slugs travel on….there I go again shooting my mouth off…I’d better stop before it turns into a Niagra Falls of derogatory descriptions of Farage. Will Curb my enthusiasm and Brexit for now.
BenM, there’s a lot of intolerance in the World today, mainly from people who proclaim their self righteous Morals, yet display little of such in reality…..much of this has thankfully been exposed during the last 3 weeks in the UK. It isn’t pretty, but at least we can all see the truth behind the platitudes that have now become a rather shattered facade.
Ok, I think we have had enough of this now.
I shouldn’t worry. In a few years I doubt people will remember much about him.
Boris, on the other hand may be remembered for the mess he leaves behind, both now and in the short (one hopes) time as Foreign Secretary.
I’d say Farage will be remembered as the guy who brought the Referendum on the EU for us in Britain and opened the door for other European Citizens to gain the same Democratic Right. While Boris as a bloke who knows a bit about History will no doubt have clocked that at least 4 Foreign Secretaries have moved on to PM in Britain!
I will remember him as a twat.
We are all entitled to different views. Farage had 4,000,000 supporters at last years UK General Election, more than Nick Clegg & the LibDems, and Nicola Sturgeon & the SNP combined…..for a ” twat ” ( in your view ) that is deeply impressive as a political statement. And there is no doubt that his 20 year anti EU campaign did an awful lot to convince 17.4 Million people to take control of their own destiny, another very impressive accomplishment.
Succinct and Superb Joe.
He will be remembered as a “Grade A Twat”.
Never has an idiot done more to destabilise the economy and to open the Svottish referendum cage and let SNP fish ‘Wet Sturgeon snd Wet Salmon’ out to rattle on about independence.
Boris aim was to get himself on the PM seat. Which he will never sit on after he starts his Foreign Office Blunders.
Can’t see him in the same room as Obama without US customs giving him a full cavity search twice (one on the way in to USA and one on the way out!).
PM May has played a masterful chess move to put him in this position for a reason…if the crap hits the fan then the public can blame The Brexiter for his incompetence. That should also shut the Brexit voters up as they can only blame there own Blonde Monkey.
Farage will be known as a Capital Twat and Boris a Grade A Twat.
Well BK, millions of us have a different view to yours, and history will be the teller of the whole story on Nigel Farage. However, in regard to Boris, he has already shown that he’s up to the job, in his first day, with his reactions to the awful slaughter in Nice.It’s a very bad day again, for the French and for all humanity, so keep calm and carry on, as there are competent people trying hard to look after our safety and security, all over Europe as well as here.
i have to wonder how large the crowds would be without a Lewis Hamilton on grid? Seems like attendance has steadily grown in proportion to Lewis’ on track successes. Especially with his consecutive wins at Silverstone.
George K
You could say the same for Germany
When Schumacher was at the height of his fame. The German Spectators packed in.
But when he retired not even Vettel could bring them back. As for Rosberg he jumps from one country to the next. He has driven under the Monaco flag in his Karting days then jumped from being Scandinavian to German. Rosberg has no Borders! & not a huge following in Germany.
In Britain we have had a bigger fan base because of the variety of talent through the years. Jim Clark, Stirling Moss, Graham Hill,James Hunt, Watson, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton to name but a few.
The other note is Great Britain has been into motor racing from the get go . The British Grand Prix in a Blue Ribbon Event with huge audiences that are not bothered about the rain. So even if Lewis wasn’t racing you would still get a big live audience.
I have to agree with you BK, the core Great Britain fan base is most likely the deepest committed to the sport of any country. And when they have a local champ to get behind its even better. Nice to see as opposed to the empty grandstands we find here at most Indycar events.
Surely F1 is only actually worth $1 if you take the debts and liabilities away from the remaining currently fixed contract income. Unless the buyer now has to pay for the beer sponsorship as well.
Given the amount of cash the Mega-Global Fruit Corporation of Cupertino, USAnia has swilling around at the moment, the asking price for F1 is just small change.
I remember the days, when it was a welcome change from MS and it was really all about Desktop publishing. (and how did they get away with using the Beatles registered name?)
But these corporations expand into areas where they see a market outside their current expertise and end up as competitors in areas that they disturb or screw the market up completely. Then they sell that arm off and it dies.
There are many legal implications yet to be resolved re cars built by software companies or that run autonomously. With the first “death by Tesla”, who is responsible? The driver? The company? The people who wrote the software or the firmware? Or the sensor manufacturer? Does Tesla’s mandatory product liability cover it? I gather it is not mandatory to have insurance in some countries which makes matters a lot worse but lawyers far richer of course.
Incidentally I was behind a Tesla on my way to Bletchley Park last week on the A421 when it suddenly accelerated like it went into hyper drive. I wondered how much of his battery he used and if the F1 regeneration system is better or worse than that of Tesla.
@rpaco,
In many ways Apple Computers have not “got away” with the collision of names with Apple Corps Ltd (the music company). Apple Computers were sued by Apple Corps Ltd a number of times over the decades.
In a 1981 agreement the two companies agreed not to compete in music or computers.
However, Apple Computers recorded music (system bleeps and chimes and notification) for the MacOS operating system, so got sued again in 1991.
The iPod and iTunes didn’t help the relationship between the two companies either.
I think Apple Computers basically treat the Apple Corps Ltd suits as a legitimate business expense to be paid off every decade or so, but even the millions they have paid over the years are dwarfed by the current value of Apple Computers, in large part due to their very strong share of the personal music player & music library business.
One can always edit a paragraph to read better afterwards. I should have said “….It was all about desktop publishing and we wondered how did they get away with…..”
eg “at the time we wondered”
Yes I knew there had been legal action over the years.
Now you mention it, where have all those green beer signs gone? Plastered all over the Canadian race…..I’m not going to complain if they’re not seen again, mind. I’d like to think there’s been a whole gang of marketing whizz kids ended up out of a job when Heineken board woke up to what they’d funded.
@Peter Scandlyn – I think the sponsorship starts at Monza.
The lack of alcohol advertising was probably more to do with the strict UK advertising regulations. There were many other less prominent alcohol brands also quietly hidden.
The sponsorship programme begins in Monza
In regards to F1 converging with formula e. Well today was the first time I’ve seen the new breed of F1 cars in the flesh, so gutted, left by midday, it was the first time I’ve never been wowed by an F1 car. I can understand why it doesn’t translate well to TV these days. These weren’t beasts, I’m not that old and I love tech, I’m a geek at heart and that side fascinates me, but as a sport, I’m not convinced these engines are the way forward. I suspect if you took someone who had never seen an F1 car before and they watched any cars from 1990-2010, and then watched a 2016 f1 car or a formula e car, they’d be underwhelmed by the latter.
They need to find a way to make these cars monsters again, that just blow you away when you see them.
fully agree……that’s why I’m not going to live races ever again….it’s a complete waste of money.
Oh I am fairly sure the engines are certainly the way forward based on the massive step forward that they have already achieved. What you probably meant to say was that you aren’t sure that YOU want them to be the way forward. And I am willing to bet this purely based on sound.
Also, your hypothetical situation of someone who had never seen F1 before being made to watch old school vs. new school is not really a revelation. Basically that is the same situation you are in yourself. You saw old school, and now you are disappointed in new cars. So as a thought experiment, you didn’t propose anything that would provide you with insight or perspective beyond your own experience. You can try harder…
How about a better hypothetical situation; someone who had never seen an F1 car, sees a current F1 car WITHOUT seeing an old one first. My guess is they WOULD be VERY impressed, because they won’t be burdened by the bias that you have for the old.
I see both arguments. I have a soft spot for the old cars, but I think the new ones are extraordinary and far more impressive than the old, considering they accomplish much more with so much less.
Sorry, but sound matters. I brought F1 virgins to Montreal during the V8 and V10 days. They were blown away. This year…well, let’s just say, they’ll spend their money elsewhere next time.
The argument about the need for relevance to road cars is valid to attract manufacturers. However, people go to see a spectacle, not marketing relevancy.
PS – NASCAR has no road going relevancy but performs well based spectacle. I understand the difference in that F1 is meant to be an engineering spectacle. However, if that spectacle proves insufficient, eventually marketing relevance will decline along with the crowds.
What you mean to say is that sound matters to you.
Deutsche Bank about to go down with an exposure to derivatives passing 75,000,000,000,000 USD (or to put that figure into more perspective, over 20 times German GDP), yet another company (Siemens) admitting its pre-referendum warnings were bluster and it will invest more in UK Plc after all, Sterling rising again, the FTSE as strong as ever. And we still get complaints about Brexit. Worry about Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal – all in a total mess that most journalists haven’t even noticed yet, let alone commented on in the context of recent events.
Sometimes weeks happen in decades, sometimes decades happen in weeks. (Lenin)
James, the info was swirling about over the last few months, but the Establishment and Media in the UK chose to ignore/bury it lightly. Now things are developing in the EU that show it as a wise move to put distance between our country and that organisation!
Really? How come Europeans don’t know this?
I think the Italian PM and Mrs Merkel are well aware of the problems.
Any thoughts on chem trails or who was really responsible for 9/11? The delusion of Brexiters is astonishing. “My house isn’t on fire, I have merely opted to relocate the heating to several new exciting locations. It was my plan all along”
Oh dear CBR! And Remainers are all actually totally sane? All panicking whilst everything is calming down and every day businesses from abroad tell us that they are not leaving the UK and never planned to do so? While countries around the World are asking when we want to start trade talks with them? Some people just have aN inbuilt misery switch and have their heads jammed into the sand because they seem frightened of reality.
The euro is a mess, Greece runs at continual loss, that’s why the imf tried force a financial event to bankrupt the country and they can never repay their dept, Spain and Italy aren’t far behind, Germany can’t bail everyone out forever and keep replacing democraticly elected governments.
They EU saved Ireland and Portugal. And if they succeed in improving work ethics and defeat corruption in Southern Europe then those countries you mentioned will rise to the challenge as well.
Since Greece needs an estimated 30-40 years to recover and the Italian Banking system requires immediate help along with Deutsche Bank being said by the IMF to be ” the single biggest threat to the EU and the Euro” then I rather think you maybe whistling in the dark there!
Mabe our new foriegn secretary will explain it to them! Mind you that appointment makes about as much sense to me as F1 being run by BCE.
My old man, who really IS a retired Colonel living in Surrey, voted Remain on the grounds that the whole thing was likely to self-destruct of its own accord anyway and it was better to let it do so without [“Uncle Montys” – Ed.] like the Slithy Gove and Bloody Stupid Johnson in charge.
And now we have the new Cabinet, already being referred to as “The Darling Fuds of May”.
New Cabinet looks pretty good to me apart from one or two junior ministers. Although the EU imploding without us going is also a strong possibility as many EU leaders are also mentioning now.
You are dreaming.
Tell that to business & finance Joe, fact is, as economists are now regularly saying, that it isn’t a case of “If” the Euro has an implosion, but ” When “…..I’m not dreaming when i see all the reportage that is going around, from the US Federal Reserve calling out Deutsche Bank USA as having failed their Stress Test, to the IMF saying that the European part of that same bank is ” the single biggest threat to the finances of the Eurozone”.
Nor when the finance world reports that it maybe 30 or even 40 years, before Greece can be a solvent nation again. Whilst Portugal is ordered, by the EU, to intensify Austerity over its finances…..and the Italian PM is stymied by Mrs Merkel telling him that Italy can’t blow £300 Billion or more on its Banks as ” the EU cannot change financial rules every couple of years “…….
Around the 27 nations, there is financial chaos, and deep division as to direction of motion for the group. It is now not at all impossible for the EU to break up, and the Far Left and Far Right in European countries both have that aim. For once, they also have popularity, and the central point they are both making is that the EU is undemocratic,and is not working in the interests of the average Citizen. With Brexit, the unthinkable that a Member State could actually leave the EU, those extreme parties can now point to their Citizens that being part of the EU isn’t necessary for the future of those 27 nations.
That is a huge barrier breached. The UK has more than cracked the Dam, and if the EU does not totally change, then it will fragment. And on top of that the future of free movement around Europe, is now also firmly under the spotlight.
In the UK we are living in interesting times as they say, but this is not limited to just us!
The truth is out your a larger drinker, afraid you may taste something if your beer isn’t cold !
I am not a beer drinker
You should try it Joe….there is much flavour and contrast in Real Ale that is hand pulled as opposed to fizzy pumped beer, and the dire stuff sold in Britain as Lager, which bears little or no resemblance to Continental Lagers.
I don’t like beer
I’d be delighted to introduce you to the joys of hand pumped Real Ales Joe! Living on the continent it is pretty impossible to sample such things, but on your trips to the UK you could find several hundred types of British Beers, that have many differing flavours and characteristics……wine is great, love it myself, but beer provides endless enjoyment too, and is particularly suited to conversational situations as in the main it is lower than most wine in alcohol, and is served in larger quantity. Therefore one can sit with friends or strangers, and have deep and meaningful discussions without the need for constant replenishment of glasses that comes with imbibing wine only!
I don’t like beer
Pardon me Joe but that’s so negative sounding from a bloke dedicated to new and vibrant experiences! ☺And I’d still buy you one! Or two even….
I don’t like beer. What’s negative about that? I never have and I never will. I’m sure there is something that you don’t like. I don’t call you negative because you don’t eat peas/celery/snails/whatever.
I love peas/celery, not keen on snails admitted….however there are so many types of British Ales, and all developed from back in the Danish and Saxon times, with input from other European cultures through the ages, that you’re really missing out on a treat if you don’t try some different types! And i was teasing a bit with the word “negative”…..life is too short, sadly, to be too serious all the time.
50 Trucks!!! That’s a lot of Red Bull. Joe I noticed all the Emirates “stewardesses” on the grid and on the stairs to the green room but their name seemed curiously missing from the podium although the “trophies” given out to the placegetters seemed to spring from offcuts out of their machine shop.
If Apple buy F1 I’ll eat an F1 tyre (any compound).
I will look forward to seeing you do that.
Hilarious…we both offered to eat something unpalatable if Apple buys just two posts apart. However, I will follow through on my less extreme edible if it happens.
So if Apple buy F1 do they expect their customers to queue in the rain for two weeks when tickets for a GP go on sale like some idiots do when a “new” phone is to be released?
Never enough money?
Happy to be back after a long time.The notebook makes for good reading as always. Loved the dig at the current Ferrari management!
A small pointer- Subrata Roy is out on parole after being ordered to pay INR 300 crore (I guess you would be familiar with the term ‘crore’ but in case you are not, 1 crore = 10 million) as part of the deal that will allow him to be on parole for some time.
Joe, any word on Sauber? Felipe Nasr seems all excited and they did pay salaries on time for the first time in a while. New ownership?
I thought Lewis’ celebrations with the fans was fantastic and it is that sort of thing that helps createlife long hero status. We all know the fan interaction with drivers is very poor but the drivers could do more if they wanted to. ( remember Alonso in Barcelona a few years ago getting off the drivers parade truck ?) Speaking of the drivers parade, the format of them standing on a truck often in a huddle and or being interview by TV is an insult to the crowd as you don’t get to see them properly and most of them doen’t seem to care anyway..
I would make them walk round the track.
Apple will not purchase F1. If they do purchase F1, I’ll eat my words…an earthworm in homage to the wormy apple and videotape it. Not that I think anyone would give a toss.
I would…
I’ll do it and post it for the Sawarders to laugh at my humiliation as I eat crow or crow’s food more precisely.
Also, not sure why I’m not showing up as Nick T. anymore.
BTW, despite my Apple doubts, this has been one of my favorite recent stories. The transporter/logistics angle was mind blowing. I’ve shared it with our vintage race team. And we felt like big shots when we traveled five cars to Laguna Seca in one transporter (or semi as they’re known here). Ha!
I wish F1 and its team publicized all these mind blowing details about what goes into their effort. This is the type of trivia that often quickly goes viral on SM. In this case, all they’d need to do is snap a photo of all the lorries side by side (I’m sure I have seen them take pics of that, but never seen them use it in SM).
That Twat Farage 😁😁😁😁 love it
Aren’t Heineken, Sminoff & Johnnie Walker all owned by the same company Diageo with ex connections with a certain Indian chap who was present on the pit wall over the weekend (I know Joe is his number 1 fan !) I believe they also own the majority stake in that black keg Irish beer served very cold so you can’t taste it. Sponsorship boards would look nice ala JPS.
No
Joe, Just a question that came to mind as i was sat in the stands at Copse on Sunday. Why when there’s a safety car start, do they not, at a point they think the track is dry enough after the cars have cleared the on track water put them into their normal start positions on the grid and we have a proper start/race. Okay the race would in effect be a few laps shorter but it’s be much more challenging and would at least space them out a bit before the mad dash into the pits.
The safety car driver reports to the race director and he decides
With that many transporters, what do they do for the fly away races? Do they ship some, like the hospitality units and hire the rest?
The hospitality units stay home
You mean they have to rough it? NOOO. Can’t be true. Oh the hardships…..!
You’ve mentioned the value of the paddock club’s high powered biz networking facilities. You’d think they and the teams might pull for more European and North American races to have more chances of attracting sponsors via the route of wining and dining execs while giving them a first hand look at the show. Although, I guess the same could be achieved at the fly away races with an invitation on a private jet (though the empty grandstands probably wouldn’t help).
Dear Joe,
did you make pictures of convoys of F1 transporters? If yes, it will be nice to see )
No, I was driving
Tying the UK political mess in to F1, did you hear about Max Mosely donating £200K to Tom Watson (deputy labour leader)? What’s that all about – what do you think Max’s agenda is?
Hard to believe the Apple rumour for a few reasons. The negatives: Apple likes its businesses to be sqeaky clean and F1 is not. Granted: it doesn’t have huge doping or corruption scandals, but it’s a murky business with much of what would otherwise be corruption encased in sanctioned if secret agreements (why else would they be secret).
F1 is tiny in the US and not that big in China, Apple’s major markets and the ones they concentrate on, apart from the one they’re trying to break into currently… India. So they would need to develop F1 in these markets virtually from scratch, which brings me to the next negative: people. Current F1 is not a business that runs itself, it needs people to reorganise and galvanise it into the viable business it could admittedly so easily be. Apple does not have an abundance of people ready for the job. Money, yes, people: much more difficult.
If there would be some tie up with the rumoured Apple car, owning F1 would bring Apple in contact with Daimler Benz, Renault, FCA and Honda, none of which have ever been mentioned in relation to that Apple Car. I also highly doubt (but I have no information to go on there except what I can read on Daring Fireball and the like) that Apple would be remotely interested in being affiliated with combustion technology of any kind.
The Great Unknown: Apple does nothing without a plan. They bought Beats not for the crappy headphones but for the streaming technology and even more for the industry clout of Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre, MD. As far as we currently know. So, Apple might have a master plan that we are unaware of.
The plus side would be that Apple would own original content. Since Apple has struggled to get content owners on board with its proposals, that would be a big plus.
All in all it sounds like a ruse to get other companies (maybe AlphaGoogle or Microsoft) interested. That said: I am completely invested in the Apple ecosystem, so I would really love it if they bought F1. It seems unlikely, but I’m not sure it seems Hamilton-to-Mercedes-unlikely… I didn’t believe those rumours when they came out, so you never know. Although I have the impression that Lewis chose Merc as much for the promise of their huge investments in the Hybrid powertrain as for the personal freedom he would (and does, to great effect in my mind) enjoy, as opposed to McLaren.
If Apple buys F1, does this mean F1 pilots will have to dodge Pokemon go! zombie players on track? I say, 1 point for each dodge, 3 points for hits. Pastor would become the highest paid F1 driver in this type of scenario 😉
Joe suggested that Apple Inc might buy F1.
Joe, I am not sure I can see that happening in the short term. Apple needs content so that it can keep up with Netflix, Amazon, etc. Currently if Apple wants Film or TV rights it has to stand in line with the others bidding for new content. The same applies to sports rights. Looking at the number of deals that Bernie has done for pay TV, it locks out Apple in OTT, in the short term, in a considerable number of major markets. The Sky exclusive in the UK runs until 2024. How many other long term deals are waiting in the wings? Apple would have at least five years of restricted earnings, and lack of control of broadcast rights. The elephant in the room, is the new deal between teams, and the rights owner. I can’t imagine that teams will sign a deal that is anywhere close to the current model.
If you recall, Bernie was enthused about a new style of F1 broadcasting that he was working on, with SKY. I could see him selling his facilities company(FOM TV equipment etc) to SKY. That would save him having to invest in the new generation of UHD and VR technologies, which SKY already possesses or is just about to invest in. It would also remove some hefty fixed costs.
Apple & F1 make a lot of sense with the money parked in banks at low interest rate compared to F1 returns plus world wide streaming @ $50 per season sign me up.
Virtual reality is the next big thing for Apple
E Cue from Apple is on the Ferrari board & is familiar with the numbers & potential income not saying conspiracy but who will run F1 or who would Ferrari like to run F1 ?
Joe, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you might be pleased to learn that as news stories have begun to flourish about the Apple rumors writers have been mentioning your integrity and reputation as one key reason to take the rumors seriously. From Fortune: “The rumors started on Tuesday when Joe Saward, a longtime and well-respected Formula One reporter, said…,” and further on “…the report shouldn’t be ignored. Saward is one of the foremost reporters in the Formula One market and it’s well-known that Apple has at least taken a liking to cars.” From Business Insider: “Notable F1 blogger Joe Saward wrote on Wednesday…” Plus a couple of others. Congrats, Joe, right now you’re the best known F1 journalist in the world.
Yes Joe, your name and reputation is spreading like wildfire throughout the Apple community. Most recently the highly respected Mac OS Ken (Ken Ray) podcast, 07/15/2916.
Well, I am confident of the story being true. Whether it ends up happening is another story, but it is definitely being discussed.
I’m here to say Apple and F1 is NEVER gonna happen, but in the interest of full disclosure, I said the same thing about Apple purchasing Beats…
Apple puts considerable stock in green energy, recycling etc. F1 seems irreconcilable with that.
But I’d LOVE for it to happen! I’d happily pay $3 per race if that means no more annoying ads right when a spectacular overtake is about to happen. NBC seems to have a knack for picking the worst possible moments to go to commercials.
I didn’t say it would happen. I said it is being discussed. And that is definitely true.
Why Apple?
– as I understand it, for many cars, the electronics are more expensive supplies than the drivetrain.
– Apple cannot go low end.
– Apple’s maps need the kind of input that Microsoft Maps / Nokia Here has, with the entire UPS (think it is UPS) fleet equipped with LIDAR and IR scanners etc etc. Apple will find ways to miniaturise this, see next point.
– Phones effectively overtook cameras, in terms of use for commonplace photography. The Kodak Moment is forever lost in time. But there is no true successor. Hence Apple will continue to seek ownership of that moment. (With great maps, they can have their logo where the yellow Kodak feet made you stand!)
– 3D is the future of many commonplace photography. Lytro may eb so incredibly limited it is going no-where outside of Hollywierd anytime soon (the real reason they are going to succeed if at all, is because their “light field” cameras make green screens obsolete, not because they are a practical photography tool.)
– THIS MEANS 3D SCANNING. If you windowscreen mount your phone to view your navigation, you are already pointing the better camera at the road and environment. I see assisted driving alerting to say kids making dashes off the sidewalk as more important pitches for technology. Apple is playing the long game, they will build credibility through safety, first. They would buy a auto company, but not before they are the most significant supplier to that company and the brand is associated with trust on the road.
– With the RIGHT KIND OF AUTOMOTIVE PROMOTION AND TESTING AND ACCESS TO THE DEVELOPMENT NETWORKS OF A TRULY ADVANCED MOTORSPORT they can accelerate their position attainment in every aspect within the auto industry.
– Apple cannot do low end. So they need the marketing ability to make BMW or VW (Bentley et.al.) or any major manufacturer (Like the American new entrant to F1 they will line up, so this has a true story, probably using their excess datacenter capacity, of which they use maybe 20% at the moment…).
– As a major data vendor – meaning your personal data, increasingly, they have connections on Capitol Hill like no other buyer of Formula One can offer. This may benefit street circuits or things F1 clearly needs in America, mainly credibility, but it situated them in the legislative vantage point from which to get laws passed or amended to push for what they need in providing increasingly sophisticated computer aids for autos.
– As a major brand, in one fell swoop Apple will (also in other ways, as note immediately above) solve the credibility gap F1 has in America. They can spend the few billion required to haul F1’s sorry backside down mainstreet and repent its marketing sins of its fathers, and be sworn in to abide by the Constitution that says all viewers have rights enshrined in decency, foresight, and common sense.
– The marketing and media reasons are many, and warrant a fuller treatment. But Apple might use F1 as (part) anchor to a 4K streaming service.
– But like Amazon can defray something like 50 to 100 times the budget of ITV for new programming, just to attract subscribers to Prime, Apple most of all wants to spread this “love”. Do not think they will necessarily force anyone into a pay TV subscription, not directly anyway. They can easily buy out Sky. Won’t Sky want better access to AppleTV boxes anyhow? Will the box matter?
– Regardless if my numbers are a little off, they are not wild, it is the correct order in terms of multiple, how much more Amazon can afford to “lose” on new content, compared with a National Broadcaster with Incumbent Status and effective FTA protection. Apple may discard pay TV structures, or find ways to make it almost impossible not to get access, by knowing someone who owns a Apple product, just as Sky Go permits simultaneous logins, which markets their service wonderfully, or at elast makes pests out of your friends..
– Buying a Global Sport is a game changer. There are so few game changers left. Yes, F1 is Global, properly capitalised in my opinion. I see this would be virtually Free To Air in a way similar to that just mentioned. That mode is one of the few remaining to ensure they get into *every* home. The garage comes later. From Garage To Garage. Perfect story. Meanwhile the goodwill associated with true worldwide recognition of getting a much loved sport will be something they can play with for decades to come. We all moan about F1 losing a generation. That could change. Apple almost own a subset of one generation, to the point they polarise society, literally. Creating the Damascene Moment for F1 will not be a polarising element in society. So many more people would categorically state “I Love F1” if you allowed them to choose which era or other specifics they consider to define or have defined F1. Slapping the historical races on iTunes would be sufficient reminder.
– Apple can also take initiatives technologically to do with the real racing. I mean they can underwrite big rule changes. Just the very fact they got involved will make even the worst run teams bankable. Apple will find ways to enlarge the franchise, to avoid claims of “franchises” making unearned money, or they will do something of equivalent effect.
These are merely my thoughts on this today, having rubber necked on the idea, as I think many many people have done.
Hey, we are rubbernecking and going “WTF?” *because* it is a game changer, and we need another look to see the logic behind it.
Just like Scott Adams of Dilbert fame, blogs about Trump playing “3D Persuasion” in politics, Apple is playing 3D Business, politics, marketing and more, in what *has* to be a industry changing move, because they have to create a new industry to grow.
If any of this makes sense to you, or sounds completely outrageous, don’t worry, because I don’t worry about it at all, whether right or wrong. This is what I think, not what I know. End of last year after my mind started playing unhappy tricks on me big time, and had been doing so for a long time, it started to become apparent (and proven through a excruciating 10 months subsequently) that I had lost so much of my memory that every fundamental tenet of my life had to be reconsidered. I started to think without the benefit of my preconceptions, because they didn’t exist, were no longer accessible. The result is what appears to me to be a new way of looking at things, which I thankfully is good compensation for what turned out to be years lost from my life. So if that translates to anything which is useful in any way, even entertainment, on this subject, I’m already happy. I’m not in it for the argument. If I’m in anything at all, it is just as Joe puts on his magazine. My warmest and fondest regards to anyone still about who remembers me … Heck, I didn’t remember me, so I guess this is officially a Result! 🙂
You’re back! If nothing else the length of your posts is memorable JoJ 🙂
But I still prefer my cars made by car companies. Never owned a Mac or an “i” anything. It was desktop publishing that gave Mr Jobs his leg up, had it not been for Mr Aldus who knows the Mac may have failed!
But should they buy F1? See Joe’s new post of today!