2022 Winter Testing Part 1: Barcelona 23 - 25th February

[wogx]

So if that will be the official shakedown, then we won't see any "filming days" earlier?

[tonmeister]

In the big scheme of things, the amount of people that actually go to testing is extremely low… The amount of people that actually watch testing (not read the recaps, lap times and pictures online) is very very low also… As a matter of fact, watching testing live wasn’t possible until F1TV, so it’s not like if it’s a long standing tradition.

So, yes there is probably a lot more money to be made from Bahrein paying a premium to have the rights to televised testing… For 99.99% of fans that even if it was open to the public, wouldn’t be able to be in Spain for the first 3 days of testing, we will still get to see the cars during their launch events, there will be pictures posted online of the cars on track and there will be timing at the end of the day (not that times during testing, specially the first 3 days, matters at all).

I don’t understand the upheaval from some fans regarding this… What I do agree with, is the BS form F1 to call it “3 days of shakedown”, like if the average fan doesn’t realize what is really going on… Call it like it is, closed doors testing.

Extremely low? 35.000 people in Barcelona test in 2018, reliable data. I repeat 35.000 people with faces and names and there has been more visits in 2019 and 2020, specially dutch people (...wonder why) This not too shabby. On these test please include visits from local schools, disabled kids and all shorts of collectives. For this year's, there is people that already bought plane tickets and booked hotels. As I said, disgraceful disregard to European Fans.

[astracrazy]

This guy has lost his mind - at least all his credibility as an independent journalist - if any was left:



So they will do 100km on demo tires?

He's not independent at all, as he works for FOM, so he has to walk the company line, and this tweet just confirms it beyond doubt.

Yep, you are right. But there is a difference between adhering to your empoyer and replies such as this one below which is reaching levels of trump-like behaviour "I have my own truth!"

Oh well, I am just angry because I already planned my Barca testing trip.

He is talking tripe. If its a "shakedown" why the need for 3 days, it normally only takes a few hours for a team to carry out a shakedown.

[SmallSoldier]

In the big scheme of things, the amount of people that actually go to testing is extremely low… The amount of people that actually watch testing (not read the recaps, lap times and pictures online) is very very low also… As a matter of fact, watching testing live wasn’t possible until F1TV, so it’s not like if it’s a long standing tradition.

So, yes there is probably a lot more money to be made from Bahrein paying a premium to have the rights to televised testing… For 99.99% of fans that even if it was open to the public, wouldn’t be able to be in Spain for the first 3 days of testing, we will still get to see the cars during their launch events, there will be pictures posted online of the cars on track and there will be timing at the end of the day (not that times during testing, specially the first 3 days, matters at all).

I don’t understand the upheaval from some fans regarding this… What I do agree with, is the BS form F1 to call it “3 days of shakedown”, like if the average fan doesn’t realize what is really going on… Call it like it is, closed doors testing.

Extremely low? 35.000 people in Barcelona test in 2018, reliable data. I repeat 35.000 people with faces and names and there has been more visits in 2019 and 2020, specially dutch people (...wonder why) This not too shabby. On these test please include visits from local schools, disabled kids and all shorts of collectives. For this year's, there is people that already bought plane tickets and booked hotels. As I said, disgraceful disregard to European Fans.

Well… It’s a numbers game, right? According to F1 in 2020 (and despite having less races due to Covid), the average audience per race was 87.4 million… More interestingly is the number is unique viewers which was calculated as 433m… So yes, even if true that 35,000 fans attend testing in Barcelona (which seems like a very big number based on what can be seeing during broadcast, but I don’t have any data to argue it)… Even then, the amount of people attending F1 testing amounts to 0.008% of fans… As I said originally, in the big scheme of things it is an extremely low number.

Furthermore, the “Testing” aren’t Formula 1 “events”… There is no reason for F1 to allow any fans and we as fans aren’t entitled to be there… I can understand that it is upsetting that you will be missing testing in Barcelona, but you can always attend Bahrain if you want to… Is it more expensive? Well, that’s something that everyone not in Europe already experiences (and pays for) if they want to attend testing.

[BlueCheetah66]

This guy has lost his mind - at least all his credibility as an independent journalist - if any was left:



So they will do 100km on demo tires?

If I didnt know he was a journalist I would have thought this tweet was a joke about the situation. So they are labelling the Barcelona test a 3 day shakedown

[Ryar]

This guy has lost his mind - at least all his credibility as an independent journalist - if any was left:



So they will do 100km on demo tires?

He is trolling the situation and FOM! He is calling the first preseason test as a "mass shakedown", which is what it has been reduced to.

[tonmeister]

Well… It’s a numbers game, right? According to F1 in 2020 (and despite having less races due to Covid), the average audience per race was 87.4 million… More interestingly is the number is unique viewers which was calculated as 433m… So yes, even if true that 35,000 fans attend testing in Barcelona (which seems like a very big number based on what can be seeing during broadcast, but I don’t have any data to argue it)… Even then, the amount of people attending F1 testing amounts to 0.008% of fans… As I said originally, in the big scheme of things it is an extremely low number.

Furthermore, the “Testing” aren’t Formula 1 “events”… There is no reason for F1 to allow any fans and we as fans aren’t entitled to be there… I can understand that it is upsetting that you will be missing testing in Barcelona, but you can always attend Bahrain if you want to… Is it more expensive? Well, that’s something that everyone not in Europe already experiences (and pays for) if they want to attend testing.

Sorry but you are comparing apples to oranges here. Maybe we are addressing a different problem.

I am talking about people that go personally to the circuit to live the F1 experience. Very comitted fans. TV audience is another matter altogether.



This is the total attendance for the 2017 season. My mistake on the previous post for quoting the 2018 season.

Under your point of view it would be equal to dismiss the 35.700 atendees for the test as it would be to dismiss the 177.984 that came to the race. I mean, if we are talking about percentage compared to TV coverage, right? So if some dude comes and lays down the dough he could buy the right to cancel entrance for the Monaco GP...is only a matter of someone with enough money to do it, isn't?

Another point in which you are very wrong is that Barcelona testing has been indeed a F1 event for at least 17 years (the ones I have attended). That's what it said on the ticket when I paid. A gathering point and a tradition if you will, for F1 maniacs.

If I'm upset? of course! Futhermore I also don't see your point about buying a ticket to go to Bahrein. It's going to happen here, walking distance and I'm not going to watch it precisely because some dudes in Bahrein decided that I shouldn't. So no Bahrein for me, thank you. As for the fans in europe, please ask the people in France, Netherlands and even the UK what's more convenient...

[SmallSoldier]

Well… It’s a numbers game, right? According to F1 in 2020 (and despite having less races due to Covid), the average audience per race was 87.4 million… More interestingly is the number is unique viewers which was calculated as 433m… So yes, even if true that 35,000 fans attend testing in Barcelona (which seems like a very big number based on what can be seeing during broadcast, but I don’t have any data to argue it)… Even then, the amount of people attending F1 testing amounts to 0.008% of fans… As I said originally, in the big scheme of things it is an extremely low number.

Furthermore, the “Testing” aren’t Formula 1 “events”… There is no reason for F1 to allow any fans and we as fans aren’t entitled to be there… I can understand that it is upsetting that you will be missing testing in Barcelona, but you can always attend Bahrain if you want to… Is it more expensive? Well, that’s something that everyone not in Europe already experiences (and pays for) if they want to attend testing.

Sorry but you are comparing apples to oranges here. Maybe we are addressing a different problem.

I am talking about people that go personally to the circuit to live the F1 experience. Very comitted fans. TV audience is another matter altogether.

http://e00-marca.uecdn.es/assets/multim ... 318342.jpg

This is the total attendance for the 2017 season. My mistake on the previous post for quoting the 2017 season.

Under your point of view it would be equal to dismiss the 35.700 atendees for the test as it would be to dismiss the 177.984 that came to the race. I mean, if we are talking about percentage compared to TV coverage, right? So if some dude comes and lays down the dough he could buy the right to cancel entrance for the Monaco GP...is only a matter of someone with enough money to do it, isn't?

Another point in which you are very wrong is that Barcelona testing has been indeed a F1 event for at least 17 years (the ones I have attended). That's what it said on the ticket when I paid. A gathering point and a tradition if you will, for F1 maniacs.

If I'm upset? of course! Futhermore I also don't see your point about buying a ticket to go to Bahrein. It's going to happen here, walking distance and I'm not going to watch it precisely because some dudes in Bahrein decided that I shouldn't. So no Bahrein for me, thank you. As for the fans in europe, please ask the people in France, Netherlands and even the UK what's more convenient...

It seems that indeed we were talking of different sample sizes, for what I’ve read online the uproar is not only by those that are attending the event in Barcelona, but also because it won’t be broadcasted or simply because they don’t like it (regardless if they were planning to attend or not).

In regards to the plane tickets, you were the one that mentioned that people already bought ticket planes and booked hotels, if that was the case, it is as simple as changing them to Bahrain if attending is so important.

F1 is first and foremost a business… Making a decision to give Bahrain the exclusive rights to “Public Testing” is no different than negotiating for an F1 race to take place at certain location… If tomorrow the Catalunya Circuit doesn’t pay what F1 wants to host an F1 race, there will simply not be an F1 race (like has happened with the German GP for example)… To your question if they would dismiss 177k fans attending the Spanish GP? If it makes sense from a business perspective, I’m sure they would… It is also not different than when F1 decides to cut a deal with certain broadcaster for the rights to the races, in certain countries it was “free to watch” and because someone (like Sky for example) came in and as you well said it “lays down the dough” it automatically switched to “behind a paywall or subscription required”.

I can understand that you are upset if you think you are entitled to be in testing and that such testing needs to be performed in a location that is comfortable for you… The fact remains that F1 is a business, they are going to do what makes sense business wise and that for 99.992% of fans of F1 this is a non-issue.

[JPower]

I really don't see what the issue is.

If you want to see the cars testing that badly, Bahrain will be open.

[Neuron]

Me either.
Testing are always the same - bunch of rumours and discuss about fuel level, sandbagging etc. Everyone thinks that they know something, while they know nothing

[nzjrs]

Some of us live in Europe, near Spain, and had planed to visit.

But the sour taste here is bought and paid for journalists like Will Buxton following the party line and calling the Barcelona Pre-Season test a 'shakedown' so rubes will come along after them and defend this by saying "nothing to see here, move along, Bahrain is the test - watch that instead".

[tonmeister]

In regards to the plane tickets, you were the one that mentioned that people already bought ticket planes and booked hotels, if that was the case, it is as simple as changing them to Bahrain if attending is so important.

That is not so simple to do really.

F1 is first and foremost a business… Making a decision to give Bahrain the exclusive rights to “Public Testing” is no different than negotiating for an F1 race to take place at certain location… If tomorrow the Catalunya Circuit doesn’t pay what F1 wants to host an F1 race, there will simply not be an F1 race (like has happened with the German GP for example)… To your question if they would dismiss 177k fans attending the Spanish GP? If it makes sense from a business perspective, I’m sure they would… It is also not different than when F1 decides to cut a deal with certain broadcaster for the rights to the races, in certain countries it was “free to watch” and because someone (like Sky for example) came in and as you well said it “lays down the dough” it automatically switched to “behind a paywall or subscription required”.

Again, I don't think this is the right analogy. The right one would be "would they dismiss 177k fans but still do the race if somebody paid for it to be closed doors?" Because testing is going to happen.

I can understand that you are upset if you think you are entitled to be in testing and that such testing needs to be performed in a location that is comfortable for you… The fact remains that F1 is a business, they are going to do what makes sense business wise and that for 99.992% of fans of F1 this is a non-issue.

I am not entitled to anything at all. Indeed, testing IS going to be performed in a location comfortable to me. I have just been denied the entrance for whatever reason. And please stop with the TV vs In Situ percentage comparison.

[FrukostScones]

LOL, the irony last year the FOM'ed it up with VIP passes and whatever. Now it is a private test, shakedown closed to the public... sure. No one needs a TV live feed, but banning spectators for no good reason other than keeping them away?
Time to de-follow this advertising circus of the petrochemical complex.

[Just_a_fan]

This guy has lost his mind - at least all his credibility as an independent journalist - if any was left:



So they will do 100km on demo tires?

He is trolling the situation and FOM! He is calling the first preseason test as a "mass shakedown", which is what it has been reduced to.

He's trolling no one - he's employed by FOM/Liberty.

[SmallSoldier]

In regards to the plane tickets, you were the one that mentioned that people already bought ticket planes and booked hotels, if that was the case, it is as simple as changing them to Bahrain if attending is so important.

That is not so simple to do really.

F1 is first and foremost a business… Making a decision to give Bahrain the exclusive rights to “Public Testing” is no different than negotiating for an F1 race to take place at certain location… If tomorrow the Catalunya Circuit doesn’t pay what F1 wants to host an F1 race, there will simply not be an F1 race (like has happened with the German GP for example)… To your question if they would dismiss 177k fans attending the Spanish GP? If it makes sense from a business perspective, I’m sure they would… It is also not different than when F1 decides to cut a deal with certain broadcaster for the rights to the races, in certain countries it was “free to watch” and because someone (like Sky for example) came in and as you well said it “lays down the dough” it automatically switched to “behind a paywall or subscription required”.

Again, I don't think this is the right analogy. The right one would be "would they dismiss 177k fans but still do the race if somebody paid for it to be closed doors?" Because testing is going to happen.

I can understand that you are upset if you think you are entitled to be in testing and that such testing needs to be performed in a location that is comfortable for you… The fact remains that F1 is a business, they are going to do what makes sense business wise and that for 99.992% of fans of F1 this is a non-issue.

I am not entitled to anything at all. Indeed, testing IS going to be performed in a location comfortable to me. I have just been denied the entrance for whatever reason. And please stop with the TV vs In Situ percentage comparison.

Testing “will happen” and it “will be available to the public”… It will just be the portion in Bahrain.

It’s clear we have different opinions on the matter and won’t reach an understanding… In regards to your question about having a race without fans, very unlikely since the fans are a very important part of the Gran Prix weekend (more specifically for the race) as we experienced during the races without public due to Covid… The amount of money someone would need to pay to have that happen would be outrageous and the reason for someone to even pay for that at close to non-existant.

In this case, testing was supposed to be 3 days only (as per in 2021), nevertheless the team’s and driver’s lobbied for additional 3 days since the cars are changing dramatically and with a whole new set of regulations, the additional track time will be very valuable… When negotiating for it, Bahrain paid F1 to have the exclusive of showing the cars to the public for the first time on track and FOM agree to this and I don’t see anything particularly wrong with it… It isn’t a race weekend, it isn’t a sanctioned event, it is just testing… Why Bahrain paid for the exclusivity? Because there is an important amount of Marketing money involved, the circuit will be probably asking for a premium from on-track sponsors, as well as ensuring that they have people from around the world visiting the venue to watch the cars, which also brings in money due to the additional amount of tourism that testing will provide… If Barcelona would have been open to the public, that “Premium” is probably gone and most of the hardcore fans that attend testing would have probably preferred to do so at Barcelona due to the convenience instead of making the trip to Bahrain.

I have tried to explain my point of view in the matter and why granting Bahrain exclusivity in terms of public and broadcast isn’t an issue, specially for the average F1 fan… The only thing that I may have an issue with is with calling it a Shakedown, when what will happen in Barcelona is effectively a Test… I‘ll leave it there, have a good day!