44 replies to this topic

[FullThrottleF1]

Thought it was funny how we barely saw any of the car.

[TheRacingElf]

I haven't seen him once indeed.. wouldn't surprise me if they did that on purpose

[Risil]

They've pulled this trick before so I'd say it's very likely.

 

However, the Manor cars were so far away from everyone else they might as well not have been in the same race. So there were also legit reasons for the TV director not to care.

[turssi]

They have done it before as well.

[Massa]

They done it to FI because of Bernie, and i'm sure it was the same for this race. We haven't see ONE time Merhi, and Ecclestone was very angry at his team.

[VolvoT5]

I did wonder why we never saw any shots of the Manor... even when it was being lapped (which was plenty of times).  Seems very petty to exclude them from the coverage if it is just a political move.  We saw plenty of shots of Button,  Alonso and Perez who were also running around at the back for most of the race. 

[Prost1997T]

Saw him in the background a few times, but never any close up shots to my recollection.

[ninetyzero]

They've pulled this trick before so I'd say it's very likely.

 

However, the Manor cars were so far away from everyone else they might as well not have been in the same race. So there were also legit reasons for the TV director not to care.

 

Who was it they pulled that trick on before? It's bugging me...

[Disgrace]

Force India at Bahrain.

[FullThrottleF1]

FI in Bahrain 2012 Quali I believe.

[kimster89]

The Race was so eventful it would be a waste of time to show the meanigless cruising of a backmarker.

 

But great job by Manor to finish the race. Quite an achivement.

[Jon83]

A fair question. 

[Jamiednm]

It's not like they've got sponsors, so it's not a big deal...

[jonpollak]

Mary WHO?

 

Jp

[SophieB]

Saw him in the background a few times, but never any close up shots to my recollection.

 

I think the only time I saw them in the background, they were out of focus. This may be coincidence, however. Or maybe I need an eye check, I guess. Anyone able to screenshot them from the broadcast race footage?

[Victor_RO]

I only saw the Manor once while he was moving slowly through the esses at T5/6 to get out of the way of cars that were lapping him. Otherwise I can't recall seeing it once during the race.

 

Further question: did the car appear on any kind of TV footage in qualifying? 

[johnmhinds]

When were the Marussia or Caterham cars ever shown, how was today any different?

 

The only time the back markers have ever been shown is when they're retiring, crashing or being passed for the 5th time.

[johnmhinds]

I only saw the Manor once while he was moving slowly through the esses at T5/6 to get out of the way of cars that were lapping him. Otherwise I can't recall seeing it once during the race.

 

Further question: did the car appear on any kind of TV footage in qualifying? 

 

Didn't Mehri do one super slow lap, and Will Stevens stayed in the garage with his car in bits?

 

Kinda hard to show them during qualifying when they don't participate.

[Nonesuch]

FOM has pulled a similar stunt before, but I suppose the benefit of the doubt suggests that there was simply too much going on to focus on one guy trying to put in some laps.

 

The director did show Merhi when he overtook Räikkönen...

 

 

... and when he was lapped by Grosjean.

 

 

Edited by Nonesuch, 29 March 2015 - 14:39.

[pRy]

To be fair it took them until about lap 10 to show Alonso. I think it's just because the back of the field isn't exciting.

[PaulMeoff]

This is Bernie cutting his nose off to spite his face i'm afraid. He wants a grid full of racing cars, Manor are trying to sell car space. Manor almost definitely can't/won't survive without sponsors and now they'll have to try and court potential investors with 2 seconds of TV coverage this weekend. Very backward thinking from BE once more.

[johnmhinds]

This is Bernie cutting his nose off to spite his face i'm afraid. He wants a grid full of racing cars, Manor are trying to sell car space. Manor almost definitely can't/won't survive without sponsors and now they'll have to try and court potential investors with 2 seconds of TV coverage this weekend. Very backward thinking from BE once more.

 

Showing the world that they could only get one 2014 car running at 6+ seconds off the pace isn't going to attract any sponsors.

[hittheapex]

Showing the world that they could only get one 2014 car running at 6+ seconds off the pace isn't going to attract any sponsors.

Hasn't stopped teams in the past.

[cpbell]

This is Bernie cutting his nose off to spite his face i'm afraid. He wants a grid full of racing cars, Manor are trying to sell car space. Manor almost definitely can't/won't survive without sponsors and now they'll have to try and court potential investors with 2 seconds of TV coverage this weekend. Very backward thinking from BE once more.

 

Not convinced - I've read enough recently to suggest that he's trying to maximise the market value of the F! commercial rights as possible, for himself and CVC, and either he or they consider that said value wiould be greater without Manor, due to their lack of pace.  Being older than many here, though, I recall the days when there would be two or three teams that slow - indeed, some consistently failed to pre-qualify.

Edited by cpbell, 29 March 2015 - 15:38.

[superden]

[superden]

Not convinced - I've read enough recently to suggest that he's trying to maximise the market value of the F! commercial rights as possible, for himself and CVC, and either he or they consider that said value wiould be greater without Manor, due to their lack of pace. Being older than many here, though, I recall the days when there would be two or three teams that slow - indeed, some consistently failed to pre-qualify.

Ah, pre-qualifying. Seems like yesterday.

[Dolph]

Force India at Bahrain.

 

Why was that?

[BullHead]

Conspiracy thinking is a bit silly. Back markers never get much race screen shots. It's up to the local broadcasters to talk about them, and up to the team to make noises that gets them looked at. Talk to Eddie Jordan, he likes them...

[ExFlagMan]

Conspiracy thinking is a bit silly. Back markers never get much race screen shots. It's up to the local broadcasters to talk about them, and up to the team to make noises that gets them looked at. Talk to Eddie Jordan, he likes them...

But he seemed to ignore them today - maybe that was what Bernie wanted him to 'come and see me later' about yesterday....

[Elba]

Why was that?

Because iirc they refused to participate in a session due to the unrest outside the track.

 

Back to today, no proof it was deliberate but it could very well have been.

Sure FOM/Bernie/CVC are displeased with Manor and withholding money or TV-time are the only "weapons" they have so it wouldn't surprise me.

[RacingDuck]

FOM has pulled a similar stunt before, but I suppose the benefit of the doubt suggests that there was simply too much going on to focus on one guy trying to put in some laps.

The director did show Merhi when he overtook Räikkönen...



... and when he was lapped by Grosjean.

So thats what it looks like, I thought an old Toyota had made its way on track.

[BullHead]

Oh. Because he was bigging them up before quali? And Bernie told him to stop?
Lol. Not impossible, but bloody hell. That's the sort of thing I would hope Eddie would rally against.

[ExFlagMan]

Oh. Because he was bigging them up before quali? And Bernie told him to stop?
Lol. Not impossible, but bloody hell. That's the sort of thing I would hope Eddie would rally against.

Maybe, but if Bernie hinted that his paddock pass might suddenly stop working...

[Fastcake]

I did notice that there was no Mehri to notice...

 

There was however only one Manor in the race, and he really didn't do much other than get the car to the end at the back, so FOM has got plausible deniability that it wasn't deliberate.

 

Maybe, but if Bernie hinted that his paddock pass might suddenly stop working...

 

I know people like to suggest this a lot, but you might want to think of the consequences of Bernie getting the FIA to take passes off the BBC.

[Andrew Hope]

What was that **** a few years ago? Was it Hungary where they basically blacked out the Force Indias for the weekend? It was kinda like this but way more obvious. I can't remember the story though.

[sopa]

Force India was boycotted in Bahrain due to some political stuff. Remember, there was a GP in Bahrain in 2012 after the race was cancelled in 2011 due to uprising in the country.

 

However, I don't get, why should FOM boycott Manor? I think they were so slow and invisible that you would forget to simply show them. Incidentally TV camera didn't catch much of the Mastercard Lolas during the 1997 Australian GP qualifying either.

[ensign14]

However, I don't get, why should FOM boycott Manor?

 

The same weekend as Bernie called them an embarrassment and that F1 letting them in was a dreadful mistake.  How weird that Manor were not shown at all - not even a pitstop - and were mentioned perhaps once.

[midgrid]

Incidentally TV camera didn't catch much of the Mastercard Lolas during the 1997 Australian GP qualifying either.

[Nathan]

I'm surprised they didn't super impose something over the Marussia when it was caught in the back/fore ground.

[Rob]

Incidentally TV camera didn't catch much of the Mastercard Lolas during the 1997 Australian GP qualifying either.

 

I missed the qualifying session for that race. I'm still slightly bitter that I didn't get to see the cars on track!

 

Poor Vince, he deserved a better shot at F1 than that.

[Fastcake]

 

I was wondering how even a Lola could take 9 minutes and 46 seconds to complete a lap, and then I saw the 20 seconds intro that explained it.

Edited by Fastcake, 29 March 2015 - 23:14.

[sopa]

 

Admittedly I don't/didn't remember about FP1.

[CoolBreeze]

Well, they hardly showed the Mclarens..so who cares..

[jurchenking]

Let's be honest.  Manor was resurrected purely as an opportunistic means for its new management to claim the prize money  .  It's cynical but true.

 

I wonder why pay drivers bother to surrender their hard-earned finances/sponsorships with these back markers?  Just to fulfill their childhood F1 dreams?  OK to make up the numbers and retire feeling satisfied that they were rare F1 drivers?   

[johnmhinds]

Let's be honest. Manor was resurrected purely as an opportunistic means for its new management to claim the prize money . It's cynical but true.

I wonder why pay drivers bother to surrender their hard-earned finances/sponsorships with these back markers? Just to fulfill their childhood F1 dreams? OK to make up the numbers and retire feeling satisfied that they were rare F1 drivers?

Seems like a safer investment than just giving your money to Lotus to be a "development driver" like a dozen or so young people have done over the last half decade.