Q: Question for Marshall, Chris, Kelly and Mark G that I thought of during the Detroit race: What’s the worst track each of you have ever visited?
Chris Hanrahan
MP: Depends on what the worst aspect is; I love the 24 Hours of Le Mans in so many ways, but I also hate the place with a passion. And I don’t mean the racing circuit where the cars compete; it’s gorgeous and so unbelievable. But the actual working part, from where you get credentials, to where you park, to getting in every day, to moving about the place to do the basics of the job, is an endless s***fight. Everything is a no, or worse, and it was that way on my first trip in 2007 and hasn’t changed.
When I flew home from last year’s race, I told myself — having been fortunate to cover it 11 times — that I wouldn’t be going back unless it was a really special occasion. Almost every year, I had the best credentials and access possible, but it often didn’t matter. Counter that with IMS, which makes doing this job as easy as possible.
CHRIS MEDLAND: I guess it depends if you mean from a facilities standpoint or a racing/driving one, but for the latter I’d probably have to say Sochi Autodrom. As a facility it was quite good, but it was such an uninspiring track after the first couple of corners, retrofitted to the old Winter Olympic Park.
I must admit Montreal is disappointing – it has had recent investment and is still a temporary workspace with terrible access for the teams and their guests. The media center is fine as it’s not longer a tent, but the commentary booths in the same building leaked badly again this year after Friday’s downpour. Crews should not be holding buckets to the roof and having their equipment ruined in a new building.
The flip side is it’s a really cool track and the fan base is amazing, but those fans were also not well treated on Friday, and Saturday night, with trouble getting in and out. I also put Imola in a similar category in terms of F1 facilities, but it’s just such a beautiful and iconic track layout it gets away with the stuff around the edges.
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya also comes to mind, as its facilities are poor and management of the event regularly a challenge, and it’s not like the venue is lacking for space compared to Montreal and Imola. But it’s not as inspiring a track, either.
I am being harsh because I’m picking from the ones I’ve worked at in an F1 capacity and they’re expected to host what claims to be the pinnacle of racing.
KELLY CRANDALL: I’m not one to sling mud, but I’ll tackle it from a media perspective. And no, I’m not going to name names. The biggest thing for me when it comes to a racetrack is the amenities and being able to do the job. There are quite a few that struggle with cell signal and even strong Wi-Fi networks throughout a race weekend. Comfortable chairs are nice, too.
MARK GLENDENNING: Chengdu, for A1GP in 2008. I tried to write an off-season feature about that place a couple of years ago but it didn’t come together, in part because a couple of people I reached out to still didn’t want to talk about it more than a decade later!
Q: I’m so disgusted with ESPN. It’s a travesty to spend $75 million dollars for F1 coverage and try to increase viewership, and then they’ve been pulling this crap of putting F1 practices and qualifying on ESPNnews and ESPNU (see Canadian GP coverage). What do you think?
Jack, Ft. Pierce, FL
CM: It’s a tough balance to strike to be honest, because the issue ESPN has when the races are in North America is that it makes them far more likely to clash with other sporting events. And as much as F1 is growing and has huge potential in the U.S., a broadcaster has to balance that growth with not harming other sports it has the rights to as well.
That’s why I generally understand practice being on more obscure channels – it’s a very hardcore audience that will watch FP sessions, so you can almost expect them to go searching a bit more if required – but I would like to see qualifying in particular getting a bigger billing where possible.
I’m told that it was the College World Series and Women’s College World Series that conflicted this past week, and that there could be clashes around tennis majors at Wimbledon and the US Open across the rest of the summer.
Sky Sports in the UK has a dedicated F1 channel (alongside many other sports) that means viewers always know where the sessions will be, so maybe if the ESPN deal is extended that could be an option and another content share agreement could be worked out.
Q: I just read your reporting on the Canadian GP. Sounds like it was epic. Unfortunately, my cable provider (Frontier Communications) messed up. First it was going to be on ABC, but the programming guide said otherwise. Then it was going to be on ESPN News live. But the cable programming guide said no. The race was to be at 4pm local time. So, at 4pm the programming guide says ‘F1 racing’ but college baseball is on. No race. And the banner stream at the bottom reports Verstappen as the winner. Just when F1 is getting interesting again, our TV people pull this. Am I the only one that had this problem?
Rob, Huntington Beach, CA
CM: Our esteemed editor Mark informs me this wasn’t the only such complaint Rob, so it wasn’t just you, but it also didn’t seem to be a widespread issue. I actually contacted ESPN and was told it could have been errors by ABC affiliates that ESPN has no control over.
In Los Angeles, the ABC affiliate joined at 2pm ET (so at lights out) due to a scheduling conflict, and the New York affiliate didn’t join until an hour into the race for the same reason, but that’s an issue due to different markets and affiliates rather than an ESPN choice.
ESPN is doing a great job in general when you consider where F1 was in the U.S. when it took over as the broadcaster, but if you need a back-up for any particular weekends then F1 TV is a great option too (and sits alongside ESPN in the sense of providing you with lots of shoulder programming).
Personal plug, but you could also listen on SiriusXM too if you need to! We do the only U.S.-focused live pre and post-race shows from the track, and take the BBC 5 Live commentary of the entire race, plus regularly do phone-ins post-race too.