Below are some comments from Andrew Benson's
blog that were posted on the BBC SPORT website on Friday
August 26th. Although Andrew's blog was a celebration of
Schumacher's twenty years in Formula 1, readers clearly wanted to
talk about a different subject in the comments section.
Average_Man
"Gives us some answers. Show some backbone.
Then I might show you my wallet because right now that
license fee is as likely to be paid as Bernie is to ever admitting
he made a mistake."
F1Nut
"Sorry Andrew, but until someone from the BBC
acknowledges all the anger and dissatisfaction of the fans, about
the sell-out, no-one is really interested in the contents of this
type of blog any more. They will just use it as a vehicle to
continue venting their anger, like me."
Magt1000
"You have gone down in my estimations Andrew. Are you
going to be out of a job from next season? Are you refusing to
mention that elephant squashed up behind you because you are hoping
to cuddle up with Murdoch and cronies from next season
too?"
One in particular saddened me a bit, posted
by Hrbl:
"This season was the first one I'd started to properly get
into F1 - watching the practice sessions, qualifying, and the race,
from start to finish.
Now I couldn't care less… I haven't watched any Spa
qualifying, read any interviews (including this one), or really
gotten excited about any of it all. All thanks to the
BBC."
After reading this I thought how much of a shame the whole
situation has been. Forget the cost of subscribing to Sky Sports
for a moment. There are people who are brand new to Formula 1,
probably enticed by the high quality programming from the BBC, who
will now disappear into the many ranks of fans that have come and
gone. It seems strange that the governing and managerial bodies
allowed this to happen when the United Kingdom has one of the
largest F1 fan-base in the whole world.
There is long way to go in this saga and I think that once the
season is over and the teams have the time to reflect on this year,
they will realise how damaging this deal could be.
It has not been the best of years for the FIA, FOM and FOTA.
With the disgraceful handling of the Bahrain situation to the
little niggles seen at the British Grand Prix with the
engine maps, Formula 1 has not done itself proud this year.
I would love to hear what your thoughts are on the matter,
particularly on the long-term effects that this deal has had on the
sport. I am also very interested in hearing what foreign fans of
Formula 1 say about this deal. I'm sure this commotion has not
escaped your notice so what are your opinions on the matter?
I know that in many countries around the world, F1
is only available on pay-per-view TV, so are we
acting like spoilt brats?