Is Formula 1 fixed?

[lincoln]

Given the result of the British GP I'm now convinced that F1, like so many other 'sports', is fixed in advance.

Massa was driving like an idiot after being the class of the field last race, Ferrari made a crazy decision over Kimi's tyres when in a safe second place and Kovalainen clearly moved over to let Hamilton past. Perhaps they arranged with Webber that he could get pole if he spun on the first lap but Kovalainen forgot (how else do you explain that he was half a second quicker than the much more talented Hamilton?). Ron 'I'm not a crook' Dennis even confirmed after the race that Lewis could have gone much quicker.

I have been getting increasingly suspicious since the Ferrari/Schumi domination of recent years. F1 bosses couldn't allow a championship to be decided before the last couple of races because F1 as a whole would lose so much money and so every championship since then has been really close.

What about Hamilton losing the championship last year by driving round on a bald tyre!?! Surely no one believes that was a genuine mistake. I'm a Ferrari fan but even I was astonished when McLaren threw away an easy (championship) win. Perhaps Ferrari threatened to leave F1 (they stopped V12 engines being banned for a couple more seasons by doing this many years ago!) unless they won and McLaren were humiliated? Why else would Ron 'I'm not a crook' Dennis claim innocence but take the punishment for last years spy scandel on the chin?

And as for the points now;

1. Hamilton 48
2. Massa 48
3. Raikkonen 48
4. kubica 46

Come on, you've got to be joking! You could not have planned a better finish to keep the championship interesting. I predict Hamilton will now take a commanding lead before making some silly mistakes allowing the BMW's & Ferrari's to all challenge for the championship in the very last race.


If it can happen in wrestling, boxing, horse racing, football, cricket and tennis then why not F1? Am I the only person who thinks like this? :?: :twisted: ;-) :-D

[pitfield]

I have started to watch F1 again as a result of Hamilton's involvement I think, then the new rules have made things more exciting, so Lewis hooked me in again and now I'm back into it.

[Mattk]

My dad sometimes talks about stuff like this. But he's only half serious. There's really not much evidence that F1 is fixed. F1 just happens to have been quite exciting these past two seasons. F1 is also not a sport which lends well to being fixed, because there are simply too many people involved, and the people involved have too much to lose by deliberately losing.

[styla21]

LOL. No it is not fixed. Ambiguity, and the unknown provide great ammunition for conspiracy theorists; but F1 is no business for fixing results. Considering the average cost in getting a team to the grid is approaching $30m per race, and the way that the FOM performance structure works, there would be no incentive to start throwing races for side bets.
$600m to lose - The manufacturers would be having peoples heads. ..And I doubt Frank Williams is throwing them either :-P

[Spiffu]

F1 is definitely not fixed. There was the whole FIA giving "considerations" to Ferrari conspiracy, but that's obviously not the case right now.

For fixed racing see nascar and their caution system.

[dignews]

Mate if thats what you believe then ok. But there is way too much money involved in the sport for there to be any fixing going on, all sponsors and manufacturers put hundreds of millions of pounds in each year.

[scarfacegrimm]

F1 is not and never has been fixed - and never will - it's not the freakin WWE

F1 is an ever evolving changing sport, where drivers have tracks they love and hate, teams advance quicker than other (R&D) during theyear and other teams catch up and pass them during that same year 9even more so during the winter) - go back and watch or research F1 from previous seasons and decades and you will see even crazier things - for one check out the 1982 Monaco GP, go do it seriously go now and look it up on youtube.

It's part of the sport - i see you are from england - it's like cricket, one day you are awesome and one day - like we were yesterday scored 199 and had the other team at 55/6 and they came back to beat us (my club cricket) (i'm still pissed!, lol)

[Pokiou]

Motorsports is one of the last sports that is NOT fixed.. thank god for that!

[RC45]

F1 is very much manipulated in the favour of a certain team based in italy with red cars.

Has been and always will be.

[Mattk]

^Which would explain their mediocre results in the mid 1990s? I don't think so.

[RC45]

^Which would explain their mediocre results in the mid 1990s? I don't think so.

It would explain why the rules were continually changed to allow their emdiocre performance to eventually equal wins.

The same is true for the FIM and Ducati in WSB, always has been.

[Mattk]

^Well, then, how would you account for the rules limiting engine and technological development, and a trend towards equipment standardisation which strongly inhibits the ability of better-funded teams like Ferrari to get an edge? Either way you crack it, the evidence is not consistent with deliberate favourable treatment.

[RC45]

^Well, then, how would you account for the rules limiting engine and technological development, and a trend towards equipment standardisation which strongly inhibits the ability of better-funded teams like Ferrari to get an edge? Either way you crack it, the evidence is not consistent with deliberate favourable treatment.

Everytime a non-italian make comes up with a inovaiton within the rules, the rules are changed to remove, alter or delete the new option - unless the italian make came up with it first, then it is always allowed. ;)

This is the only way ducati and ferrari ahve managed to be "inovative" over the last 4 decades.

[Spiffu]

These are Ferrari's drivers championships won

1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1979, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007

Constructors
1961, 1964, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007

So between 1979 and 2000 they had no drivers championships, and then Schui began his reign of terror.

And in the 2005 and 2006 season Renault pulled a rabbit out of their hat with Alonso and beat Ferrari two years in a row.

Mclaren could have won the 2007 season if not for some rookie mistakes on the part of Hamilton and the whole scandal crap. If Lewis keeps doing what he's doing right now he'll get it this year.

So Ferrari has had a big gap between any championships or "preferential treatment" as people are suggesting until the beginning of this decade, but I agree there should be a different champion every season.

[SHIZL]

i still don"t understand why they banned williams-honda, as far as ferrari they tend to bully the officials, for example when they decided to only run v8's ferrari told them they would not return unless they gave them another year so they allowed them to run it same with the v10's. its something every big race team does flexes there muscles cause they want that little bit more over the comp. fixed who knows the teams are fixed thats still obvious. I hope they try there best to bring comp closer with the changes they are making so far it looks as its getting better but still its a touchy subject with f1.

[setheddy]

I find it hard to beleive that formula one is fixed, but there are some very interesting things that happen in the races. With all the money, and people involved some of the mistakes are really hard to belive.

[Spiffu]

FIA - Ferrari International Assistance didn't help Masa with road side convenience this last race.

Past four races have been crappy for Ferrari and Raikkonen has been just plain bad.

[comfychair]

Yes, it's all fake. During all the races Bernie has a multifunction remote hidden in his pocket, it has a big red button and two dials on it (one selects which driver, the other selects they type of event - puncture, total or partial hydraulic failure, con rod and piston exiting thru the head, etc.). There are hidden explosive charges placed in strategic locations throughout all the cars to initiate the desired failure. You have uncovered their clever ruse and now you are a marked man, they will follow you to the ends of the earth to keep their secret. Ho noes!


:laugh:


edit: and if you believe that, here's a site that might interest you: http://www.theflatearthsociety.net/

[Mattk]

^Reminds me of the film Rollerball, which despite the low critical (and everyone else's) opinion of it, I quite liked.

[kestrel]

no its not fixed its just who ever has the most money nornaly wins thats why now there trying to make it a drivers race and do away with some of the upgrades like this an-ti stall and the traction control its about time it was down too the drivers and not the ones with the most cash i remember over the years it has allways been one manufacture thats won like renault and bmw all had there hay days if you check out some of the enterants down the grid they using the previous years motors of the ones up the grid as there is still not enough money to make 22 drivers have 11 motor manufactures make f1 motors
even if you has 22 ferraris in one race you would still get the same results

[comfychair]

All the cars now sound the same (too bad the McLaren finally lost that shrieking intake noise), and the orgy of stick-on aero bits is beginning to make me angry. And those stupid wheel covers with the fake spokes painted on make me want to throw things at the screen.

I say mandate relatively small slick spec tires, steel brakes, one front and one rear wing, a minimum weight limit, and other than that, anything goes. I want to see what kind of crazy sh** they would come up with on those kinds of budgets. 25,000rpm V8 vs turbo V10 vs some crazy AWD thing with a boxer 4 in front and a V6 in back... :ohmy:

[Spiffu]

I say mandate relatively small slick spec tires, steel brakes, one front and one rear wing, a minimum weight limit, and other than that, anything goes. I want to see what kind of crazy sh** they would come up with on those kinds of budgets. 25,000rpm V8 vs turbo V10 vs some crazy AWD thing with a boxer 4 in front and a V6 in back...

Sounds like a modern day incarnation of Can-am, (which I would love to see) but not so much F1. Formula 1 is called a Formula for a reason, having multiple formulas in a race sorta kills that.