356wannabe

I agree with Bernie: the U.S (myself included) doesn't care about F1 and after last year's 6 car sham at Indy, it was clear the feeling was mutual. Bernie's comments, quoted above, underscore F1's indifference to the US. After last year's debacle, one would think Bernie might acknowledge some responsibility for the poor showing of F1 here and offer some solutions to make it up to his sport's modest U.S. fan base. Instead he is insulting our intelligence. Good riddance!

TheOtherEric

I'm kinda surprised at the sour grapes, considering the class action lawsuit against him for the USGP debacle was just thrown out last week. Maybe he just got his attorney's bill yesterday.

mdbickell

Unfortunately Bernie has some valid points. F1 has never really gained acceptance here. Instead we have hordes who would prefer to watch a Taurus chase a Monte Carlo in a circle.

My guess is that this is all really him puffing himself up before a contract negotiation.

Despite this, I still think he's a ****ing a-hole.

hacker-pschorr

Funny how the most expensive, exotic, highest performing cars are in the hands of the biggest ****** in the world.

pedsurg

He's right about the lawyers though. Check out the intersting article re lawyers in today's Wall Street Journal.
Jack

Nordschleife

well all the ones I've seen have been pretty small (in all ways) and listen to the girlfriends bitch

R+C

cdodkin

Firstly - he's just about to re-negotiate the contract, so of course he's going to play down how important the US market is!

Haven't any of you ever bought a used car before - pointed out how it's not the ideal color, the tires are shot, the brakes need doing, the exhaust is blowing, etc etc - just to lower the price...

He's doing exactly the same here!

It's called a business negotiation, and he's taking his opening position.

As for the US 'racing' scene... don't get me started!

You have to admit that if it's a sport in which the US doesn't dominate, it has little chance of being given any real exposure on American TV, and hence little chance of any real regional investment from sponsors.

It's a fact that the US market simply finds it hard to comprehend how huge F1 is outside of the US - in revenue, in viewing figures, in investment etc etc

It absolutely doesn't need the US based on the current market, but I'm sure they'd like to see that slice grow, and minimize their costs while they try and grow it..

Make sense?

Chris.

SundayDriver

Not to defend lawyers, but take a look at the history of lawsuits and government meddling against F1 - organizers, teams, owners, etc - excluding commercial disputes. Does the name Senna bring anything to mind. The US is no worse in regards to F1 than others.

Much as I prefer F1 to NASCAR, F1 has done a terrible job marketing in the US and NASCAR has done an exceptional job.

Palting

Yup, that's the biggest reason a lot of international companies don't come to the US. The reason why exotic cars that are evailable and affordable in Europe don't come here. The reason why there are the better ROW versions of the Porsches compared to the US versions. It seems to be the prime reason F1 will die here in the US.

Companies that want to market the lucrative US market have to prepare themselves for frivolous lawsuits that are spawned by the "lotto" mentality propagated by our so-called justice system. For a lot of them, it just isn't worth it. The litigenous nature of our USA is the cancer that prevents us from achieving the best that we could be, and from obtaining the best that could be.

JasonAndreas

If Bernie pulls F1 from the USA will PCNA finally allow the supercup race to take place in Montreal?


EU automotive regulations are just as strict and in some cases even more so than the regulations here in the USA. There are differences and the cost of complying with both is the reason you won't see the exact same vehicles here. If you want an example of really strict regulations try to import anything that uses electricity or has moving parts into the EU without a CE mark and see how far you get.

Geo

Horsepucky. If companies were afraid of lawsuits they wouldn't even be here in the first place.

BTW, the GPMA has already responded to Bernie's crap by saying not only is the US market extremely important to them, but they think there should be more than one USGP.

Bull

Cost of compliance and cost of certification, including sacrificing multiple units to crash testing, is number one. Of course there are "adders".

Palting

Strict regulations are not a problem. They can easily design and manufacture cars to comply with them. They do it for the "strict" European market, why can't they do it here?. It's those unpredictable lawsuits that can kill the car and other companies that may even consider coming here.. Only in America: Lawsuit was filed, and was won in front of a jury of our peers, confirming the plaintiffs contention that the Porsche 911 turbo was too dangerous for the average driver and that Porsche was liable for accidents due to bad design. Bad design meaning the car can go too fast. They won, believe it or not. They are trying to do it again. Among the long list of defendants for the well publisized recent death associated with the Carrera GT is Porsche. Porsche is liable for "bad design", because the car can go too fast for the average American driver. Porsche can lose the case, because they may get the same jury that awarded damages agint McDonalds for making the coffe hot that a woman got scalded for spilling it on her crotch after she put the hot coffee there.

That's exactly my point. There are a lot of companies that won't come here because of our litigenous society, and our "jackpot" mentality. To get back on thread, Bernie has a point. That's why he doesn't want F1 to come here.

vegasgolf98

Las Vegas might be a nice alternative. The casinos would cater to the high rollers that would come in, 130,000 hotel rooms. Just have to design a nice Long Beach-type track.

Geo

Ol' Bernie is going to have a problem with a lot of people if he abandons the US market.

The manufacturers not only want to be here, they want to be here more than once per year.