Hamilton on F1 weekends: 'We always need to make sure that it's accessible'
Lewis Hamilton has often called out Formula 1 for being unattainable for some F1 fans. While in Las Vegas, he talked about how important it was to stay within the fan's reach - and to not put the blame on the visiting celebrities that decorate the paddocks.
With the costs rising yearly, grand prixs are hard for some fans to attend. One of the most expensive races is the Las Vegas Grand Prix, known for its larger-than-life celebrity presence and the iconic background of the Las Vegas Strip. But having a race like this on the calendar doesn't come without its struggles. Especially for the fans.
Hamilton wants accessible and sustainable races
During the Las Vegas Grand Prix, many celebrities went to the race and enjoyed the weekend. When asked about the increasing celebrity presence, Hamilton said, "Well, the more eyeballs on this sport, it's not a bad thing. I would say that races like some European races for example, when you've got people that are coming in, it's less celebrity. There's still a lot of celebs that do turn up into the group."
However, he knows that it is a slippery slope when it comes to the races and who it's actually for. "I think we always need to make sure that it's accessible, that it's not too, so far out of reach for people that also work very hard for their money, but cannot afford to get to the race weekend". Hamilton noted, "[Las Vegas] is a very glitz and glamour--, one of the many glitz and glamour races. But for example, we had kids here from all over, very diverse."
The seven-time world champion continued, "I think it's great that the school here is starting to now work on D&I and make sure that access to young kids, showing that young kids, it doesn't matter where you're from, belong here. Hopefully, we'll see those in many years to come and work towards being here one day. We've got a lot of work to do to make sure that the place continues to be-- is more inclusive and people feel comfortable in the environment. And people that do get hired and can sustain it and actually keep a job."
Throughout his career, Hamilton has worked to expand diversity and inclusion programs within Formula 1 and their surrounding partners.
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I have often wondered why, after purchasing your electronic ticket, your registration number, could you be entered into a random draw that would see 200 people each day drawn and allowed entry into the pitlane for the pre-race walk. Easily controlled and an another incentive to purchase a ticket. This would cost the FIA nothing but would be another step. Can you imagine SKY and the other networks doing a post walk interview with a common fan who just got to walk the pitlane? Would be great to see
Lewis is right. He says it like it is. He doesn't mince his words. He's just being honest.
He speaks his mind. He is very wise.
Have I missed any Max-ism's out? :)
On a less cynical note, yes F1 does need to be more accessible to fans. And while F1 can learn a lot from the likes of NASCAR in that respect, I don't want to see events get too Americanised either. That's a little too much. Back in the day it was all about the sport and the drivers.
What I don't want to see F1 become is a celebrity laden field of entitled up-their-own-rear-ends people who are all about themselves and their upcoming movie or album.
Not interested too much show or glitz and glamour either. Planes flying in formation overhead and all that nonsense.
A little more sparkle, sure, but I think you can do too much. If fans feel like it helps them get their money's worth from the well overly expensive tickets, then all well and good.
But then do we see ticket prices go up BECAUSE of all the 'show'?
In terms of the school and the teaching of diversity and inclusion, all great. It's a shame it's something that needs to be taught because it should be automatic.
But we don't live in that world.
We could do with some acceptance of diversity and inclusion on here, actually.
Yes I agree Legend, it p1sses me off to see 'celebrity' plebs turning up at GPs with zero knowledge or interest in F1 just because it's the place to be seen, half of them won't respond to Brundle simply because he may ask a simple F1 type question and their total lack of knowledge would show them for what they are... clueless
Brundle " nice to see you in the grid, who are you supporting today ?"
Celebrity " oh, um, err, whatsisname, little fella two arms two legs, you know the one, he wears a race suit and crash helmet, drives a blue car, no, a black one, ah my mistake it could be red...silly me"
Haha, yeah exactly. The celebs are clueless on F1 and parade around like diva's and prima donna's just wanting to be seem and lauded.
You really are Max biggest fan. A good article on Lewis and there you go again speaking about Max, leave him alone for a minute please
And here we come again. Nobody or very few commenting on Hamilton's articles but on awful lot on Verstappen's. People keep complaining about the lack of articles on drivers other than Max, who stay shut when those articles are posted?
Should we infer that the real reason for this kinda people to post here is that they just want to talk negatively about one driver they don't like rather than positively about the one they like?
Yes, I said that already..because that's what this place has become. A place where people come to behave in a way it's not possible in real life.
Yes you can infer that of me.
Doesn't mean you're right, but you can infer it.
Where are the Max fans commenting here? Do they just want the Max articles? There's no Max glorification opportunities on these artilces.
It's nice to see non Max/RB article, but it doesn't mean I'm obliged to comment on them. The complaint was the lack of balance in the articles being put out, not on the comments therein.
But sure, if you want me to comment on it I will. Then you can be happier.
Sorry to say it, but that's a dumb complaint. GPblog mainly post snippets of articles published by other magazines such as Autosport and similar. You know this, because in the other place, that you are a member of, you can read the whole articles rather than the snippets.
Complaining with the editors of GPBlog is senseless as they are not the source of the articles. They just provide short bites to people, like most of us, who lack either the motivation to find the full articles or the attention span to read them in their entirety.
If you're going to insult me and call it dumb, then there's no point in saying 'sorry'.
Whether they are snippets or not isn't the issue. The editors choose what they do and do not publish. They are responsible for the content of this site and what article subjects get posted.
They could make it 100% Max/RB articles if they so desired.
Other sources such as PlanetF1 and GPFans are worse. They are just tabloid sites.
It's like people whinge at me for how imbalanced my posts are and 'always about Max'. You are one of those people who have done that. You know I can control my content and how I balance it - just like the editors of a website.
It doesn't matter if they are snippets or full articles. It's about the subject of the content.
"Senseless and irrational are objective descriptions, far from inflammatory."
Regardless of how you see how inflammatory, or not, they are, what also counts is how you've affected the person on the receiving end. Unless you don't care of course, which is another thing.
At any given time, GPBlog are in 100% control of what content they put out. Despite what gets the most comments and clicks, they can still choose to be a more balanced F1 news site. That they don't choose to do that is where my issue is.
I find that a rational point of view and not in the least dumb. You don't have to agree with it, but if you don't, it doesn't mean my point is 'dumb' or borne from irrationality.
If GPBlog are simply prioritising clicks over a balanced content, then that's another I can have against how things are. I think for the good of the site, they should not be reacting to negativity by posting more articles that will generate more. But, I do also realise, it's their site to do with just as they please.
The traffic created on the Verstappen articles isn't positive and generating more content to generate more of those comments isn't the best idea in the world, unless of course, clicks are all that matter.
I suspect, if the site was more balanced, more people would be willing to comment and we can have more of a variety of things to comment on. Clearly the strategy that's been employed thus far, might be working in terms of clicks but not for the overall image of the site because it's just a hovel for people to troll and complain and whinge about other members.
If GPBlog had a better strategy instead of making 75-80% of the articles Verstappen related, I think there might be less animosity here with less opportunities to comment negatively or for any glorifying of him.
Don't think I don't know what you're saying because I do.
I just don't believe that clicks count for everything. You end up compromising your image to the world if you're so one-sided in your content, especially when fans of that content can be so toxic, which generate toxic comments from non fans of Verstappen.
This particular complaint would be because it would be nice to see things change and have more balance.
But my comments about Max/RB or whichever team/driver, are not written with the idea of changing anything.
Certainly not people's views, because the chance of that happening is way too rare to even contemplate.
We have generated traffic on an article that isn't Max related, but it don't change a damn thing. And look how that started after your initial comment. That didn't go as well as it could have.
I have no problem with people disagreeing with me. But if you do, let me know in a way that isn't antagonistic.
Otherwise, I'm going to hit back. That's a known fact.
Senseless and irrational are descriptions, far from inflammatory.
Do you know what acting irrationally means? The rational agent theory defines it as acting in a way that goes against your objectives, that instead of being conducive to a better outcome, generates an outcome that is worse. Creating traffic on Max's articles creates more incentives for the editors to publish them, which according to what you say, is the opposite of what you want.
What you guys are doing (you, Doink, Vegan) doesn't make sense in terms of the efficacy and effectiveness of your complaint. Now, if you complain just to vent, is a different matter.
But if you complain to actually change things, you are using a poor strategy, if you prefer this term better than dumb. I can describe it more properly as a "Pareto inferior", "strictly dominated", or "suboptimal" strategy.
What we have done here with our exchanges is more helpful and effective. We have generated traffic on an article different than Max.
I'm not implying it. I don't think I'm dumb.
Either way, that's not the point.
The point is that even if you found it dumb in your mind, you should have been more tactful in phrasing it. Can't you even acknowledge that??
And if I tell you I felt insulted by it, you don't get to just dismiss that as if it's nothing. The correct, civil response would be "Well it wasn't meant to upset you". Not even a 'sorry' is needed.
Saying you implied something does not amount to an accusation.
If you can't even acknowledge that you could have been more tactful and said "I don't think that's a valid complaint because....", then I dunno what else to tell you other than your unwillingness to accept responsibility for what you write.
Especially when you say it to a person who you know is argumentative.
If I was writing a post to you with the mental note of remaining civil towards you, I would not have used words like dumb, senseless and irrational. It's inflammatory.
"By saying my complaint was dumb, you are insulting me too because I made the complaint. Implying I must be dumb to have made that complaint."
That's what YOU are implying. Not me.
I never said that. I never thought that. It's just you accusing me of.
By saying my complaint was dumb, you are insulting me too because I made the complaint. Implying I must be dumb to have made that complaint.
I can take criticism just fine. What you can't seem to understand is that the problem lies with how you deliver that criticism. You seem to have no space to admit that you could have handled that better.
I already told you twice how you could have phrased it without causing animosity. But you seem to just want to dismiss that and not even acknowledged that point at all.
So if all you're going to do is tell me I make dumb, senseless and irrational comments, then yeah, the only thing to talk about is your inability to be more civil and respectful when you phrase things.
You can't come up with 'dumb' and not expect a reaction.
I never insulted you. I said that the complaint was dumb not that you were dumb.
If you cannot take a criticism like that, we don't have much to talk about.
Well you shouldn't insult people then. Simple.
Now you create this scenario.
"And you doubled-down. Well sorry ManualShift, but I stopped reading beyond that point."
So did I.
"Posting complaints about the lack of articles on other drivers - on Max's articles- is dumb, senseless, and irrational. "
And you doubled-down. Well sorry ManualShift, but I stopped reading beyond that point.
I already explained the problem with your argument the first time. It's not the points you make, it's that you can to dismiss mine in such an insulting way by saying my opinion was dumb.
I'm obviously not going to respond well to that and if I continue reading your post, I won't have any desire to respond to it well either.
Falling over the first hurdle means, that you killed the debate straight away (or any chance at the debate being civil), the moment you belittled my opinion by claiming it was 'dumb'.
From that point on, however valid your argument was going to be, was not going to get a good reply from me.
And you've done it again here by extending it to 'dumb, seneseless and irrational'. Now it's worse.
It's like nothing I said in my last post about the fact you could have said "I think that's not a valid argument because....."
If you believe somehow that I would be up for civil debate with you or anyone, after they summarily dismiss my opinions as dumb, senseless and irrational, then you can think again.
As an individual, I should not be able to influence how a site decides what articles to publish. I could argue that Max fans should stop reacting in such numbers to me with the same old arguments.
Even if I am not here the Max posts get the most comments on them.
So instead of me saying "so I'm not sure I agree with you fully on that point", how would you like it if I said "so what a stupid thing to say. That's a pathetic opinion."
Hopefully you can see the difference and how different the reactions can be depending on which response I would choose.
There's nothing else to elaborate about. But I'll summarize it again one last time. Posting complaints about the lack of articles on other drivers - on Max's articles- is dumb, senseless, and irrational. On other words, an extremely poor strategy. Here's why:
1) GPblog doesn't write new pieces , just repackages ones that other journalists are writing.
2) GPblog makes money from ads as a fn of traffic (likely quantified as a combination of access + comments)
3) posting complaints on Max's pieces generates traffic (access+comments)
4) demand creates its own supply: GPblog will keep posting more and more small pieces on Max because they are the ones that generates more traffic--> more money.
Pretty straightforward.
You basically are doing the opposite of what you should do if you want more pieces on something else. Stop creating traffic on Max's pieces and start creating traffic on something else so that GPblog will choose to publish more heavily on something else.
I have already posted these arguments on a couple of occasions (as a reply to Doink and Herr) and I do not necessarily enjoy repeating the same points over and over again. But there you have it. I don't know what you mean by "falling over the first hurdle"...I didn't see any hurdle.
So telling me I make dumb complaints isn't insulting at all. Gotcha.
It doesn't matter that you elaborated when you fell over at the first hurdle by being dismissive and calling it 'dumb'. What kind of person do you take me for to make 'dumb complaints'?
You could have asked me why I had that opinion instead of just dismissing it and asserting your own as if that's the gospel.
If you want to argue the reasons why you think the complaint isn't valid, that's fine. But you could have said "I don't think that's a valid complaint to have because....."
Your approach was wrong and certainly was not respectful.
I didn't insult you. I said that the complaint is dumb and I elaborated on the reasons why it is indeed a dumb complaint.
Afternoon ManualShift, I think the articles about Max being the greatest ever and glorifying him at every given opportunity is what gets the comments going, anti or pro,also probably the hardened Max fans find any criticism of Max too hard to bear so feel the need to jump to his defence
Morning, Herr. I agree that Max's articles are the most popular and trigger the most comments. However, my reading is that the people who don't appreciate Max as a driver are the ones who jump at the opportunity to leave negative comments about him the most.
It is only natural that at the end of a season, there are more comments on the driver who won the title than on the other drivers. I'm sure it happened when other drivers were the winners in the past.
All this whining about too many articles on Max means two things:
1) people do not understand that 95% or more of GPblog's pieces are just summaries of what journalists choose to write about;
2) people do not understand that if they keep commenting on articles about Max, GpBlog editors will have even more incentives to post bite articles about Max.
"However, my reading is that the people who don't appreciate Max as a driver are the ones who jump at the opportunity to leave negative comments about him the most. "
And sometimes that's not directly because of Max, but to piss off the Max fans who are so keen to either provoke/troll others or over-glorify him like some kind of god.
"It is only natural that at the end of a season, there are more comments on the driver who won the title than on the other drivers."
Is it? I don't agree. It's a perfect opportunity to discuss the hopes and development of other teams, the new drivers etc.
It doesn't matter whether it's end of season, beginning of season all during the season. It's over-saturated with Max/RB content all year round.
If we had as much Lewis content or LeClerc or Norris content, we'd hardly have any Max fans here.
For you, it seems everyone else are the dumb one's who do not understand. That's a really one-sided view of things.
There are been recent posts of yours that are clearly indirectly referencing me and those posts haven't been very respectful.
Let's be fair here, you have made a couple of posts like that which were pretty much unnecessary and not conducive to staying respectful.
Just here for example, complaining that I wasn't posting on a Hamilton article as if I was actually obliged to.
And don't say that it wasn't directed at me because I was the only one here complaining about the imbalance of articles that you made reference to.
It goes both ways. If you feel you can make those posts, then I feel I can respond to them.
"If, instead, you want to keep spinning my comment as an insult to you, please be my guest"
Ok well....
"the people who don't appreciate Max as a driver are the ones who jump at the opportunity to leave negative comments about him the most. "
Me.
"All this whining about too many articles on Max means two things:"
Me. (You could have said 'complaining' instead of 'whining' if respect was a consideration.
Not to mention your 2 points about claiming that you think people 'don't understand'. That's condescending.
"Sorry to say it, but that's a dumb complaint."
If respect was a consideration you could have said either of these instead...
"Can you clarify why this is an issue?"
"I think this might be a minor concern."
"I’m not sure I see the problem here."
"Could you explain the significance of this?"
"This seems like a small issue to me."
By calling it dumb, you're being insulting and dismissive of my opinions.
A problem a lot of people have is that instead of asking me why I feel a certain way or have a certain opinion on something, or even want to get to the bottom of why I've said something, they prefer to be dismissive and/or insulting about it.
Then in a previous article, which I cannot find any more, Adrie made a comment which was unnecessary and I told him that. Then you made on underneath his (or perhaps as a reply) that was just there as backup.
I'm not spinning anything. You always get my true feelings on something, be it right or wrong or whether you agree with it or not. I'm not here to be dishonest, deceive, lie or spin anything.
It's a lost case to have any interaction with him on here. That's why I put him on ignore.
I just un ignore him to get a clear feeling of what the issues is and my god. How stubborn can one get. Back to ignore again. No need to argue with him.
You fail to read my comment properly. I treat you with respect and I expect you do the same. Telling someone to be dumb and saying that something is dumb are two different things.
Now, if you want to talk about complaints having a chance of being effective, or how the journalism market works, we can have a discussion because that's something I might want to give you my two cents on. If, instead, you want to keep spinning my comment as an insult to you, please be my guest, I won't engage further as it's clear to everyone what I said and what I didn't.
Some of the prices for races are absolutely ridiculous, they have to make it more accessible for everyone.
As usual it's the hard working loyal fans that love the sport that pay the price.
Too true. And worse if you save up to go and then it rains on race day and they daren't race because Pirelli can't make a wet tyre worth anything. Same as on road cars.
Imagine paying for Spa or Abu Dhabi 2021 :) What a rip off. Fans getting cheated in both events.
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