Dieter Rencken joins F1 Fanatic as columnist

2018 F1 season

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I am excited to begin the 2018 season by announcing the arrival of Dieter Rencken as F1 Fanatic’s new columnist.

Dieter will bring F1 Fanatic readers fresh news from the paddock, exclusive interviews with the sport’s major players plus his unrivalled insight into the political and economic realities of motorsport.

F1 Fanatic's new columnist Dieter Rencken
F1 Fanatic’s new columnist Dieter Rencken
Dieter has worked with Autosport since the early nineties and F1 Racing for the past ten years. His weekly columns have become a must-read for those who want to inside story on the biggest developments in Formula One. Joining F1 Fanatic will bring Dieter’s work, which was previously behind a paywall, to a new and wider audience.

Several of the biggest F1 news stories of 2017 were broken by Dieter. These included the end of McLaren’s relationship with Honda, which also brought about Carlos Sainz Jnr’s move to Renault, as well as Force India’s new title sponsor and dramatic new colour scheme.

His years of experience in the paddock and deep knowledge of F1’s complex finances means he is uniquely placed to inform fans about the changes which shape their favourite sport. There is no better example of this than the unequal payment structure between Formula One Management and the teams, a subject which Dieter has drawn much attention to.

This will be a crucial year for Formula One following its change of ownership. The new owners are committed to expanding and modernising the sport and have shown they are unafraid to challenge convention. F1 fans are eager to understand their plans and F1 Fanatic will continue to be an independent voice for them.

This is only the beginning of F1 Fanatic’s plans for 2018. I look forward to sharing more details with you in the months ahead.

I will leave it to Dieter to expand on his reasons for joining us at this time in the first of his columns for F1 Fanatic, which will be published on Wednesday. In the meantime I hope you’ll all join me in welcoming the newest member of our F1 Fanatic community: @DieterRencken.

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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68 comments on “Dieter Rencken joins F1 Fanatic as columnist”

  1. Nice news! At a time when Motorsport’s various acquisitions were being talked about, and its impact on the F1 sites, it’s nice to see F1 Fanatic beefing up its contributors ranks with this!

    Looking forward to the first – of many – articles on Wednesday.

    1. QFA.
      We need a different voice than Liberty’s own, Kudos to Mr. Rencken for the courage.

  2. Awesome stuff!

  3. Great news. I often read Dieter’s stuff when I had my Autosport+ subscription, and as you say he did a great deal to highlight the revenue distribution problems I also consider to be a huge issue.

    Will look forward to his future contributions.

  4. Great news Keith! The future is looking very bright indeed for F1 Fanatic. Will be eagerly waiting for Dieter’s first article on Wednesday.

  5. Great news, welcome Dieter!

  6. so instead of Dieter Rencken, racing lines will he hear Dieter Rencken, F1 Fanatic?

    1. @johnmilk That’s pretty much the plan!

      1. @keithcollantine as usual I’m going to step my boundaries and suggest that we can propose questions for the press conferences

        talk about bad ideas

    2. Keith are you sure it is a good idea to tag him in the comments? We can be pretty annoying

    3. I knew the name was familiar, that’s so cool!

    4. I only heard this news today about Dieter .. and that was going to be my first Question .. How often over the last several seasons have we heard that start to a question in the Drivers/Principals briefing … “..Dieter Rencken, Racing Lines..” ??? Too many to count. It will be great to hear ‘Dieter Rencken, F1 Fanatic’ .. lol. The first great signing of the 2018 season .. well done Keith!

  7. Wunderbar, well done to all involved!

    1. From memory, @DieterRencken is South African.
      So maybe it should be “Pragtig”, or “Magnificent” ;)

      1. Ah, cripes haha. Always sounded Germanic to me ;-)

  8. Fantastic news, Keith! Been following F1 Fanatic since 2007 and it always puts a smile on my face when I’m reminded of how far you and the site have come along since then.

    1. Same here (albeit two years later)

  9. Just as long as it doesn’t mean that F1 Fanatic is being consumed by Motorsport.com (like James Allen) I am all for it.

    I am getting tired of reliable F1 sites being bought by this site, eradicating a lot of independent news sources.

    1. Yes, it is good, and maybe telling, that there are less and less reliable and independant sources left. Good news that F1Fanatic takes a step forward with this though.

    2. We as consumers have ourselves to blame, the expectation that excellent content should be free to consume online (i.e. it has no monetary ‘value’ to us) vs print combined with the centre of gravity that Google & Facebook exert for brands A&P budgets. It’s no surprise that the market has consolidated in response, to benefit from centralisation in the absence of consumers paying for content.

      Great news for F1-Fanatic with this addition!

      1. Great news that Dieter Rencken is here now. Glad to see this site grow!

        @ju88sy – The way Keith has set this site up is the best of both worlds I believe. No paywall, content is open to all. Pay a minimal amount for no adverts if you can and wish to. This is one of the few sites I do gladly and willingly pay for and support.

        I remember when autosport put up their paywall and admitted they didn’t care if they only brought about 10% or less of their readers onboard for pay content. I understand the need for a business model for a news/info site to survive, but there is more than one way to do it.

        1. Very well put, @bullmello…!
          There are still some very good people writing up F1,
          but so many of them are disappearing behind expensive
          pay-walls. Keith has got the balance exactly right
          and the quality this site produces is first class.

          As a large and powerful consortium gradually changes
          F1 into the kind of sports show it best understands
          and enjoys, it’s good to know that our values will
          be well stressed, explained and fought for by a
          great team which will stand up for the things that
          matter a great deal to us.

    3. So subscribe to the website.

  10. Shaun Robinson (@)
    8th January 2018, 13:05

    Brilliant, welcome Dieter!

  11. petebaldwin (@)
    8th January 2018, 13:06

    Great acquisition Keith! It’ll make what is already the best F1 site even better. You’ll have to go all “Toto” soon and start pretending that Autosport are catching up to keep everyone happy! :D

    1. this has to be the COTD ahah

    2. Hahaha! Go all Toto, indeed. I’m writing to Oxford University Press to get this included in the next edition of Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms! :)

    3. I fear for the tables in Keith’s house then

    4. @petebaldwin
      Touche!

      @keithcollantine . This is fantastic news for F1fanatics.

  12. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
    8th January 2018, 13:14

    Big news!!! (the Dacia Sandero…..)

    Welcome @dieterrencken !

    Well in Keith, great aquisition

  13. Very cool, in the press conferences he usually comes up with good questions for drivers/team principals, so we can look forward to his contributions to this site

    1. Indeed, one of the few with sensible questions in the press conferences.

  14. That is indeed great news for F1Fanatic, superb development @keithcollantine! Looking forward to some really interesting reading from @dieterrencken.

  15. That’s an impressive coup! Well done Keith. Always enjoyed Dieter’s articles on Autosport.

  16. @keithcollantine, I am so happy for you. This is a major coup; a watershed moment for F1F. You have worked extremely hard to make this online publication the very best it can be and I really do believe it is the very best. My hearfelt congratulations to yourself and the team. Once again, thank you for the excellent output.

    1. Lurker since 2007. What a terrific evolution from a hobby site to the current version on I take it on a very modest cost base. I would encourage all to at least contribute £1 every month.
      +1

    2. +1
      I completely agree. Thanks for the great site!

  17. Well done and congratulation, @keithcollantine

  18. What a coup! A surprise and a very pleasant one at that Keith! Looking forward to this a lot, I love Dieter’s work.

  19. So from now on every time he asks a question in a press conference he will say ‘Dieter Rencken, F1 Fanatic’ rather than ‘Dieter Rencken, Racing Lines’ before asking the question.

  20. This is great news.

    Whenever a big news story is starting to gain traction I will always try get hold of something Dieter has written on the subject to see if the story has legs. If he thinks it’s happening, it invariably is.

  21. Great news, super best F1 Site Keith. you winner

  22. Wow! Amazing news!

  23. Cool, welcome Dieter Rencken

  24. Welcome Dieter!

  25. Massive step for the site, which has by now become practically my bible – Well done Keith!

  26. Super, looking forward to the columns!

  27. Welcome Dieter. Looking forward to reading your column.

  28. That’s impressive.
    “Dieter Renkin, Racing Lines”

  29. Hey, hey, hey! This is awesome news! :)

  30. Welcome Dieter Rencken to F1Fanatic Family!

  31. Excellent news, congrats. Now all we need is @prisoner-monkeys to return and all will be complete!

  32. Really glad to see everyone is so enthusiastic about this. I’m very grateful for all your encouragement.

    Thanks also to all of our F1 Fanatic Supporters, including those of you who have signed up today following this announcement, as it is vital to help us keep growing and expanding.

  33. Welcome @dieterrencken ! I look forward to your columns.

    Congrats @keithcollantine I look forward to your world domination of F1 journalism

  34. Fantastic news! F1 fanatic to the rescue :D

  35. A big welcome to my favourite F1 site.

  36. This is really great news. Dieter’s in-depth articles in Autosport really penetrate deep into the workings of Formula 1, the FIA and the various companies and personalities involved in sponsoring and running the sport. And it is a testament to the reputation and popularity of Keith Collantine’s F1Fanatic that Dieter has decided to be one of its columnists.

    Great job Keith, and welcome onboard Dieter!

  37. Fantastic stuff Keith, you’ve done so well to grow this site into what it is today. You should be very proud.

  38. Great news!

    Congrats @keithcollantine and welcome @dieterrencken.

  39. F1fanatic is loaded. Dieter is so independent that he’s extremely independent.

  40. Fantastic news! As a big fan of @dieterrencken & a big fan of F1 Fanatic what’s not to love? I can’t wait to read what is guaranteed to be a fascinating column & the lively discussions it is likely to encourage amongst our members. Kudos to you @keithcollantine for having such a highly regarded & respected F1 journalist join your already excellent team & making it even better.

  41. I don’t know, what do you rencken?

    Sounds great as long as it doesn’t interfere with Dieter’s Box of Neutrals duties.

  42. Hope this works as F1 is dead and more and more people are deserting the sport. Thank god for ‘motorgp’ as that is the only thing that is giving me any thrills in motor racing.

  43. Just read this today while searching for Dieter… I’m bookmarking the site immediately to add it to my regular racing news. I always enjoy reading Dieter’s work, and eons ago we both had bylines in F1Rumors.net.

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