Grand prix showed F1 is “very alive” in Germany – Wolff

34 comments on “Grand prix showed F1 is “very alive” in Germany – Wolff”

1. 

   HUHHII (@huhhii)
   25th July 2018, 0:15

   I liked the new interviewing format when a local motorsport person or random celebrity walked to the podium to interview TOP-3 drivers. Those interviews managed to be unpredictable and often times funny as well. But now all the pros have gone down the drain with same old guys doing the interviews. Brundle, Coulthard, Herbert, Jordan… Why? The idea of local stars or worldwidely known celebrities was way more funnier. Brundle etc. are ridicilously bad at their job, so why give them more air time with their repetitive and predictable questions? I could understand having them doing the interviews in British GP but in everywhere else we should have a different person doing the honors. Why have Coulthard in German GP when the country itself has so many ex-drivers capable of doing the same job better?
   1. 

      Ohm
      25th July 2018, 0:35

      Yes I agree! It was something to look forward to, like: “I wonder who is going to do the podium interview today?” It made you want to keep watching.
      1. 

         JayR (@deidunxf1)
         25th July 2018, 12:35

         Hamilton and Schwarzenegger’s “I’ll be back” from a few years ago is still a highlight for me.
   2. 

      Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
      25th July 2018, 0:50

      +1
      Yeah having celebrities who had an interest in F1 made for some great moments. Patrick Stewart doing a shooey when Danny Ric won his first race was very funny.
   3. 

      Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
      25th July 2018, 1:22

      @huhhii I don’t like that. It doesn’t have to be funny, I want to know what the drivers felt and how they coped with different situations, I don’t want to them to thank the audience and joke with the interviewer. I’m not saying I want a serious press conference, but I don’t want the whole interview to become a joke show.

      Plus there have been a number of ocassions where the interviewer didn’t even know what to do. I remember one time they got Placido Domingo there, and he was BAD. I don’t want Placido Domingo to interview drivers, and I also don’t want Patrick Stewart doing a shoey. I want people that understand the sport, either journalists or ex drivers, to ask good questions.
      1. 

         HUHHII (@huhhii)
         25th July 2018, 1:40

         @fer-no65 Sure, me too, but all the drivers are being interviewed by typical F1 journalists minutes after podium ceremony has ended. Why not have some fun during the ceremony? Placido Domingo one was great, I’d prefer that gazillion times over Brundle.
         1. 

            Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
            25th July 2018, 3:02

            @huhhii we won’t agree on this, then, I thought Placido Domingo was extremely bad at it, made the whole thing very awkward and uninformative, and it was a waste of time and effort. Brundle any day for me.
            1. 

               Mark Zastrow (@markzastrow)
               25th July 2018, 3:37

               George Lucas’s was the worst I can remember, and a lot of them have also been cringeworthy. But I quite enjoyed Patrick Stewart’s go at it. I wouldn’t be opposed to the continuation of those—I just think they need a bit more vetting and coaching.

               I understand Liberty’s rationale for having the interviews as soon as they get out of the car to capture the heightened emotions, but I don’t feel that it works in practice. As soon as the mic is thrust in front of the drivers, they shut down and go into media mode, suppressing the very emotions we’re supposed to be seeing. I think I’d rather go back to how it was, and see the drivers let out their raw emotions organically, celebrating with their team and interacting with each other.
      2. 

         Anthony Blears
         25th July 2018, 3:16

         Brundle/Coulthard any day for me too. They ask pertinent questions. Local clueless celebs make me cringe.
         1. 

            David BR (@david-br)
            25th July 2018, 20:59

            +1 They’re actually very good at their jobs (disagreeing completely with @huhhii), the issue may be that there questions are too pertinent in after-race situations where the drivers are emotionally exhausted and really not wanting to answer certain questions in the heat of the moment.
   4. 

      Paul Heppler (@paulheppler)
      25th July 2018, 8:19

      perhaps the support race winners? from F2 and the like?
2. 

   Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
   25th July 2018, 5:58

   I think they should have the old boys from TG/GT all interview the top 3. At the same time.

   Let Capt. Slowly, Jezza and Hamster bicker amongst themselves while the drivers get a chance to cool down and walk away. ;-)
   1. 

      Chapor (@chapor)
      25th July 2018, 7:04

      You know what, that would be hilarious! I am all for that.
   2. 

      Andy
      25th July 2018, 8:34

      Yes, let’s have people who call Mexicans lazy do the interviewing…. no thanks.
      1. 

         Paul Heppler (@paulheppler)
         25th July 2018, 9:09

         Trump to interview at the American race, Putin at Sochi, Trudeau in Canada? …. that is where the mute button is worth more than the price of an F1 race.
3. 

   DB-C90 (@dbradock)
   25th July 2018, 6:10

   Personally, I’ve never found the interviews all that interesting but they’re always much better when a “proper” racing driver or enthusiast that is both sober and knowledgeable about F1 does it.

   As for the timing, I don’t like the new format, I found that the camera in the waiting room and watching the body language of the drivers (and catching the odd bit of conversation) was way more interesting than any interview. Who can forget the cap incident between Hamilton and Rosberg.

   The current “let’s get them straight out of the car” doesn’t really reveal anything or provide any interest at all for me.
   1. 

      Paul Heppler (@paulheppler)
      25th July 2018, 8:52

      Agreed, same non-answer to generic questions.
      “…sober and knowledgeable…”, – a slight on a previous interview from Sir Jackie Stewpid? or more recently Eddie Join-me? regardless, I love it.
      1. 

         Paul Heppler (@paulheppler)
         25th July 2018, 9:01

         P.S. The real reasons why Sir Jackie doesn’t do podium interviews anymore? … the bubbly stuff would wash away the hair colouring and nobody wants to see up his kilt.
   2. 

      joe pineapples
      25th July 2018, 9:53

      +1
4. 

   Pedro Andrade
   25th July 2018, 6:37

   I really dislike this new format when they get the driver just as soon as they get out of the car. It’s too much “in-your-face”, the driver hasn’t had time to cool down, to properly celebrate, and they immediately are handed a microphone and they have to smile to the camera. It’s plastic, it’s not natural, I doubt any driver enjoys that.

   Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I really liked how it was before – interview only in the press room. No interviews on the podium and definitely not straight out of the car.
   1. 

      Andrey Baydin (@minilemm)
      25th July 2018, 8:28

      Agree on this one.
      I think the drivers will also get a lot of words of wisdom from PR department on how to act in these interviews
   2. 

      Paul Heppler (@paulheppler)
      25th July 2018, 8:32

      give the drivers a little surprise and have Charlie Whiting and Ross Brawn interview them via the super SKY/F1 TV Pro. The rest of us poor folk will catch the highlights later
   3. 

      grat
      25th July 2018, 15:48

      I’m OK with the interviews on the podium– it lets the fans be relatively close during the interviews, and the drivers have had some time to cool down and return to something resembling their natural state.

      The “rush up to the driver as they’re getting out of the car” is just…. tacky. Unprofessional. Amateur.

      I doubt Ellie Norman will see this, but it’s the worst change Liberty Media has implemented so far.
5. 

   Tristan (@skipgamer)
   25th July 2018, 7:35

   Wolff with some interesting words there about the controversy generated by letting the drivers speak their mind… In a way I admire it.
   1. 

      bosyber (@bosyber)
      25th July 2018, 9:10

      And it also links interestingly with the article about the new interview procedure @skipgamer; though I think what’s missing from that piece is the realisation that if you try to catch drivers at their most ‘unguarded’, then you shouldn’t then have a lot of harsh criticism of what they say/do/don’t, because that’s just hypocrisy (or maybe ‘we need controversy’ as Wolff says it?).
      1. 

         bosyber (@bosyber)
         25th July 2018, 9:14

         For me it’s similar with some people piling on Vettel for his mistake, and his honest, devastated reaction immediately after – we should understand that here is a guy who up to that moment did everything right to win, but now his potential first win in his home country slipped away, and he’s understandably upset – great that we get to see that emotion, we should appreciate it for what it is, not laugh at him for not sucking it up and have a poker face, as he’s still a 4 time world champion who this time next year might be a 5time WDC (both Vettel and Hamilton), something none of those commenting achieved (unless Prost said something?).
6. 

   MacLeod (@macleod)
   25th July 2018, 7:46

   Hockenheim’s Formula 1 weekend attracted a crowd of 160,000 over all four days, according to the race promoters, which Wolff said was an improvement over the previous race at the track.

   You will wonder how much the Max factor was the cause?
   1. 

      bosyber (@bosyber)
      25th July 2018, 9:17

      Numbers I’ve read are some 13k Verstappen fans; but I don’t know how much more that is than two years ago; In my experience from 2016 there definitely were a lot of Verstappen fans there already; so I don’t think they are the sole reason @macleod, even if they are a sizeable factor. Ferrari & Vettel being a real championship contender might also play some role.
   2. 

      GeeMac (@geemac)
      25th July 2018, 9:28

      @macleod Judging from the amount of orange in the crowd, I’d say a lot.
      1. 

         MacLeod (@macleod)
         25th July 2018, 10:55

         A lot were also in Red Bull blue i noticed so if i must gues 15-20k atleast
7. 

   bosyber (@bosyber)
   25th July 2018, 9:31

   I guess I can see what Liberty intended with the new interview format, but I am not sure that’s what I want.
   On the one hand, when it first started, it gave us some pretty great moments, but it also immediately started out showing it’s issues (remember Coulthard moaning that Hamilton wasn’t focussed on answering questions in the stadium section of Monaco after the race – yeah, suck it up that’s the price you pay for being so quick to ask questions), and that leaves out that it usually only gives real insightful answers when the drivers aren’t exhausted or super emotional, ie. when the early moment of it doesn’t make a difference whatsoever.

   The greatest impediment to drivers saying honest, insightful and interesting things is that nowadays a controversy is easily created and never let go until it is fully milked. If more of the teams have the same view as Wolff shows in that Racer article, it can work, but it might just as easily result in Ferrari clamping up completely (as they more or less have been this past year); Kimi will still be his ‘enigmatic’ self I suppose, and Vettel could decide he might speak up anyway, but on the whole, I don’t think the format really works.

   As others above say, the camera,mic in the waiting room provides much better honest emotions and conversations between the drivers. Top that with a knowledgable and sharp/interested interviewer at the podium (no, Coulthard, Brundle seem to ask ‘save’ questions; and I do not like party numbers there too much – yes, let the drivers relax a bit, be silly, but the interviewer need not be the one to go there first).
8. 

   Joao (@johnmilk)
   25th July 2018, 11:19

   Sad news today for Ferrari. Sergio Marchionne passed away this morning.
9. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   25th July 2018, 11:23

   I can understand the reasoning behind the altered post-race interviewing format, but still, I prefer the previous format, so I wish they’d revert to that. #BringBackPodiumInterviews
   – BTW, Since Bahrain is located sort of halfway between Europe and Australia, wouldn’t it be better to hold the pre-season testing closer to the opening race as in all the testing days taking place on the two weeks that precede the Australian GP should it take place on the 17th of March rather than 24th (February 25-28th and March 5-8th), or an even better way to reduce back-and-forth travelling; Start the season there as well since all the equipment would already be in place there. Furthermore, why have they never really considered to use the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi as the venue for pre-season testing? I wish that track would be used for that particular purpose at least once for a change.
10. 

    StefMeister (@stefmeister)
    25th July 2018, 13:43

    I preferred the post race interviews been done on the podium as I think they were far more informative & interesting.

    I don’t think anything interesting has come out of doing them in parc-ferme to the point where I don’t think there even really worth watching. I don’t think we get to see any more ‘raw emotion’ or any more of an idea of how demanding it is to drive an F1 car than the way it was done before, It’s just now far less interesting.

    Doing them on the podium gave them time to process the race, Look at the results & discuss among themselves in the waiting room before going out onto the podium. This often led to more interesting moments/answers as they had a better idea of how the race had played out, Had some time for disagreements to sit & above all else you had the fans who had spilled onto the track/below the podium playing into them.

    What we have now feels Dry, Rushed, Uninformative & lack the sort of emotion (Which the crowd played into) seen in prior formats.

Comments are closed.