{"id":12275,"date":"2011-11-13T11:07:14","date_gmt":"2011-11-13T07:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=12275"},"modified":"2011-11-30T10:36:01","modified_gmt":"2011-11-30T06:36:01","slug":"the-formula-1-con-trick-there-are-alternatives-abu-dhabi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/middle-east-sports-news-and-analysis\/the-formula-1-con-trick-there-are-alternatives-abu-dhabi\/","title":{"rendered":"The Formula 1 Con Trick: There are Alternatives…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Sufferers, sorry, spectators at this week\u2019s Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix may or may not have pricked up their ears at the startling facts that have emerged from a German court this week. \u00a0 The Ringleader of the F1 Circus, Bernie Ecclestone was giving evidence in the fraud trial of a German lawyer. During questioning he revealed that his wife had hidden the cost of their daughter\u2019s wedding from him \u2013 no crime there \u2013 but that the actual cost of the be-blinged nuptials was $18 million. Yes, that\u2019s no typo, I\u2019ll say it again $18 million.<\/p>\n

For the price of a three day ticket to the Abu Dhabi event \u2013 around $500 \u2013 you could have paid for half a glass of the \u2018cheaper\u2019 wine that was served to the lucky guests.\u00a0 The bride\u2019s wedding dress was a snip at $110,000 and the service was accompanied by 18 members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra who had been flown in for the occasion.<\/p>\n

So those whingers who have been complaining about the price of yacht berths in Yas Marina \u2018get with the programme\u2019,\u00a0 \u2018you\u2019re playing with the \u2018big boys\u2019 now\u2019 and \u2018if you need to know the cost you can\u2019t afford it\u2019.\u00a0 I believe those are the regular clich\u00e9s in those particular circles.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never understood the appeal of Formula 1. To me any sport that requires the spectators to take active precaution in protecting their health \u2013 industrial strength ear defenders need to be inserted to avoid permanent aural damage –\u00a0 is just plain daft.\u00a0 Rally driving, yes, souped up production cars harrying, harassing and nudging each other all over the track, yes \u2013 this is genuinely exciting sport. \u00a0 Most F1 drivers begin their infatuation with driving via karting which I can testify is a frenetic, heart stopping, physically and emotionally demanding past time.<\/p>\n

As soon as I see F1 drivers be-decked in those jump suits with their ridiculous collection of logos, though, I immediately reach for the channel changer.\u00a0 Need a cure for insomnia?\u00a0 Just run a collection of\u00a0 their post (or for that matter pre) race press conferences.\u00a0 They\u2019re not alone in their inanity \u2013 most professional sports people, particularly those from the \u2018individual\u2019 sports such as tennis or golf, define dull when speaking publicly.\u00a0 But when the current world champion Sebastian Vettel pops up on the screen grinning that farm-boy smile of his or Lewis Hamilton appears with his earnest, \u2018I take myself very seriously\u2019 expression I know I\u2019ve entered a VPZ, a Vanilla Personality Zone.<\/p>\n

The genius of Ecclestone \u2013 apart from his ability to control virtually every aspect of F1 \u2013 is that he has convinced so many people that this geeky, nerdy bore-fest is actually glamorous. He travels the world like a secular pope bestowing the \u2018grace and favour\u2019 of this ear popping pumped up Scalextric on whichever city happens to convince him that they are deserving.\u00a0 They\u2019re then obliged to invest billions in creating the infrastructure followed by yet more wads of cash marketing the event and convincing everyone that the three day yawn-a-thon \u2018generates income\u2019.\u00a0 As I said, genius.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve worked on several community based initiatives in the UAE which have actually changed the lives of thousands of people. How do I know? Because they\u2019ve written to tell us. But all have struggled financially because they\u2019re not perceived to have the \u2018wow\u2019 effect that F1 bestows.\u00a0 You could run most of these for the cost of a few berths in Yas Marina.\u00a0 Or for the cost of Britney Spears\u2019 hospitality during her very brief time in the Emirates. Or for the cost of a single Formula 1 car.\u00a0 Worth thinking about, perhaps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JAMES MULLAN: It’s F1 week in Abu Dhabi and don’t we know it. Everywhere you look the hype is louder than the F1 engines for the 3-day bore-fest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,173,482,7,187],"tags":[202,1732,925,18316,162],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12275"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}