True, probably Moto GP is the pinnacle, WRC also takes some gumption, I guess F1 has the top title as the cars are / were so fast and dangerous.

A paid driver still has to be worth sponsoring, yes there are some better drivers but would you waste millions on sponsoring a crap driver? It doesn't do much for you or your business!

I do like that, as in MotoGP, they are going to keep their race number.

I was less upset by the double points thing maybe because I already see F1 as entertainment rather than sport

Looks like it's not only fans that think it's daft...

Finger boy unimpressed

+1

...designed to keep the championship alive after Vettel won with 3 races to spare - so I guess nobody's predicting a change next year.

Perez in at Force India - DiResta no drive....

DiResta is not bad, but not World Champion material and he doesn't come with a big wad of sponsorship cash.
Also, although people accuse other drivers of whining, wee Paul is worst of all...

I wouldn't say that - He won in DTM and in F3 where he beat Vettel... Money talks though. And he ain't the biggest whiner either!

I don't think he's made a lot of friends at Force India from what I've heard; you could argue that success in lower formulae wrote expectation cheques that his performances in F1 have failed to cash.
Either way, he was never going to get a seat with the top 4 teams and why hang around at the back of the grid? I think he has a good chance of succeeding in the US or maybe following Webber into Porsches.

The BBC has released it's TV schedule for next year. No surprises, but they have also not announced any changes to their presenting lineup either, which means being subjected to more excruciating Suzy Perry bumbling. It's got to the point where I have to actually stick her on mute when watching live coverage and record the highlights to watch later, just so I can fast forward when she's on screen. She is just awful and seemed to actually get worse as the season went on.

Come back James Allen, all is forgiven

I didn't catch ANY F1 last season, despite being somewhat of a fan.

What was the usually delectable Suzy Perry doing to annoy the viewers?

Still, on the bright side, at least we'll get David Coulthard's awesome gridwalk skills...

You cant beat Martin's gridwalk and Teds note book on sky F1 and not forgetting the very sexy Natalie Pinkham

Have to say Suzy Perry is not making F1 coverage on BBC that enticing. Too much faffing about and not much substance.
Only nine races live on BBC next year so looks like my sat box will be tuned into RTL next year.

Indeed - Point Proven

F1 seems to be doing all it can to destroy itself. Clearly the sponsorship is drying up and that should be a huge warning sign that things aren't good. F1 is supposed to be the cutting edge of motorsport, a place where technology makes a debut before filtering down to the road car.

The problem is that almost ALL motor manufacturers are currently developing Electric vehicles. Cities around the world are significantly curbing exhaust emissions and offering benefits to Zero (At point of use) emission vehicles. It seems electric vehicle are the way forward and F1 is currently out of step with this element of motor vehicle technology. This could also be why teams can't secure sponsorship deals and why a top team needs to take paying drivers?

A few weeks ago Jim posted about Formula E. The whole thing is still in its infancy but perhaps this is where the smart motorsport investment opportunities for sponsors will be in the future? Manufacturers are making electric vehicles so where better to invest. The market is growing and there is room for significant technology development in batteries, motors and efficiency. Such a growing market would be ripe for investment and its environmental credentials are a bonus too, as are city centre race tracks.

Formula E is already looking like it will attract huge American interest too. There are already two American teams and just this week the Boston Celtics invested £21m in the series. For me the most interesting aspect is the fact the Formula E organisers say they are not looking to compete with F1 and Indy car.

One *big* problem with electric cars is the battery technology. You basically have to take what you're given; you can't change the total stored power and you can't change the rate at which you can suck power out of them (or stuff it in) as a car developer, unless you're a major car maker at the same time.

Yes, you can play around with the control systems, but you can't 'let's try putting the exhaust *there*' to see if it improves efficiency. It's going to be a case of who's got the best aero again... (and who can keep the control electronics the coolest).

Mind you, I'll be impressed with someone that can put an electric car together that can do two hundred miles at race speeds; that will translate to two or three times that range in a road car and might make the damn things actually useful.

Hmm. Who'll make the first electric coupe?

Agree - that electric Merc SLS on TG was stunning but the range, at full chat, was still hopeless. Most battery-powered devices focus on reducing power requirement - there's a real limit to what you can do with a race car as the laws of physics tend to need to be obeyed.

I would agree that current electric car technology is quite poor and needs significant development. Perhaps though a racing series will assist those seeking the finances required to undertake that development? The aero package will still be significant in the electric cars but if the rules are good the balance between down force and drag could be far more a factor than it currently seems to be.

The gap between the current F1 teams is a joke. The rules brought in on funding limits, tyres, Kers & testing bans were all supposed to bring the field closer together. They have not really worked though and have resulted in one team / driver dominating the sport year on year. The Williams and then Ferrari dominant years were bad but at least during those years reliability played a part. Teams pushed boundaries to try and get faster and as a result they suffered failures. The current rules don't allow for significant in season development or testing. Any improvements to a car are minimal at best and there is little place for innovation.

Any NEW team now can't get anywhere near the top because they can't bring something NEW to the party. In the "Good Old Days" teams could innovate, yes it made for some mad cars and yes it could be a little less safe, but at least it was interesting.

All the "NEW" rules for the 2014 F1 season seem to be just tinkering. None of them will enable the lower teams to compete so the yawn fest will, I'm sure, continue.

The budget restriction rules do not work because the top running teams have better r&d facilities so will stay at the top. The only way to get ahead in F1 is to spend money, althiugh it does not always work (toyota). Restrict that and the teams already with teh tech will prosper and those at the bottom will get pay drivers. Bloody madness. Let them have free reign to cash ad come what may. F1 is capitalistic in the extreme to restrict at that level of motor sport is madness

Jesus, where do I begin? To sum it up, her knowledge of F1 is non-existent. She knows nothing about the drivers and even less about the sport technically and politically. Her lack of knowledge is painfully obvious when she asks DC the most stupidest questions and DC looks almost embarrassed when answering them. During live broadcasts she bumbles along, umming and erring, desperately trying to feed EJ and DC points to elaborate on, but she hasn't got a clue and there is zero chemistry there. She even screws up the basics of timing links to articles and inteviews.

As the season wore on, it just got more and more painful to watch. I actually felt sorry for her, as she was clearly out of her depth. They really should have given the anchor role to Leigh Mackenzie, as she does a great job and actually knows what she's talking about.

Leigh's been my favorite to be honest. I guess there's a reason she's the one talking to the drivers. I think some would just turn their back on Suzy and run away.

Suzy's performances are just unforgivable. It was always going to be an uphill struggle to match Jake Humphrey, but it's like she gets to the circuits having done no background research at all. When a sport is as deep as F1 with millions of knowledgeable fans, her shortcomings are just glaringly obvious.

There's a double reason to turn it off when Suzy Perry appears - she's normally accompanied by Eddie "when I ran the Jordan F1 Team" Jordan.

I'm somewhat disappointed to be missing Sky F1 coverage next year for the reasons above. I much prefer the Sky team - MB in particular - but with 4 ex-drivers, the discussion is more educated. EJ irritates me

I think I've grown accustomed to EJ, because Suzy Perry is so bad - everything is relative.

There is a F1 review of the year on BBC today - 13:15.

An alternative look towards the 2014 season, courtesy of uber F1 journalist Maurice Hamilton.

For anyone interested in Formula E, take a look at this youTube vid.. It really shows just how much of the drama of a racing car (expecially F1) is due to the noise. Seeing a Formula E car do doughnuts is almost embarassingly boring and makes me think that you might was well be watching a G-Whizz do wheelies instead for all of the entertainment it imparts.

Although sound is an extremely evocative medium, I'm surprised that you would knock something like Formula E on that basis, Dennis. There are going to be profound changes in how we use energy for transport and fun - the very existence of the term petrolhead could die out in our kids' generation. I am just pleased and excited that something this high profile is happening to show that there might be a future for motorsport even when we can't afford fossil fuels. I'm not naive enough to think that Formula E is the only way forward or that it isn't significantly based on marketing hype and the chance to earn a quick buck out of being "green". But I really hope it delivers exciting racing and maybe recruits some new fans to racing. If the price is a poorer soundtrack, I'll pay it.