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Gordon Howard
Budapest - A shock new TV deal for Formula 1 in Britain and a heavily revised new-look, 20-race calendar for 2012 have caused a major stir in the paddock ahead of the 2011 Hungarian GP.
The unexpected announcements left many paddock observers flabbergasted and several team leaders intent on calling a meeting with F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone.
McLaren team chief Martin Whitmarsh said: "It's an interesting proposal but we need to discuss the whole thing and be given a lot more detail. I'm sure we will be meeting to talk it through with Bernie."
OUTRAGED AND UPSET
Ecclestone's announcement made clear that for the first time in the modern era the sport would not be entirely available to a free-to-air broadcaster. His plan is for coverage of all the F1 races in 2012 and beyond to be shared between the BBC and Sky, a move that will see Sky offering all the races on its subscription channels and the BBC broadcasting only half of the races.
The plan has generated outrage among the sport's fans, upset that they will no longer be able to see F1 on free TV.
Whitmarsh added: "As I understand it, the BBC is covering half the races and Sky every practice session and everything else. It's interesting. I don't think anyone should be immediately reacting to say this is good, bad, or indifferent.
"What we need to understand is whether the large audience we currently enjoy will be maintained. I think we also need to understand exactly how this is being done."
He added that a move to take F1 off free-to-air could be viewed as a breach of the sport's binding Concorde Agreement, claiming that there were clauses in the deal that tie the teams, Ecclestone and the FIA together to guarantee the sport's broadcast platform.
OZ BACK TO FRONT
"We have a range of safeguards within the concorde and the right thing to do is to explore how F1 coverage will be dealt with and take a view from there."
In a separate development, the proposed 2012 calendar was revealed on Friday with Australia re-installed as the opening race instead of Bahrain whose 2011 race was cancelled for fear of civil unrest. The event stays, but later in the season to run in tandem with the nearby Abu Dhabi GP.
The calendar also proposes the return of a US race at Austin in Texas in late November before the season-ending Brazilian GP.
The calendar also confirms India's GP for a second year (thought this year's first has not yet been run) and the dropping of the Turkish event in Istanbul. There will be only eight races in Europe.
THE PROPOSED 2012 CALENDAR
March 18 - Australia
March 25 - Malaysia
April 8 - China
April 22 - India
May 13 - Spain
May 27 - Monaco
June 10 - Canada
June 24 - Europe
July 8 - Britain
July 22 - Germany
July 29 - Hungary
Sept 2 - Belgium
Sept 9 - Italy
Sept 23 - Singapore
Oct 7 - Japan
Oct 14 - Korea
Oct 28 - Abu Dhabi
Nov 4 - Bahrain
Nov 18 - United States
Nov 25 - Brazil
Budapest - A shock new TV deal for Formula 1 in Britain and a heavily revised new-look, 20-race calendar for 2012 have caused a major stir in the paddock ahead of the 2011 Hungarian GP.
The unexpected announcements left many paddock observers flabbergasted and several team leaders intent on calling a meeting with F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone.
McLaren team chief Martin Whitmarsh said: "It's an interesting proposal but we need to discuss the whole thing and be given a lot more detail. I'm sure we will be meeting to talk it through with Bernie."
OUTRAGED AND UPSET
Ecclestone's announcement made clear that for the first time in the modern era the sport would not be entirely available to a free-to-air broadcaster. His plan is for coverage of all the F1 races in 2012 and beyond to be shared between the BBC and Sky, a move that will see Sky offering all the races on its subscription channels and the BBC broadcasting only half of the races.
The plan has generated outrage among the sport's fans, upset that they will no longer be able to see F1 on free TV.
Whitmarsh added: "As I understand it, the BBC is covering half the races and Sky every practice session and everything else. It's interesting. I don't think anyone should be immediately reacting to say this is good, bad, or indifferent.
"What we need to understand is whether the large audience we currently enjoy will be maintained. I think we also need to understand exactly how this is being done."
He added that a move to take F1 off free-to-air could be viewed as a breach of the sport's binding Concorde Agreement, claiming that there were clauses in the deal that tie the teams, Ecclestone and the FIA together to guarantee the sport's broadcast platform.
OZ BACK TO FRONT
"We have a range of safeguards within the concorde and the right thing to do is to explore how F1 coverage will be dealt with and take a view from there."
In a separate development, the proposed 2012 calendar was revealed on Friday with Australia re-installed as the opening race instead of Bahrain whose 2011 race was cancelled for fear of civil unrest. The event stays, but later in the season to run in tandem with the nearby Abu Dhabi GP.
The calendar also proposes the return of a US race at Austin in Texas in late November before the season-ending Brazilian GP.
The calendar also confirms India's GP for a second year (thought this year's first has not yet been run) and the dropping of the Turkish event in Istanbul. There will be only eight races in Europe.
THE PROPOSED 2012 CALENDAR
March 18 - Australia
March 25 - Malaysia
April 8 - China
April 22 - India
May 13 - Spain
May 27 - Monaco
June 10 - Canada
June 24 - Europe
July 8 - Britain
July 22 - Germany
July 29 - Hungary
Sept 2 - Belgium
Sept 9 - Italy
Sept 23 - Singapore
Oct 7 - Japan
Oct 14 - Korea
Oct 28 - Abu Dhabi
Nov 4 - Bahrain
Nov 18 - United States
Nov 25 - Brazil