Bleacher Report - Articles by Sue Ratcliffe

What's Happening with the BBC's F1 Coverage?

Sue Ratcliffe — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 13:54:47 -0400

Has anyone heard anything at all about the BBC F1 coverage? I would have expected some build-up by now at the very least and a season preview show introducing the presenters, commentators and so on must surely be planned?

Apart from the announcement that Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain" was being dug up for the new season, I haven't heard a thing. On that subject, am I alone in thinking it would have been good to have something new?

The Chain was brilliant in its day but the BBC have an excellent opportunity to find something that will be relevant to today and to all the new F1 fans that weren't even born when the BBC last covered F1. Okay, it is just me.

All along, I have had the feeling that the BBC aren't committed to providing as good a show as we have come to expect from ITV (I know, I know, but adverts and James Allen aside, there wasn't very much wrong with ITV's coverage, was there?).

I hope it's just that I have just been out of touch and everyone else is aware of their plans for the race coverage, and if that is so please let me know because it's only three weeks, yes, three weeks until Melbourne and I can't wait. Was I screeching there? Sorry.

It has been a very long winter for us F1 fans and now we can almost smell the fumes from the cars as they line up on the grid. We need something to feed our addiction and we need it now. So, come on BBC, where are you?

Formula One: What's Happening at Honda?

Sue Ratcliffe — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 06:53:01 -0500

I have just been watching the video of the launch of the RA108 last year. Everyone seemed so full of optimism, and it was to be a new beginning for the team with so much promise and so little reward.

Now here we are, more than a year on, and by now we should have seen the launch of the RA109, or whatever its name was to be.

Instead we are left waiting for any news that the team will even make the grid next month.

I am not a patient person, and although I have been scouring the media all through the winter for some news, any news, that will reassure me that the team has been able to find a buyer, there really hasn't been anything positive at all coming out of Brackley. And it's killing me.

I would love to believe that behind the scenes a deal is being brokered and that any day now an announcement will be made that a solution has been found, but realistically I don't think that is the case.

If Dave Richards is too nervous to commit to buying the team, which some would say is rightly his anyway, who else is going to do so?

I can understand that if indeed a deal is being thrashed out it would not be announced before every last piece of paper has been signed, and that those in the know would be quite happy to break the news at the last possible moment, but spare a thought for us fans.

It's been a long winter, and Melbourne seems a long way away. Please don't make us wait until then to find out if we should be mourning the end of the dream or celebrating the beginning of a new era for an outfit that surely deserves another chance.

Honda: The End of the Dream

Sue Ratcliffe — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:59:21 -0500

Like most F1 fans, I guess, I was in shock yesterday at the news that Honda had put their F1 team up for sale.

I only started to support Honda this time last year when Ross Brawn joined as Team Principal, having been a fan of his for many years when he was at Ferrari, but in that short time, I have come to love the team and admired their spirit and dogged determination.

The very necessary decision to focus on 2009 must have been difficult for the team to accept, but they kept their composure through the toughest of seasons for the promise of better things to come.

It seemed so near, only 16 weeks away until the season opener in Melbourne. The work that had been done was to be rewarded with a respectable season in 2009, and greater success the following year, and I don't doubt that is how it would have been. I had total faith in Ross's abilities to galvanise the team and produce a race-winning car.

And now the dream has come crashing down. What a bitter blow. We have heard of interest being shown by not one, but three organisations, but in today's uncertain world what are the chances of a potential buyer putting a deal together to satisfy the needs of a very expensive operation?

And what of Ross himself?

He thought long and hard about returning to F1 after his sabbatical and his decision to lead Honda seemed so right for him, and for the team that so desperately needed the strong leadership and huge experience he brought with him.

I am afraid that this blow to his ambition to lead a team himself, out from under the shadow of Ferrari, will make him turn his back on F1 for good this time.

The sport needs a man with his experience and passion, and it would be a very sad day indeed if F1 were to lose him.

Whatever the future holds for Ross and for Honda, I am sure all their fans will join me in thanking them for the pleasure they have given us in the past, and a heartfelt wish to see them on the grid at Melbourne.