F1: Bernie Ecclestone's great betrayal?

“Sky have been trying to buy the TV rights from us for a long time, but we won’t because they are not free-to-air broadcasters. With their viewing figures it would be almost impossible for teams to find sponsors. That would be suicidal.” - Bernie Ecclestone, May 2011.

Fast forward two months. 90% of Formula One fans are going to be forced to either pay to watch every race, or miss half of them. Bernie Ecclestone told us this wouldn't happen. He said it wouldn't make sense, the teams wouldn't like it, the fans wouldn't like it, he wouldn't like it. But here we are, faced with a choice between paying up or giving up.

Sky, the BBC and Ecclestone have agreed on a seven-year deal (2012-18) that will see Sky Sports broadcast every practice session, qualifying and race live and uninterrupted. The BBC will air just 10, including the Monaco and British Grand Prix, and the final race of each season.

Today, a customer new to Sky has to pay at least £40 a month for Sky and Sky Sports subscriptions, both of which are needed to watch every race live. Considering that on average there are two races per month, and as half are on the BBC, one of those will be free-to-air, you pay £40 for that one race each month. Such a great deal, according to Ecclestone.

Formula One is entering a dark time, it's popularity has grown and grown since the end of the Schumacher era, with the Championship battles in 2007, 2008 and 2010 going down to the final race, and 2009 being decided in the second-to-last race. 6.6 million tuned into the British Grand Prix, and over 8 million watched the rain-delayed Canadian Grand Prix. Both figures are 10-year highs. The German Grand Prix this year drew it's highest audience in 15 years, and the BBC have given that up to save money.

The BBC have done this in the name of 'cost-cutting'. This is the same BBC who sent over 400 reporters and technicians to Glastonbury Festival, the same BBC who sent 250 employees to cover a 1-day event marking one year to the 2012 Olympics. Sky, with a hundred times the budget, sent 11 people in total. The corporation pays Chris Moyles and Jeremy Clarkson £6million a year. All of this is funded by the license fee, which is used to "fund" the BBC. Most expect that to mean "paying for bringing us programs." Obviously not.

This letter appeared in a major UK Newspaper not to long ago, and sums up precisely why Formula 1 should appear on the BBC:

"What other international sport has two recent British World Champions competing in a British team? What other sport has a hi-tech support industry centred on Britain? What other sport has two thirds of the international teams choosing to base themselves in Britain?

 What other sport is the pinnacle of an industry estimated to be worth £5 billion a year to the British economy? What other sport has as many Brits in key positions in foreign-based teams? What other sports is associated with cutting-edge engineering, and is a stimulus to youngsters to enter engineering? The BBC should feel a patriotic duty to broadcast Formula One."

Fan reaction so far has been overwhelmingly negative:

"Not impressed."- Martin Brundle

"F1 on Sky is a joke! So much for the sport's own rules. If the money is there then the rules go out of the window"

"F1 has won many new fans because of the BBC F1 coverage the last few years, the new deal will loose those not prepared to pay" - Sir Stirling Moss

"I can't afford Sky TV let alone a sports package on top, unfair, I feel cheated."

"I can assure you that I won't be paying for Sky. This is awful."


"I can't afford Sky, so that will be the end of 12 years of watching Formula One."


There are rays of hope for people opposed to this deal. Some fans have raised the legality of the deal, and teams are confused over what the benefits actually are. The teams, FIA and Bernie Ecclestone have all signed the Concorde Agreement, a contract that determines the rules of the sport and how it is run. It states that Formula One should be on free-to-air TV until 2013, which was when the original BBC contract was due to expire. The deal could be in breach of that aspect of the agreement. Several people have pointed out that teams must be consulted before any new broadcasting deal is agreed. The surprised reaction from many teams suggests that this has not happened. A couple of teams have questioned the benefits of the deal. Sponsors pay for the right to advertise on the cars. They are much happier paying for sponsorship of a team in a free-to-air sport. The sport going to pay-TV means that sponsors must pay even more. Along with this hit, less people will be watching on pay-TV as not everyone can afford it, this results in sponsors paying more for less exposure. Many would simply walk away from the sport, leaving huge holes in some budgets and causing other teams to fold altogether. Teams such as Virgin, HRT and Williams rely heavily on sponsorship deals to balance their books.

F1: Brit GP raises more questions

The British Grand Prix was supposed to answer our questions. Were Red Bull unbeatable? Would the ban on off-throttle technology alter the playing field? What sort of performance would Lewis Hamilton turn in?

We got answers to some, but ultimately left with question marks surrounding relationships within Red Bull, Ferrari's sudden discovery of pace, McLaren's tactics and yet more controversy around the off-throttle technologies employed by many teams.

The race itself was another fantastic story, Sebastian Vettel looked to have his 7th victory of the year in his pocket until a shabby pitstop dropped cost him dearly. Lewis Hamilton, starting in tenth, made up 5 places in the opening 2 laps and was up to 3rd and just 7 seconds off the lead after 14 laps. He passed Webber through cunning pitstop strategy, before his tires failed him and he fell backwards, with Alonso taking a lead he would never lose.

Vettel's poor stop put him behind Hamilton who seemed to have lost the pace he had early on. The German spent 5 laps stuck behind the Brit, who defended beautifully to frustrate his rival. One sequence will linger. Vettel got the better run onto the old pit straight, sitting mere inches behind Hamilton yet struggling to decide whether to go left or right, in the end, he came mere millimetres away from a costly accident and lost his chance to overtake.

Alonso streaked to his first win of 2011 (pic: Autosport)

Jenson Button had a relatively quiet afternoon until an error in his second stop resulted in him driving off with nothing holding his left-front tire on. Retirement was not on the menu for Button, but one simple mistake was all it took.

The first of these new stories came about on Friday morning during a public press conference. McLaren's boss Martin Whitmarsh and Red Bull leader Christian Horner were asked about the reduction on off-throttle engine technology. The FIA had limited the usage of hot-blown diffusers so that only 10% of throttle gas was allowed to pass over the rear of the car. This was supposed to cover all teams, until it was discovered that the Renault engine was allowed to have 50% of throttle gas flow through the rear of the setup. This is allegedly due to the reliability needs of the Renault engine, and Red Bull, the biggest beneficiaries of the technology, claim they use cold-blown diffusers rated than the hot-blown variation used by the teams powered by Mercedes (McLaren being the biggest). McLaren contended that the Renault powered teams were getting an advantage due to the less restrictive measures on their technology. Red Bull's Christian Horner contended that their limit would result in the same performance loss as the limit on the McLaren cars.

Make up your own mind, this row is set to rumble on and on.

Next up on the controversy desk today is the atmosphere inside the Red Bull camp. Sebastian Vettel led Mark Webber from the first corner onwards, and was never troubled by the Aussie. In the final 2 laps however, Vettel slowed and Webber closed right up to put pressure on his team-mate. At one stage the pair were side-by-side approaching Copse corner.

Now, it is Inside Sports' view that Vettel should have let his faster team-mate through given his 77-point lead in the championship standings. The team sent out a radio message ordering Mark to stand down and not overtake, a request that did not sit well with the Australian: "I'm not okay with it, no. I ignored and battled to the end."

A division opened between the two Red Bull drivers after last year's Turkish and British Grand Prix, and boss Christian Horner did little more than stoke the fire when he said that he couldn't let his drivers fight because "we all know how that would end."

A glowing reinforcement of Mark's overtaking abilities there then.

If anything, today proved that with the right strategy and environment, Sebastian Vettel can be beaten, and he may well need to count on his team-mate to act as a rear gunner in later races. He can little afford to alienate his colleague if he has designs on back-to-back championships.Webber is the only other man with a car that is a match for Vettel.

The title race may be being dominated by one driver, the on- and off-track action has been more enthralling than ever.

Silly season round-up

It's been 7 weeks since the end of the football season. Not long. Already it seems some teams have entered some sort of withdrawal-induced meltdown, with several strange, outlandish and just plain dumb transfer requests and rumours

Without further ado, let's get down to the business end of my first silly season round-up.

Signing of the week: Manchester United finally completed a widely expected signing of young Spanish goalkeeper David De Gea. A star of the future, De Gea will have to face the tough task of filling the gloves left empty by retiring legend Edwin Van Der Sar. The big Dutchman was consistently brilliant during his time at Old Trafford. De Gea's former coach when he was at Atletico Madrid says of the 20-year old that "he has shown that he is a winner and someone who can handle big finals." Only time will tell if Sir Alex Ferguson has correctly chosen the successor for Van Der Sar in a player with fewer than 100 first-team appearances.

Just getting started: Gossip coming from Merseyside claims that Liverpool's management and Raul Merieles are not the best of friends any more. The Portuguese midfielder provided much-needed energy and attacking intent when captain Steven Gerrard was injured. He was so willing to make his name in England that he took a large pay cut to join 'Pool on the condition that his wages for next year would increase if he played well. Merieles saved Liverpool this season. He scored several vital goals just after Kenny Dalglish took over that stabilized a club staring at a relegation battle. He fully deserves a pay increase, the club do not want to give him one and actually want rid of him. According to various sources, Liverpool are looking to make some money for their pursuits of Aston Villa's Stewart Downing and Charlie Adam of Blackpool, two players that together could replace Merieles.


Please go away: I'm tired of hearing about Cesc Fabregas. Barcelona want him, Cesc wants to go, Arsenal have said they could use the cash. Yet he remains in London. Barcelona gave an offer of £35 million last summer, and seriously reduced it to £27 million this year thanks to "wear and tear" gathered in the meantime. I wish this would all go away because, quite simply, we know how this ends. We've seen it before. A team holds onto their man as his value goes down because they believe they can force a better price. Eventually though, the team ends up accepting an offer well below the starting price and after wall-to-wall press coverage, the regular fan cannot stand the player any longer. Fabregas must be wishing for an easy divorce, for at the minute, the fans still love him. If he continues to push and push then he puts himself in danger of joining other players in being despised by fans of former teams. Take Wayne Rooney and Everton. Carlos Tevez with Manchester United, and a while back, Eric Cantona joining United from Leeds. For Arsenal's sake, and for Fabregas' legacy here, let's hope this ends peacefully.

Biggest winners: Sunderland, without a doubt. The Black Cats landed Craig Gardner for £5 million from Birmingham, have also signed Ipswich's teen sensation Connor Wickham for £8 million (from the palm of Liverpool's hand) and are also in talks with Man United's Wes Brown. Sunderland also managed to secure the services of Korean striker Ji-Dong Won, who wants to be in the first team "within 6 months". Great summer already for the team as they signal their intent to improve rather than simply maintain their position.

Biggest losers: Hard to say anyone has really lost this week, but if I had to choose, the answer is Hearts. Craig Thomson, a right-back at the Edinburgh side, was last week placed on the sex offender's register for sending "explicit images" to two underage girls. Everyone in Scotland expected the player to be instantly sacked, but this was not the case in a week to forget for the club. Hearts first said that he would be staying on, which was questionable, but okay if they were going to be providing support for him. Instead, they seemed to claim he was somehow the victim in all of this. Failure number two was a letter, apparently written by owner Vladimir Romanov, that claimed that Hearts had been "battling for seven years" to protect the club from corrupt influences including the Mafia. He also said that Hearts' performances in the final 12 games of the season were affected by corrupt officials and players. He also accused the SPL and referees of blocking Hearts out of the title race. A bad week indeed.

Wimbledon: Murray breezes first round

There can't have been many matches where the winner has lost the 1st set only to go on and win 2 of the next three 6-0, 6-0. Andy Murray became (possibly) the first on that list with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 victory over world No56 Daniel Gimeno-Traver in their first-round matchup at this year's Wimbledon tournament.

The Andy Murray on display in the opening set was not the one we saw two weeks ago at Queen's Club that made Andy Roddick look like an amateur. He looked cautious, slightly rusty and couldn't make an impact on Gimeno-Traver's serve - the Spaniard holding his own comfortably and asking plenty of questions on Murray's slow second serve, hammering his forehands for multiple winners. The breakthrough came in the 9th game of the set, tied at 4-4 when Gimeno-Traver converted one of his three break-points to take full control of the first set. He went on to close it out with little in the form of a comeback from the Scot.

The second set began in the same fashion until the players reached 3-3, Murray served to lead 4-3 before breaking serve for the first time and leveling the match at 1-1 after a simple hold of serve.

The opening game of the 3rd set signaled the beginning of the end for Gimeno-Traver. Murray needed 3 break points to get where he wanted to go, but finally began dominating the match the way he should have been. The wheels were well and truly falling off the Spaniard's challenge when he fell 4-0 down and practically gave up the set 6-0.

The trainer made a quick visit as the players enjoyed an extended rest between the final two sets. There was always the risk that Gimeno-Traver would have lost his focus after quitting the previous set. The fears proved true as he was broken again in the opening game. Murray began playing some of his most beautiful tennis, every drop shot and lob was finding it's mark as the world No4 completed another 6-0 trouncing to serve up a "double-bagel" to the downhearted Spaniard.

Golf: Rory McIlroy leading US Open

After that meltdown at the Masters a few weeks ago, Rory McIlroy has found the perfect reply.

McIlroy's reaction after sinking a 113-yard
chip to move him to -11 for the tournament.

Having played through 2 rounds at Congressional Country Club, the young Northern Irishman has built a lead the size of which hasn't been seen since Tiger Woods destroyed the field at Pebble Beach US Open in 2000. After his first 36 holes, McIlroy had dropped just 2 shots to lead at 11 under par. If it were not for a double-bogey on the tricky 18th, he would have set an all-time record -13 for an 10 shot lead.

As it stands, Rory leads by some 8 shots over Heath Slocum and Y.E. Yang. It's hard to call them the leaders of the chasing pack because the pack are chasing something that's been in a different universe over the past two days.

It started off as a confident, assured performance. Then it turned into one of the best rounds of his life followed by becoming something crafted by the golfing gods as McIlroy chipped in a 113-yard from the 8th fairway. He continued the staggering performance by picking up a further 2 shots to move to an historic -13. The last player to get to -12 was Woods in '00 and he went on to win that US Open by some 15 strokes. Had he not dropped two shots on the final hole of the day we may as well begin carving his name into the famous trophy.

Many will remember McIlroy's incredible disintegration which was amazing as his play at CCC. Leading by 4 shots going into the final 9 holes of the tournament, McIlroy went on to drop 10 shots to card an 8-over-par 80 on the final day to finish some 10 shots off the eventual winner. It was an awe-inspiring display of how not to close out a tournament that included a triple-bogey at the 10th and a double-bogey at the 12th. If he contrives to throw away this tournament from this position, we can say of future repeats: "He's done a McIlroy."

For Rory's sake, hope he can hang on.

Dallas Mavericks win 2011 NBA Championship

Today is Dallas' day in the sun.

I could write page after page on why the Heat lost or why they did not deserve this title, but that is a story for another day.

With one final swish, the Dallas Mavericks did what everyone wanted them to do. They scored those final two points to seal a 105-95 Game 6 victory over the Miami Heat that gave them their first-ever NBA Championship, winning the deciding best-of-seven series 4 games to 2.

There hardly was a team that deserved this Title more than the Mavericks. Written off time and time again at every stage of the Playoffs and for every reason imaginable, they came up with the minor upset and finally collected the one missing piece of jewelry from 11 consecutive Playoff appearances.

The Heat came into this game on the back of a tidal wave of question marks. Could their best player, Lebron James, ind his 4th-quarter form? (averaging just 2 points per 4th Q), Did Dwyane Wade have enough in the tank to get his team two more wins. Dallas came in on the back of 2 moral boosting victories in Games 4 & 5. To say Dallas were the better team by far would be a lie. This series had 4 games decided by 4 points or less. The other two, both won by Dallas by 9 and 12 points respectively, were close for 46 minutes before being blown open late.

The Mavericks proved that Miami's strategy of getting 3 superstars is not the only way to build a title-winning outfit. Built around perennial All-Star Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavs assembled a supporting cast that complemented the playing style of the German giant. With Jason Kidd at 38 years old running Point Guard dishing out the toughest off passes, Shawn Marion bringing down several key rebounds in every single game of the series. Jason Terry was my difference maker in these Finals, he had 27 points off the bench in Game 6 to lead all scorers in the final duel. Tyson Chandler played one of his best games as a Maverick at Center, fighting for every single rebound and lost cause, he had back-to-back offensive rebounds late in the final period that effectively sent the title to the Texan team.

But special mention must go to the winner of the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award. Dirk Nowitzki. The Dallas forward, constantly belittled due to his lack of a championship ring, can see his critics silenced forever. Several times in this series he pulled off the impossible, sparking and finishing several Maverick comebacks in each series of the Playoffs. On Sunday night, with a 1-10 first quarter and a 1-13 first half for a measly 3 points, it looked like the game could head for a decisive seventh game as the Mavs' main closer was not firing on all cylinders. 11 points in three quarters were all he managed.

Then the 4th quarter began and the switch was flipped. Nowitzki scored 10 in the final period as James and Wade combined for just 11. Two of the best players in the league, failing to deliver on their promise of a title.

In those final few minutes when it became clear that Miami were on the ropes, they transformed back into the team that started 9-8 and lost 5 straight. The players looked lost, out of sync on both ends of the court and all trying to do their own thing. When they should have been driving to the basket to get either a lay-up or at least 2 free-throws (the Mavericks were over the 4-foul per quarter limit), they shot contested, unbalanced three-pointers with 20 seconds left on the shot-clock.

The presentation of the famous Larry O'Brien trophy to the winning team was made more sentimental than celebratory this year as current Mavs owner Mark Cuban invited the original owner Don Carter and his wife to lift the trophy, ending the chase that for Carter, started with a $10 million dream in 1980. Dallas has had to endure the best and worst of times as a sports city. The Mavs posted a franchise-worst 11-71 record in 1993, followed up with a 13-69 the following season. When Mark Cuban rolled up and began pumping money in, many objected. But the nature of the players on this team - hard-working, honest and easy to like - made it easy to root for them to get the championship their investment and owner deserved.

Here's to Dallas.

NBA Finals Special: Dallas and Miami level at 2-2

Dirk Nowitzki, with a sky-high temperature thanks to a raging fever, turned to face the basket with 18 seconds to play, the game tied. He drove to the right, flipped the ball up right-handed and watched it roll in off the backboard. 14.4 seconds later, the Dallas Mavericks had come from 9 points behind late in the 4th quarter to pull level in their NBA Finals showdown with the Miami Heat.

Where did he go? Lebron James' disappointing
performance costs Miami vital win.

While Nowitzki's heroics and the Mavericks second comeback in 3 games will grab many headlines, the real story behind the Mavs' win (and the Heat's loss) is the disappearance of Lebron James.

8 points. In 89 Playoff games, Lebron has not scored as few points as he did in last night's game. It's been 434 matches since he had such a poor performance. In games that Lebron scores 15 or less, his teams have gone 0-8. He had just 4 points in the first half and attempted 1 shot in the 4th quarter, previously known as Lebron James' personal scoring time. It's harsh to pin this loss on James, Miami had 7 fourth-quarter turnovers after having 0 in the third. Wade committed a cardinal sin in fumbling the inbounds pass on the final possession of the game. What James did wrong, however, was allowed his poor offense to affect his normally stellar defense. He appeared lazy and dare I say it, uninterested. Effectively reducing the Heat to a beatable team.

What can be said for certain is that Lebron will come back big time in Game 5 on Thursday night. He's too good a player to let a game like this go unanswered. What makes the difference in this case is that Dallas have game-planned for James, their defense has played him as good as any in the league this year, allowing him just 9 points in the three 4th quarters before Tuesday night. It comes down to his will. We've seen him simply drag the Heat to wins, most recently in the Chicago series where Wade took the back seat. The flip side of James is seen in his games for the Cavaliers against Boston, the famous LeQuit game which turned out to be his final game for Cleveland.

At 2-2, the schedule favors the Heat with 2 of the next 3 in Miami. However, the momentum lies 100% in the hands of the Mavericks. Their offense was in-sync, their defense rivaled Miami's and their bench finally showed up and it was evident. The Heat did not play exceptionally bad through 3 quarters. Very few turnovers, average shooting and very good offensive rebounds. They were even leading by 4 going into the 4th quarter. It was those 7 turnovers and 14 points that killed their chances of taking a commanding lead.

Now, they must return to Dallas again on Thursday night, battle the momentum and pray that the leagues-best-player version of Lebron James shows face on the court.