Grand Prix Fizzer

It's the first round of the 2016 Formula One world championship this Sunday-the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.But here in Australia unless you are paying a lot of attention you would not know. One TV channel -Ten-is broadcasting it. None of the other channels except the public broadcasting ABC are mentioning it.The daily press -print and digital- are hardly mentioning it. Australia has lost interest. Which is hardly surprising when Formula One supremo,Bernie Ecclestone,says that it is terrible see BERNIE"S WHINGE
The reasons for this lack of interest are not hard to find.

• Going to Melbourne for the Grand Prix is ridiculously expensive.The admission and grandstand seat prices are extortionate. Food is expensive.The hotels are expensive.
• The racing is boring.Overtaking is rare.Mercedes dominate.Unless they have a technical problem-which is rare-they are almost certain to win.
• The rules are almost incomprehensible.They are designed to enliven the racing.They fail to do this. They just seem to be what they are -contrived.The tyre rules are particularly silly.
• The cars are slow-by historical standards.
• The cars are quiet-again by historical standards.
• The cars are ugly.
• Most of the drivers are overpaid prima donnas.People just cannot relate to most of them and some behave like complete prats.
• The whole Formula One show comes across as an overindulgent greedfest the primary purpose of which is to make some people even richer than they already are. It is a circus with too many clowns and no high wire act.

It is a real shame because Formula One used to be fantastic and the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide and even in the early years in Melbourne was a fantastic event.But as so often happens money/greed has ruined the show.
I cannot see the Melbourne Aussie Grand Prix lasting.Surely the tax payers in the state of Victoria where Melbourne is located are going to jack up at the cost soon.It will surely go the way of the Indian and Korean Grand Prix unless a miracle happens and the Formula One rights holders come to their senses and gives the punters a real spectacle again.
The Melbourne Grand Prix organisers will of course have none of this.They will again spin the attendance figures and talk about record numbers and produce dubious economic modelling to prove the massive benefit to the local economy but they would say that wouldn't they?