Mon 24 Sep 2007
While I’m on the subject of F1 in the media, the written press shouldn’t get off without a mention either.
Newspaper coverage is usually confined to a page at most after each race, but the current situation has allowed them to print a whole lot more - the usual sensationalist stuff which has only a rare semblence to fact. But they are the tabloids and that’s what they do so we can’t blame them for that.
Given that I like to get the lowdown on the ins and outs of the sport, I always eagerly await the next issue of F1 Racing magazine. The issue will be read from cover to cover and all devoured in a day or two.
Or that’s how it used to be at least.
Lately, however I’ve found less and less inside that has been worthy of reading. I’ve always found it informative, interesting and above all else very well written and puctuated with excellent photography. The last issue however included a piece on Ralf Schumacher that I know I’m not alone in thinking was out of order.
A magazine such as this should inform it’s readership of what is happening - if Ralf is a little abrupt at a photoshoot, then by all means mention it. Give us the facts and let us decide whether we think Ralf is a nice guy or not - the editor of a magazine has no right to enforce his opinion on me or his other readers.
This month’s issue dropped through the letterbox at the weekend and as usual, I’ve been through it from cover to cover. But unusually, I’ve not read everything in between - and much of what I did read lacked any appeal for me.
So what has changed? Is it me, or the magazine?
Personally I think it’s the magazine - but then I would say that wouldn’t I! This championship is supposedly the best for years (so F1 Racing say themselves) so why is most of the magazine devoted to features on how tyres work, interviews with Mark Webber (the main point being he is from Australia) and Nick Heidfeld (the main point being he has a beard, like the guy interviewing him), and just a few pages on Alonso, Raikkonen and Massa?
The timing of the McLaren hearing last week probaby wasn’t very kind to the writers as much of this issue would have had to be sent to print prior to hearing the verdict. There are a few pages on the story though and these are an interesting read even though we have heard pretty much all of it before elsewhere. Given that the date was known for a while, surely they should have been focussed elsewhere and concentrated on giving more of the magazine over to the drivers side of things?
The cover is one of the worst ever, featuring the 4 championship contenders in boxer’s poses - Alonso and Raikkonen in particular looking like they have acheived these poses through Photoshop rather than in real life. The cover promises the full story of the race for the title, but inside the stories simply don’t deliver.
This is the final issue before the season finishes so I was really looking forward to it arriving and instead I’ve been left really disappointed.
With the close season coming up it would seem like the perfect time to cancel my subscription - I could understand why those issues may be a bit thinner and duller than usual, but at this time of year it’s an absolute disgrace.
They claim to be “The World’s Best Selling Grand Prix Magazine”, but to be fair there’s not much competition - perhaps that’s half the trouble…
September 24th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
You would never believe it, but I have been thinking the exact same thing myself! F1 Racing is near-enough an essential read, but it is becoming sillier and sillier.
The Ralf Schumacher piece was, as you say, unnecessary, petty and unprofessional. “The world’s best-selling grand prix magazine” is not the place for Matt Bishop to be writing personal rants.
This month’s Photoshopped cover looks absolutely ridiculous. It’s embarrassing that F1 Racing feels the need to do this sort of thing; dumbing it down to a crass and uncomfortable boxing analogy, making the drives strike poses that they never would in real life.
This cartoon-like Photoshopping is not on really. I first noticed it when they gave Michael Schumacher a zip in place of his mouth some time last year. I thought it was clever, but I also felt uneasy about it. It belonged on the inside, but not on the cover surely.
I am considering switching to Autosport. But since Autosport is a weekly, I am guessing it will be more expensive and will take more time overall to read.
September 24th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Great minds think alike and all that! Glad to see I’m not alone in my thinking at least, which makes a change
There’s simply not another magazine out there that devotes itself solely to F1 - as far as I know anyway. Autosport can be a good read on the occasions that I buy it, but it’s coverage is spread over so many different facets of motorsport that it simply cannot cover F1 like F1 Racing did - and should still be doing.
If the whole Lewis-mania debacle has one positive outcome, please let it be that another publishing house now sees the potential to tap into the F1 market and release another, better, F1 monthly magazine.
Either that or let “The Bish” as he seems to like to be known, see the error of his ways and resign - which seems as likely as James Allen hanging up his microphone!
At the moment I read F1 Racing becase it’s the only one around - exactly the same reason why I watch the races on ITV in fact!
Come on people, give us more choice!
September 24th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
I gave up buying F1Racing just before the start of this season - after ten full years (I have 121 issues, 120 of them consecutive!)
To be honest I found the articles getting less and less interesting - usually only one or two an issue that were really worthwhile.
I used to buy Autosport the odd time, but since I’m in Ireland it was rare I had the issue before the race it previewed, which was a bit pointless.
Only subscribe to online mags now - autosport.com, GP+ and racefax.com.
September 24th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
I think Don said a mouthful there - the internet may be where we’ll get our info on F1 in future. To survive, the magazines will have to produce more in-depth and technical articles, the kind of stuff that most people won’t read online.
I used to love Autosport magazine - there was nothing to beat it for F1 info, plus you had other motorsports thrown in and could keep an eye on new talent coming up through the lower formulae as a result. But I’m told it’s gone downhill since then, which is a shame.
September 25th, 2007 at 9:41 am
I was actually thinking yesterday when I wrote that post that part of the problem may be that I now read so much more about F1 on the internet and therefore the News section of F1 Racing may not be quite so surprising and exciting as it once was.
It was really the rest of the magazine that let me down this month though, it really was dire!
Maybe it is time to give it the boot - I’d miss the little rush of excitement when it appears through the letterbox though!
September 26th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Well the Bish is gone (from the end of year)!
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns19681.html
I think the news section has gotten smaller over the years. It certainly goes into a lot less detail than the main websites.
But it’s the quality of the features that eventually lead me to stop buying - no longer up to the standard that the likes of autosport.com produce week in week out. Last season I was really only buying it for the photos.
I suppose it’s harder to stop buying if you’re a subscriber, but since I was making the effort to go to a shop that stocked the magazine it was easier to stop. I used to subscribe, but gave up on it after a few years - far too many issues took well over a week to arrive after they were available in the shops. So it was even more out of date by the time I got to read it.
September 26th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
That has cheered me up a bit
Though obviously it depends who replaces him, and whether this leads to a total revamp of the magazine and it’s philosophies - get back to basics methinks.
Us British subscribers are pretty lucky in that we get the magazine before it’s even in the shops so can’t really complain about that side of things.
So Bishop is off to McLaren - some of F1 Racing’s copy on Hamilton has read a bit like a McLaren press release anyway so he should get on well in their Communications department…
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