Today in a meeting held at the Bahrain International Circuit, Formula 1 presented the teams and the FIA its proposals for the future of the sport from 2021 onwards.

Chase Carey, Chairman and CEO at Formula 1, said:
“Formula 1 is a sport with a rich history. We want to preserve, protect and enhance that history by unleashing F1s potential, by putting our fans at the heart of a more competitive and more exciting sport. We are driven by one desire: to create the world’s leading sporting brand. Fan- centred, commercially successful, profitable for our teams, and with technological innovation at its heart.”

Key strategic initiatives

Power units (PU)

• The PU must be cheaper, simpler, louder, have more power and reduce the necessity of grid penalties.
• It must remain road relevant, hybrid and allow manufacturers to build unique and original PU.
• New PU rules must be attractive for new entrants and Customer teams must have access to equivalent performance.

Costs

• We believe how you spend the money must be more decisive and important than how much money you spend.
• While there will be some standardised elements, car differentiation must remain a core value
• Implement a cost cap that maintains Formula 1's position as the pinnacle of motorsport with a state-of-the-art technology.

Revenues

• The new revenue distribution criteria must be more balanced, based on meritocracy of the current performance and reward success for the teams and the Commercial Rights Holder.
• F1s unique, historical franchise and value must and will still be recognised.
• Revenue support to both cars and engine suppliers.

Sporting and technical rules & regulations

• We must make cars more raceable to increase overtaking opportunities.
• Engineering technology must remain a cornerstone but driver’s skill must be the predominant factor in the performance of the car.
• The cars must and will remain different from each other and maintain performance differentiators like aerodynamics, suspensions and PU performance. However, we believe areas not relevant to fans need to be standardised.

Governance

• A simple and streamline structure between the teams, the FIA and Formula 1.

An experienced Formula 1 driver ran over a mechanic and broke his leg during the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.

The incident occured when Kimi Räikkönen made a routine pit-stop after 35 of 57 laps. The Ferrari driver stopped for a tyre change, waited for the green light, and then sped off to rejoin the race.

However, Räikkönen was given the green light before the left rear tyre had even been changed — and Ferrari mechanic Francesco Cigorini was still tending to the wheel.

In the image below, you can see the position Cigorini's leg was in (circled) when Räikkönen drove off.

Räikkönen ran over Cigorini, who immediately collapsed to the floor in pain. Cigorini suffered a fracture of the tibia and fibula in his left leg and was taken to hospital for treatment.

"What happened to our guy Francesco today at the pit-stop is very unfortunate," Räikkönen, who retired after the incident, said in an official statement on Ferrari's F1 website. "I feel sorry for him and hope he's going to be okay soon. It's always a bad thing when someone gets injured but I am sure he has the best people taking good care of him and I wish him a speedy recovery.

"As for the accident itself, all I know is that I moved when I saw the green light go on. I couldn't have possibly realised that there was an issue with the rear left wheel, then I saw someone had got hurt, and immediately, I was told to spot by the team. Unfortunately something must have gone wrong and we'll need to find out what."

Ferrari has been fined €50,000 ($61,500) by race officials for an unsafe release, according to the BBC.

ESPN LISTEN TO FANS DROP ADS FROM LIVE F1 COVERAGE

Press Release

11 April, 2018

ESPN will run all of the remaining qualifying and race telecasts of the 2018 Formula 1 season commercial-free after listening to fans after their Australian Grand Prix coverage.

ESPN joined forces with Sky Sports to deliver broadcast coverage of this year’s campaign. That deal includes every practice session, qualifying and all 21 races of the year. ESPN also broadcasts Sky Sports’ build-up show ‘On The Grid’, which it will do for every race this year.

Having listened to viewer feedback of the Australian Grand Prix coverage the decision was made to run commercial-free during qualifying and the race at the following event in Bahrain. This was met positively by race fans across America and it will be extended for the duration of the current campaign.

ESPN will continue to look at ways to improve its F1 coverage throughout the year.

“We intend to present the F1 races in this way for the balance of the 2018 season,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN executive vice president, programming & scheduling. “F1 fans are passionate and we listened to a lot of feedback from them — the fans are very informed and the feedback we received was both polite and constructive. It helped us.

“We don’t have a completely finished product but we’re very happy with the way the changes after Australia were received. We’ll continue to keep working to make it better for the fans.”

Formula 1 Heineken Chinese Grand Prix U.S. coverage presented by Mothers Polish (All times Eastern)

• Practice 1 – Thursday, April 12 09:55 PM – ESPN3
• Practice 2 – Friday, April 13 1:55 AM – ESPN3
• Practice 3 – Friday, April 13 11:00 PM – ESPNEWS
• Qualifying – Saturday, April 14 1:55 AM – ESPN2
• On the Grid – Sunday, April 15 – 1:30AM – ESPN2
• Race – Sunday, April 15 – 2:05AM – ESPN2
• Encore – Sunday April 15 – 1:00PM – ESPNEWS
• Encore – Sunday, April 15 – 09:00PM – ESPN2

https://www.grandprix247.com/2018/04...e-f1-coverage/

A sensor problem – that’s what a Ferrari investigation has found was the reason for Kimi Raikkonen being instructed to leave his pit box too early in last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, resulting in one of his mechanics suffering a broken leg.

There was an issue removing the left-rear tyre when Raikkonen boxed for the second time in Sakhir, meaning pit crew member Francesco Cigarini was unable to fit the new tyre.

However, a green light was given to signal the pit stop was complete and Raikkonen duly pulled away, knocking Cigarini to the ground. He was taken to hospital for surgery, having suffered a double leg fracture.

Ferrari were handed a €50,000 fine for the unsafe release, which came hot on the heels of Haas's double unsafe release in Australia, with Ferrari Team Principal Maurizio Arrivabene saying the team made it a priority to uncover what had happened.

“The team was hurt,” said Arrivabene. “We have a person who was injured, so it was in our interest to review the overall procedure.

“We have a procedure to ensure that the pit stops during the race are done in the most safe mode. In this case we have three factors – one involves human control, the other involves mechanical, the other involves [an] electronic device [sensor].

“What’s happening there is we have a mishandling of the rear left. It was not perfectly read by the electronic device that gives the green light.

“We went through all the procedures together with the FIA, making sure that this thing doesn't happen again, and it’s in our interest, because we care about our people, before anything else.”

It appears Ferrari’s system thought the tyre had been changed, as the wheelgun had been engaged and then disengaged. Measures have since put in place in a bid to avoid a repeat scenario.

Arrivabene said Cigarini was “fine” and went back home to Italy on Thursday.

He added: “I would like to thank our team doctor, the medical staff of the FIA and also the authorities in Bahrain.

“They immediately granted to us the best doctors in Bahrain to do the surgery and they were assisting us 24 hours [a day], so thanks to all of them.”

Unsafe releases remained a big talking point in China on Friday, with McLaren the latest team to suffer an issue with Stoffel Vandoorne stopping in FP2 with a suspected loose wheel.