Author | Lightnews

Ben Holmes

Ben Holmes

@benholmes.bsky.social

720 followers 120 following 280 posts

20 years working in F1 and TV. I made that thing you saw once. Proud recipient of 3/1000th of a BAFTA. All opinions are personal, that’s what opinions are.

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Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 3d

That’s not excessive for drama, and it’s not bad at all for sci-fi.

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 3d

Ron’s first day at Facebook is going great @apiln.bsky.social

TechSpot @techspot.bsky.social · 4d

Meta denies torrenting 2,400 porn movies for AI training – says they were for "personal use"
– The company behind Vixen, Tushy, Blacked, and Deeper wants $359 Million in damages
www.techspot.com/news/110070-...

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 6d

I believe the term is regenerated *pushes NHS specs back up nose*

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 6d

Someone once said “there are no rules in formula one, so make sure you don’t break them”. I’m not sure that’s the case any more. Instead we have too many!

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 6d

I mean they are all cheating and spying on each other. It’s the nature of the sport. But the cost cap ain’t it.

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 6d

Of course when it’s revealed there were no breaches, it’s a cover up. And so the cycle continues.

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 6d

It’s becoming an annual ritual for stories to spread about cost cap breaches in winked conversations to journalists from people in other teams. Let’s hope the practice dies out. It probably won’t.

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 6d

Yep. See my thread…

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 6d

Finance is dull and technical, just like most changes to cars. And fans can’t engage on that level. So easier to believe there is bad intent everywhere. The cap is Byzantine in nature and most people even in teams struggle to follow it. Which is why it’s a full time job now for many.

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 6d

I guess it just gives people another conspiracy to believe, but year one was the Wild West for cost cap. No one really understood the rules and whilst they certainly tried to bend them where it was unclear, the furore around it was always well out of whack with the reality.

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 6d

It feels like we’ve not moved on from the first year of the Cost Cap. The teams now have entire departments in place to manage it and are in constant contact with the FIA. The days of the RBR overspend are behind us, but everyone wants to believe it can happen again. It can’t.

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 6d

It would be most interesting to see where these “rumours” actually came from. Maybe next year they will be ignored? Nah.

Daniel Moxon @danielmoxon.bsky.social · 6d

Despite rumours of a big overspend, the FIA has confirmed all 10 F1 teams stayed within the cost cap in 2024. Aston Martin have committed a "very minor" procedural breach of the rules and have entered into an ABA with the FIA, the result of which is no sanction for the team. Story to follow.

Reposted by Ben Holmes

John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 7d

Took my little brother to Glastonbury. He didn't tell me/my parents it was mock GCSE exams week.

School tried to suspend him. My mum argued it was a more cultural experience than the carting event they'd let his classmate attend the same week. Suspension cancelled.

The classmate was Lewis Hamilton

Rhodri Marsden @rhodri.biz · 7d

Facebook tells me that I posted this comment 10 years ago and it’s still the best “being caught bunking off school” story I’ve heard. Apologies for any minor factual inaccuracies in my retelling

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 14d

The sprint is a massive issue for broadcasters as they’d usually shoot those interviews Thursday or Friday.

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 15d

Wonderful. Had the pleasure of working with him on his Young Driver of the Year journey and he’s a great guy - deserves success.

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 15d

Strong 2007 vibes about this championship. McLaren should throw their weight behind Piastri*

*they won’t because of stupid rules

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 16d

Just got to say that drone shot on the formation lap and start was very very good #F1

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 16d

Papaya Rules my arse

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 16d

Oh dear god McLaren are doing their best to ruin this sport. Make it stop. #F1

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 17d

Apple aren’t currently going to be doing any of their own wraparound coverage (such as Sky does in the UK) but everyone gets the same race coverage worldwide - that’s done by F1 themselves.

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 17d

The F1TV feed will be available in Apple TV. Or in the F1TV app via an Apple login. But only if you live in the US. F1TV premium cost more than Apple TV in the US so this is cheaper. But US friends tell me the cheaper package was only $85 a year so…

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 17d

Gentle reminder that the reaction to any sport or media moving to a different platform leads to 10,000 tweets saying “well I’m not paying for that”. Spoiler alert: they do. Why do you think sports rights are worth billions?

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 17d

Has this earned F1 more money though? Not necessarily as it depends how much they made from F1TV premium in the US, which is now a dead product.

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 17d

So where are we now? Well for a lot of people this is a better deal as F1TV premium was more expensive than AppleTV. But people already subscribing to ESPN via a cable bundle are out of pocket as they will likely keep that bundle anyway. Main result: viewing numbers down.

Ben Holmes @benholmes.bsky.social · 17d

Yep.