Since the summer break started I’ve
been reading a lot of columns dedicated to discussing what is wrong with
Formula 1. There’s a simple answer to this, there isn’t anything wrong with
Formula 1, the racing is great, there is a fantastic fight for the championship,
there’s nothing amiss with the sporting side of F1 and these new regulations
should be deemed a success by all.
There’s still some complaints about
the noise, I’m sure they’ll figure out some way to make it a bit louder, but to
be honest if you’re at a race and the racing is good you forget about the noise
pretty quickly, and I find there’s something awesome about the combination of
the rumbling thunder and the electrical whine, it’s a wonderful hybrid of old
and new.
Anyway, we’re not here to talk about
the noise, or even the looks of the cars, both issues will be sorted at some
point, the noses by next season. No, I’m wondering why the Formula 1
authorities seem to feel the need to constantly tamper with the sport, or
complain about their own product? Is that really a selling point when you have
the likes of Bernie Ecclestone or Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo running
down their own business?
With many Formula 1 teams fighting to
survive and several territories losing viewing figures and not being able to
fill the grandstands on race day, even in countries with a motor racing
tradition, as well as an ageing audience, then surely it's not the wisest idea
to sell the sport short?
I think these new regulations have
pushed Formula 1 to a more sustainable future. I mean surely this sort of move
to a greener power resource makes the sport more relevant with the added bonus
it’s producing racing which is better than ever. But it seems this has failed
to stop declining viewing figures around the world so they try and keep the
championship alive longer by introducing absurd ideas like double points for
the final Grand Prix, which undermines the previous rounds.
Perhaps they might consider that
championships can’t always go down to the last race. I’m not aware of the
premier league thinking they should add double points to the last round of
games to keep the title fight alive. Why not? Because there would be
justifiable outrage among supporters about how the sport is being made
artificial.
There was uproar amongst fans and
leading F1 journalists, but this being Formula 1, the sports leaders failed to
listen to them, so far at least. The championship being wrapped up early has
nothing to do with viewing figures (although admittedly figures tend to tail
off if the championship is wrapped up early) and perhaps, I suggest
somewhat timidly, it could be to do with selling the Television rights to pay
TV services.
Perhaps also the reason that many
races aren’t attended well is that some of the countries are only on the
calendar because their governments can pay the exorbitant fees that Bernie
charges each country so F1 will bring their toys to play in front of empty
grandstands like in Korea. A lot of these countries have no great history of motor sport and
the public simply doesn’t care. It’s good to try and create interest but it
seems to me the sport is going to too many countries like this and has no hope
of attracting a crowd, especially when in a country like China a ticket can
often be more expensive than a year’s wages.
That affects other countries which do
have a fan base too. Bernie charges each circuit millions upon millions of
dollars for them to hold a race. He also takes the revenue of all trackside
advertising. Circuits don’t receive any television money either, what they do
get is the ticket money, which is why often they’re so expensive. Most circuits
won’t make a profit from the race but it’ll be their largest attendance of the
year so they have to make it count so that money is taken from the customer.
The customer who will have to shell out in excess of £500 to take a family of
four for some grandstand seats and that’s being conservative.
So let's think of a few points which
might help push Formula 1 in the right direction. First of all let's look at
ways of attracting new and younger fans.
There should be a full social media
profile for Formula 1 to engage and interact with fans. Having that platform
would have enabled them to connect with more people and help new fans
understand the sport. All through the last winter there could have been videos
and articles explaining the new regulations and creating a buzz about this new
adventure. Or after the races and in the gaps between races, have videos of the
best passing moves with the drivers explaining what they were doing and what
they were thinking in that moment. In the lead up to races, there should be
promotions months in advance, particularly centred to that countries audience.
Just having the website which has
some nice content but no official Facebook or Twitter profile just doesn't cut
it these days. It's been said Bernie Ecclestone sees no point as you can't make
money from it, but surely pushing the product you're more likely to attract new
fans who will spend money.
There should be a cost cap. I'm in
favour of this, very difficult to police but with the many big brains of
Formula 1 people I'm sure some compromise could be reached somehow. With the
cost cap, you get freer regulations. The essence of Formula 1 is pushing the
boundaries and I don't want to see these cars become too standardised, so to
prevent costs spiralling if rules were freed up, cap the spend. It would also
be nice to get the cars at least 3-4 seconds faster.
Fairer deal for teams from Formula
One Management. The TV money should be split equally between all teams no
matter how much history they have. Then we'd stop hearing about how teams are
struggling so much and need to hire pay drivers. Prize money would obviously be
based on results, so the best would still earn more, you'd just not have a
money advantage built in to begin with.
Fairer deals for circuits too. Bring
the cost of hosting a race down, or at the very least let them make some money
from the advertising space surrounding the circuit, this should at least be
split more evenly between the circuits and Bernie who pockets the lot at the
moment. Fairer deal for circuits might just lead to a fairer deal for fans too.
Don’t damage the traditions of
F1. No
more gimmicks such as double points. We need to maintain the purity of the
sport, so make sure the cars are the fastest in the world, and drop rubbish
ideas like double points. As much as sport is entertainment, lets not make it
into WWE. However, the green technology should and progress, F1 is after all
the leader in motor racing.
Testing should be limited for money reasons but why not have longer
Friday's with a whole day of testing and allow the third car they already bring
to be built up for the third driver to get more opportunities to test and help
with their F1 experience.
Limit of 20 races with no
exceptions. Eighteen would be better but saturation is the way
forward apparently. I believe less is more though, Grand Prix used to be must
watch events, now there's so many, some people choose not to watch every
race. There's nothing wrong with expanding into new markets either, but
perhaps have a rotation system. Your core classics like Brazil, Canada, Japan,
Belgium, UK, Italy, Germany and add to that a race in the USA should be
essential on the list every year. From there you have races in up and
coming nations, or races with money and an audience, but if necessary they
can be rotated bi-yearly. Races which suffer from lack of crowd might then
see a bigger crowd as it's more of an event.
I think there's a lot right with F1,
but yes there are some issues which simply if people could think of the bigger
picture needn't be there. More of the positives should be mentioned, but I
think some of the things I've listed would help to progress Formula 1 for the
future and keep it at the head of the field.
all photo's taken from autosport.com
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