If we listen to Bernie Ecclestone, the discredited Briatore, a chorus of sycophants around them, virtual journalists looking for things to make up and a bunch of grumpy old men fans who know how to complain online, F1 is a broken sport and in need of fixing. It’s not like it used to be. Yadda yadda yadda…
Really? So why, after months of in-depth analysis, considering all the available options, did a smart global company like Renault decide to spend more money to increase its involvement in F1? These are not stupid people.
Why do Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda stick with this apparently rubbish sport? Red Bull people whinge and gripe (although, thankfully, Helmut Marko has shut up for a while) but the drink company is still there in F1… flogging its pop. Gene Haas spends untold amounts of money to come into F1 because he sees its value. Why are promoters falling over one another to hold races, willing to pay daft sums in fees?
The answer is very simple: F1 fans are passionate. And there are an awful lot of them… The biggest asset F1 has is its fans. Most of them are part of the silent majority. They are not out there tweeting negativity every two minutes. They are not always asking negative questions and thinking it makes them look smart. They are not making up fantasy stories to get clicks in the hope that they can dance on the yellow brick road with Judy Garland.
Despite all the negativity, there are still more than 400 million of them who watch F1 each year. Compared to other sports, F1 viewing figures are holding up well, at a time when the viewing habits of the world are changing and everyone is losing TV viewers. Much, if not all, of the loss of F1 TV viewers is due to self-inflicted payTV deals. These deals pay more. The “promoters” of the sport don’t care beyond that… Across the board, in all activities, viewers are not disappearing, they are simply changing the way they consume content. Online digital video is booming. YouTube is the new PayPal. The Internet is not a great business model, perhaps, but it is a brilliant advertising medium and ultimately, when bandwidth is wider than Meatloaf and able to go the last mile, sports will go direct to consumers, without middle men, and will make infinitely more money, by charging a whole lot less… Premium priced PayTV is the Nena and the 20-teens, a one-hit wonder, whose red balloons will be only vaguely remembered in the years ahead. The future is more likely to be low-ball, a world of buck-a-bang deals.
The technology in F1 is astonishing and useful. Grumpy old men talk about the need for more noise (maybe they don’t hear so well) but it doesn’t matter that much. Fans will come to races no matter what the noise, if the price is reasonable and the promotion is effective.
The sport has always had cycles of domination, but you can be sure that the minute Ferrari and Mercedes start to slug it out on the race tracks, the whinging about the spectacle will stop. That’s how it is. F1 now is still a spectacle and the races are brilliantly subtle and close, perhaps they need to be more unsubtle to please more people. Bread and circuses, and all that…
But race promoters struggle because of the financial demands of “the promoter” who demands more and more because it can… It’s not necessarily a sustainable business model, but the grey City men don’t care. It is business. There is no passion involved.
Does anyone, apart from the fans, really care about the sport? Is it all just politics and money, or do some of these people care and feel the passion and want the sport to do what sport is supposed to do? Lift us up, inspire and amuse us, give us thrills and dreams in life?
I like to think so… For me, it is the job of the FIA and the media to uphold, preserve and protect these values, traditions and heritage against all those who seek to exploit the sport. Are we doing that? The media is a mess right now. The FIA is standing back, watching, probably hoping that the promoter has lost the support of the teams and so, at some point, there will be a conflict and the Formula One group will be unable to fulfill the terms of the 100-year commercial deal agreed. Then the whole thing will fall back into the lap of the federation, which is legally the owner of the right to create World Champions, a right that is recognised, so they say, in all the secret paperwork. Logically, this could then lead to a new structure, built along the lines of the Premier League in soccer, with the competitors and a regulator, without the middle men. So do we simply need a Jesus figure to come and kick the money changers out of the temple?
In the meantime I refuse to let all the naysayers get me down. F1 remains a fantastic show.
joeblogsf1 
hear hear
Hear, hear! Best piece you’ve written thus far this year, Joe! Agree with everything you say.
“Hear, hear! Best piece you’ve written thus far this year, Joe! Agree with everything you say”.
… 13th word of Joe’s opening sentence somes to mind.
LOL BenM.
I agree with Joe’s assessment here. Is Bernie trying to pull Jean Todt back in to own the current issues and split him from the teams with recent comments about him not being engaged in F1? Is Jean Todt engaged elsewhere his plan to keep distance so he can swoop in and protect the teams latter… or does he just not care right now?
best positive F1 rant in a long, long time Joe – bravo!!
It has struck me that not a race has been had and people are saying F1 is terrible. I do get a feeling that now after a couple years of the new rules and regs things really could be very interesting. Although not sure we needed the new Qualifying rules this year either.
I know it’s not a popular view either, but I am glad that F1 went paytv in Australia at least. We have never had access to practice (as dull and uninteresting as it maybe, the only time we saw it was at the Aus GP) and it’s not that long ago that qualifying could be delayed because the host channel decided playing a blockbuster movie that they have shown before was more important than live sport.
I vaguely remember too that the first time that Schumacher won the drivers championship for Ferrari was shown as a tape delay because it might clash with the news, even though the race would’ve been over by the time the news started and to make matters worse, then they told you he won it in their news coverage.
p.s. Every time I see Meatloaf’s name I just can’t help be remember his performance at the AFL Grandfinal…
Hear hear! My sentiments exactly…
Passionate fans for sure but some of us don’t go to races anymore – there is simply no point if you want to see what is actually going on all around the track. So for the millions of fans who don’t spend money on attending in the physical, Pay TV’s detailed coverage of all sessions and full blown race is a good option.
If you can afford it…
Is pay-tv more expensive then actually going to a track, with at least a decent viewing position? I wouldn’t know, in Belgium I can still watch F1 free on RTBF (in French, with the excellent Gaetan Vigneron). 0
I preferred BBC,but that’s gone now.
If I want it in Flemish, it’s pay-tv, but those commentators are uhm.. not to my liking,
So I’ve never even been tempted to sign up. They just show the race+onboards, no special shows around it and then repeat the race until the next one comes about. And they still announce “We bring you all the action, incl. pitstops and refuelling!”. LOL
…and, if you’re in the uk, your conscience allows you to give money to corrupt and apparently amoral businesses
Exactly Quentin, I couldn’t subscribe to the UK pay TV company even if it was the only way to watch F1. It’s not the money it’s the principle.
There are other Amoral ways to view . . . . enough said !
I came to that conclusion in 1984 at Brands Hatch. Couldn’t see a thing so sold my tickets on the way out, got home before the start of the race and laid the picnic out on the lounge floor and watched from there.
Ended up going on Fridays instead and watching the race on the telly.
If PayTV were available… In Canada I have to pay ridiculous subscription fees for a cable package I never use apart from F1 races and all I get are qualifying and race broadcasts randomly interspersed with shi**y adverts … And I have to suck up the pain ‘cos F1 doesn’t embrace technology and allow me to choose what I want to watch and pay directly for it (think iTunes subscriptions, etc).
@StephenAcworth I feel your pain.
@John Glynn et al – Pay TV and going to GPs.
If F1 hadn’t any TV coverage for a couple of years, then it would be interesting to speculate how many people would then go to a GP, or even how many who currently attend a GP, would stop. I think that many of those “passionate fans” would find something else to interest them. Just because, globally, so many people are reputed to watch F1, doesn’t indicate that they are anything other than casual viewers.
Nicely put! Yesterday I was reading up on why Indycar is considered to be in decline (viewing numbers do seem to go down). And personally I just reconnected with Indycar…how? Because every race of the last few seasons is free on Youtube! Yes, there are ad-breaks (the original ones of the broadcast, YouTube didn’t bother to include any video-interruptions it seems). The original ad-breaks leave the action in a small screen on the side.
And you do feel the commentators are trying as much as possible to fit the ads into the caution periods. That makes me feel valued as a fan since the racing is considered important.
I know the racing isn’t F1 level, but it has become a thoroughly enjoyable experience (much more then I anticipated) and being able to watch 2-3 (old) races a week, sitting on my hometrainer, makes me get to know the driver, team people and some Indycar history pretty fast. I guess that’s how you get people to buy in and get hooked for life…
Formula E races give me the same experience: I watch them when it suits me, live or non-live, on a screen of my choice and free-to-air.
I know Formula E isn’t free to air everywhere, but I’m enjoying what I get.
Couldn’t agree more – F1 isn’t broke, on the contrary. Just look at what’s currently happening in the Netherlands with the Max Verstappen mania. My goodness, there are even people seriously considering organising an F1 race at Zandvoort…
Personally I’m sad to see the free to air live broadcast of the races go. But hey, access to entertainment has its price. If it’s important enough, people will pay.
To me it isn’t, so I will happily follow F1 from the sidelines. Still have subscription to Autosport digital (great to follow test in real time) and your blog to keep me up to speed!
@ Henk, Ziggosporttotaalgo offers a € 60,- 6 month subscription including a chromecast 2 and 5 extra live channels during the race. For me this made the coin flip and i ordered it. Maybe this is also an intersting deal for you to try.
Max really did something in the Netherlands, even my 22 year old daughter now watches the races. Funny thing is that after i explained some basic rules, some tactics and the tyre thing to her, it is not so much about Max anymore, she follows everything. She gets up early even for qualifing! Which is pretty odd for a college student…
Well said Joe.
Personally, I’d take a middle-ground view.
F1 is well below the peak but there are enough ingredients there to still make it a compelling sport to follow.
Cars will always be a draw and fast, exotic cars more so. The technology I find wonderful and the speed and driver skill great to watch.
However, the races as contests are far from as exciting as they used to be in the past. The poor reliability of the 90s added to the excitement but it is debatable as to whether it is fair to expect cars to fail to add to the drama.
My gut feel is that the cars are too ‘perfect’ now to allow good, close racing. In series where you get that – touring cars for example – you have cars which aren’t optimised for racing due to their heritage. F1 cars are all about speed and modern technology and know-how have made them such that they are very consistent throughout a race and make the most of the airflow they pass through.
The former means you don’t get cars having to be nursed home or drastic changes in performance through a race, the latter means a following car can’t perform optimally in ‘dirty’ air.
Cost saving rules mean we aren’t going to see manufacturers pushing things to the limit where failures can occur so all the sport could do is reduce the aero impact to at least allow cars to perform more equally when in close combat.
Trouble is, you’d lose some fans who enjoy the technical side while you gain fans who enjoy the action. It also probably won’t benefit the smaller teams much either as currently an outstanding qualification can allow a driver to keep faster cars behind him and score a surprising result. That wouldn’t work in this scenario.
I agree with your ‘middle ground’ assessment – lots still right, but also things wrong that need to be addressed. I think a fundamental issue F1 will always face is that a degree of the human element is taken away by the development of technology – and this will only increase as both hardware and software in the wider world inevitably continue to be improved.
With the power of modern computing and simulators, decisions about what happens on track are calculated down to the thousandth of a second back at base to reduce any margin of error in an important call.
To my mind that inevitably reduces human input and can make things more predictable. You can’t blame the teams for employing such methods – anyone in that position would do the same as so much rides on the result.
Maybe I’m a luddite, but I’d love it if those key decisions were being made solely by the people at the track rather than a soulless number-crunching machine hundreds of miles away.
As a kid who got hooked as Senna, Prost, Mansell and Piquet fought it out, I saw the drivers and teams as sporting heroes. Today, I’m left wondering about how much input any of them really have. I know you can’t turn the clock back on technology, though, otherwise they’d all be driving the same machinery as the guys from 100 years ago.
Looking back at a lot of the comments on pay-tv posted here over the last year, it seems to me that most are less against pay-tv per se than the way it is implemented – e.g. packaged up with a lot of other stuff you don’t want (and definitely don’t want to pay for!). Many posters have said they wouldn’t mind paying a ‘reasonable’ fee for each race provided (and this is the rub) the coverage was good. I can accept the arguments about attracting new fans who might be browsing the free-to-air (and of course I’d rather not have to pay a subscription) but speaking as someone who started watching F1 on the Beeb in their black and white days and who wouldn’t have missed a Sunday afternoon slot for anything, I have definitely changed my viewing habits with the advent of iPlayer, etc. and the availability to watch the race when it’s convenient to me. I do feel however that this somehow lessens the excitement when it’s not live, even when I have managed to avoid all reports and news of the outcome and absolutely no idea what happened or even if the race actually took place. I look forward to the Chanel 4 (in the UK) offering and to see what the quality is like.
You didn’t watch a full season on black and white, it wasn’t broadcast but I see what you are saying.
Joe has already posted this but … If I want to watch F1 in Oz I need to sign up with foxtel premium package (again) on a twelve month contract for AU$1,200. Looking at the calendar I will not be at home for at least six races so I’ll pay for 15 races, that is AU$80 per race. I’ll probably will end up paying it.
My wife and sons no longer watch foxtel that is why I dumped foxtel after the last GP in ’15, she now watches some internet thing that she can access any where in world, even delayed to suit when she wants to view it. If F1 was on that or streamed by formula1.com I would happily pay far more than they are currently getting per viewer and that would be about a tenth of my Foxtel cost and I would not miss out when I’m not at home.
Why is it so?
Your figures are wrong.The Basics plus Sports package on Foxtel costs $600/year which is half of your figure.This works out as less than the price of a daily newspaper or half the price of a cup of coffee a day.
I too would prefer it for free but when you get full practice session telecasts of not only F1 but also 3 classes of Moto GP not to mention WEC,INdycar and V8 Supercar there is a level of coverage Free To Air will never show.
There are a number of reasons for not getting pay TV(the identity of the proprietor being number1) and putting the races on pay exclusively is bad long term business for any sport but cost in Australia at least is not a major argument against pay TV.
Alan, thanks very much for the heads up mate. I appreciate it.
My figures are correct for the Premium package which the salesman, obviously incorrectly told me I’d need in order to watch F1 but he also said there is a couple of additional upfront fees for install and the box which I’m now told they will readily wave. I’ve also heard that I don’t need a twelve month contract so that will save money too. I’m rather pissed off with how deceptive the salesman was, seems he did lie to me. So some good info and appreciated.
In your case it sounds like you get much better value for money than I will. In my case I travel so I’ll only be home to see 15 of the 21 races so for me it’s still $X / 15 or roughly $40 per race, too much. I don’t want to pay for all those coffees that I won’t drink I’d prefer to pay more per coffee for those I do drink (per view).
Thanks again,
build
If the Chief Executive of one of their properties talked it down to the extent Ecclestone did at the weekend, any sane Investment House (or at least one with some balls) would have sacked them for gross misconduct.
Sometimes you just wonder if the guys at CVC have really just been lucky, rather than good at what they do.
But circumstantial evidence suggests that this tail is more powerful than the dog
Doesn’t say much for CVC that none of that their legions of highly paid, super smart people continue to be comprehensively outwitted by an octogenarian who is patently past his sell by date and now he is no longer able to exercise vice like control over the teams, not really fit for purpose.
Obviously they are still happy with their annual ‘take’ (that’s all they seem to do) The fact he wasn’t canned after the German legal debacle demonstrates the depth of commitment and value the Ringmaster still has with these striped Hyenas.
I am not sure this is the logic behind it.
I find the Bernie comments astonishing. F1 isn’t perfect, but the problems could be solved by getting rid of the parasitic C2C and the increasingly senile Mr Ecclestone. A fair distribution of the freed up cash and the appointment of a promoter that, well, promotes would then reinvigorate the sport.
C2C – made me chuckle.
I wonder who’d do a better job at running the trains, CVC or C2C – and on the flip side who would run F1 better. If C2C run F1 would we end up with everyone turning up late??? And then ticket holders have to go through a convoluted process get a refund…
Oops! To extend the thought – you’d have all the cars running in a line, nose to tail with no passing… hang on…
Can the guys who really know about this stuff correct me if I a wrong
Apart from the Turbo era (not many road cars with turbo’s before and an awful lot after) has F1 really been connected with the everyday motor industry as it is today. The recovery figures Joe writes about in F1 will effect all motorist and environmentalist as this technology finds its way into day to day road cars.
Again my view.
Tyres: Have always been and will always be a marketing exercise. F1 tyres are black and round and the similarities end there.
Chassis: Even Carbon fibre from the 80’s is still only used in top of the range vehicles. Aluminium is from the Ark and presumably plentiful so low cost.
Gearbox: not sure about this but paddle change and modern automatic boxes may have some F1 stuff in there.
Brakes: seems to be an area that can be transferred to road cars with energy recovery.
Power source: The fact that they are no longer called engines indicates that this is a leap forward and would seem to be the area where Renault can one day say that your road car has a similar power source to a F1 car and by the way you can get 100mpg from that source and save the planet.
I think this means that when manufacturers are justifying their budgets. Not only can they say that our name is all over the telly (pc screen) but some of this car will eventually find its way into our road cars.
One other thing
I don’t think it would be such a bad idea to have an off the shelf engine. I appreciate that it wouldn’t match a works engine but I could see two benefits. you would have a midfield squabbling during the race and once every now and again one of these teams will pull a master stroke and get up the front. Even the manufactures would see the benefit of that every know and again.
Joe
As you say what we need is a promoter that actually promotes…
Just one who doesn’t s*** all over the product would be an improvement at the moment
nice one Joe (again) . Keep on a good job! Piero
I don’t believe those viewing figures it’s all smoke and mirrors – simple fact is pay TV means hardly anyone will watch it.
UK TV audiences are going to be tiny. I am a life long F1 fan ( have travelled as far as São Paulo to watch) but I will not pay to watch the current show. How did they manage to mess it up so much that I am no longer watching ( but here Inam realign about it!).
It must be nice to be smarter than the people who work out these numbers. There is an entire industry doing this stuff, but you know best… Hmmm
The people who work out such numbers do so based on huge extrapolations and assumptions – ask them for the underlying data sets and then see whether the numbers can be trusted. Just because there is an industry doing this stuff does not mean they are accurate. Basing this statement having worked alongside market sizing and forecasting folks and to say I could do a better job (and have!) is putting it lightly..
” F1 fans are passionate.”
Indeed, but many – myself included and pretty much all others that I know personally – are less so nowadays. I’m not a ‘grumpy old man’ but one of the fans you talk of, and there is a lot wrong with F1 right now; there is also a lot right with it, hence my continued interest. Part of that is, as you correctly point out, pay tv; I’m already paying for a license, I’m not paying again.
People call me a grumpy old man and I don’t see it that way…
And David? I didn’t say that.
I’m just a fan too, Steve, albeit one of getting on for well over 40 years. I have opinions, a couple of which Joe has corrected me on. But, that said, I agree with Joe that there’s plenty to be positive about with F1 today. Is it perfect? No, and probably never will or should be.
My main gripes are with CVC/BCE, particularly the moves to pay tv from FTA, and not just the cost to the viewer, but how it affects individual team finances. Look at how many cars are virtually sponsor free. How can you sell XXX thousand viewers to sponsors when, in the very recent past, you could sell XXXXXXX thousand viewers, and hope to acheive even a similar income? So CVC/BCE now have a hold on that purse too, doling out increased TV money, apparently on a whim.
As a sporting spectacle, though, theres little to be worried about. In my view.
I quite agree. I’m 37, so i’m not a grumpy old man yet, but I fail to see where the F1 viewers and fans of the future are being encouraged from. From my group of mates, one or two watch it and they only view the free feeds and we’re all about the same age. I know of no one younger than me in my circle of friends who watches it. I cannot see how the audience is being refreshed as the older ones disappear !
OH god….”the engines aren’t loud enough” complaint…right up there with “oh god! the step nose is an abomination,” . Who cares?! Reminds me of a time when I was buying a pair of skis…trying to choose between the plain white “better” ones and the black ones with awesome graphics. “Do you want to just look good, or do you want to look good skiing?”
Well said.
I think F1 has a lot to thank Bernie for but, as harsh as this will sound, surely his age is working against him now? Essentially he’s the boss of F1, the head honcho, the chief muckamuck and yet he’s quoted as saying he wouldn’t pay to take his family to watch it. Towards the end my Grandad thought Japanese snipers were watching him from the roof of Woolworths…
The Bolt is probably just being literal. He doesn’t have to pay and even if he did it’s unlikely his family would want to go. So he’s telling the truth. 😉
Looks like his son in law might not be able to attend any races for a while in any case……
This piece reminds me of what my supervisor said when I asked him for his opinion on the first draft of my PhD research paper.
“Make complete sense on first reading. On second reading I see the holes. On third reading all I see is a mess.”
You want detail? OK…
Renault, Mercedes, Honda, Ferrari, Red Bull, Hass, et al., are in the sport for one reason and one reason only; targeted marketing. They hope – quite correctly – that people will perceive their brand as everything F1 claims to be – ‘cutting edge’, ‘highly competitive, ‘technology driven’, ‘cool’, blah, blah. Joe, they’re in it to SELL PRODUCT, nothing more.
Was it always thus with F1 entrants? I think you know the answer to that as well as I.
F1 is now owned by businessmen who have little or no interest in the sport, but they have considerable interest in their bottom line. This form of ownership caused 90% of the issues currently faced by F1. Unless or until this changes the focus on sport will continue to be a poor second to revenue generation for these gentlemen.
Was it always thus? Again, you know the answer to this.
Fans count for nothing. They no longer have a direct influence on the sport. If they don’t turn up at the GP’s the races are still televised. New promoters willing to stage races at a loss in unheard-of lands are discovered almost every year. As long as the masses continue to buy TV sport bundles, F1 will claim them as ‘fans’. But they not. They’re just TV addicts. Fans turn up. Fans want to participate in the activity, even if it’s simply by buying merchandise at the races. Fans want to cheer their favourites in person, not while transfixed by the flickering pixels on a screen.
Now, you tell me. How does the current ‘fan’ compare to the fans of the 80’s or 90’s? Haven’t you noticed the changes? I have.
F1 technology is useful? Golly, reading that made me giddy with laughter. It would most certainly have been useful in the 70’s, but now…? Joe, our attitudes to personal transport are changing, or hadn’t you noticed? Driverless technology will be a daily reality for many of us within five to ten years. Electricity / fuel cell technology is making real advances. These are the fields in which automotive technology is playing a real role in our collective futures. Where is F1 in this? The ICE is virtually finished; hybrid technology is merely making the fall a little less painful for those heavily invested in or wedded to the reciprocating engine.
I doubt many kids currently playing ‘Fire Emblem Fates’ will even bother to apply for a driving licence, far less ever drive anything powered by the ICE. And haven’t you heard – ‘speed kills’? Driving like a race driver on public roads is becoming as fashionable amongst the young as drinking and driving is to our generation i.e. it’s done by fools and the brain-dead. Will racing on tracks hold any real value for them in 2030? I doubt it. They’ll have developed something new. And good luck to them.
The people who write here gently pointing out the current issues with F1 aren’t ‘naysayers’, they’re people who were heavily committed to F1 and who are saddened by the loss – and it is already a loss – of a sport which was genuinely on-the-track fascinating, undertaken by designers and engineers who were innovative, underwritten by individuals and companies who loved competition, and which had drivers of immense talent, courage and personality. What exists today is but a pale shadow of that past. And THAT’S what many of us find so disappointing.
It’s true; you can never go home. What F1 once was has gone and it’s not coming back. Roll on whatever replaces it.
We disagree
From someone who works in the automotive industry what you say about the reasons for being in there and the technology route that the automotive world is travelling down is wrong. The idea that fuel cell and even electric cars are the future is a misnomer. There are over 80M cars a year produced and a tiny fraction are hybrid let alone electric and fuel cell so far is a pipe dream as far as mass conversion.
In fact although there are some things that could be improved upon as a fan of F1 since the 70s I can only say that Joe seems to have hit on most of the real issues with F1.
DL, I don’t want to get in a p*ssing contest with you. I don’t work in the automotive industry, but am closely involved in the development of new technology, and I can guarantee you that the small-but-cutting-edge developers (think Telsa, Google and Apple in the USA and the NNFC/CAS partnership and SFCV in China) have massive research efforts centred upon the fields I outlined.
They are the future. As you will see.
A business here in Oz is taking existing technology (heat and kinetic) and using it in central heating units to recover energy. At a wild guess in as little as ten years you will not be able to buy any energy consuming unit that does not include energy recovery. Even the elevator you take to the top floor will recover much of that energy and reuse it, some using tech originating at Williams. Joe might like to ask Mr Head?
I guarantee it’s not a pipe-dream.
Just curious. What do you do in the “automotive industry”.
“Fans count for nothing.”
“Renault, Mercedes, Honda, Ferrari, Red Bull, Hass, et al., are in the sport for one reason and one reason only; targeted marketing.”
Please reconcile these two statements. If fans count for nothing, then who the hell do you assume they are marketing to?
“F1 will claim them as ‘fans’. But they not. They’re just TV addicts. Fans turn up. Fans want to participate in the activity, even if it’s simply by buying merchandise at the races.”
Unless they live in an area where it’s not feasible to attend a race, which is probably most people.
Please don’t tell me that I wasn’t a fan of F1 until I went to attend a race in person for the first time, and that all those 3am race viewings was just me being a “TV addict”.
Hi Dale.
You seem to assume that F1 fans are the target market for manufacturers / participants in F1. They’re not. It’s the girl who thinks it would be cool to own a Mercedes ‘cos her boyfriend says they’re winning everything in F1 so he thinks this means they’ll make a better sport saloon than BMW. Or the guy who drinks Red Bull ‘cos he likes the image they project.
Yes, people really are that dumb. The marketing industry depends on this.
I didn’t say you weren’t a fan. I said you were someone who didn’t matter to the world of F1 other than as another statistic to impress potential advertisers.
Tell me Dale, what role do you think you played?
Thing is, the fans couldn’t care less if Renault or Gene Haas see the marketing value of F1 or not. The fans aren’t interested in F1 for its strategic B2B opportunities, they’re interested in it for seeing charismatic nutters race big fast scary cars. I agree a lot of the negativity around F1 is unjustified and a lot of it is propagated by people who are interested only in selfish political posturing and power. But the fact is, a lot of long-time, loyal, passionate fans have legitimate complaints about the sport, or whatever it’s called. Tinkering with qualifying formats smacks of that cliche about deckchairs and the Titanic – unsinkable and unthinkable.
I think you’re bang on. I still love F1, but to deny that there are serious issues with the sport, is being a little naive.
+1 – As a viewing spectacle, it doesn’t compare to other motorsport categories – Lauda and other current and past F1 world champs have gone on record and said as much.
I personally get my fill of F1 nowadays from reading this blog and catching races when not doing other more compelling stuff (including watching other motorsport as well as racing karts and motorbikes myself!). My sense of anticipation is nowhere near as high as back in the 90s when I would plan the year ahead based on the dates of race weekends.
People inside the bubble can continue to believe all is well however my own sentiment and feeling (which is what ultimately counts) suggests otherwise. I’m happy for those who still feel the same level of excitement however I have found more compelling options whereby the sense of competitors dicing on the very edge and doing absolutely everything possible to eek out every ounce of performance is very much more apparent. Not only that, but as a racer myself, it is fairly apparent the driving element is not where it was even as recently as 10 years ago.
F1’s claim on being a true sporting contest is on the most tenuous of grounds given the prize money distribution and rule making process. When you add the degree of commercial sanitization (Hamilton today didn’t feel comfortable answering questions on the whether the rules/regs were heading in the right direction because it would cause a stir and he’d get in trouble!), the ‘product’ of F1 feels very stale which is a disappointment however am happy to wait until things improve or otherwise continue to limit my interest and follow more exciting and interesting forms motorsport (be they smaller in revenue/size matters not a jot to me, its the racing itself that counts).
Excellent post – you really captured the way I feel about today’s F1 and its broader context within motorsport (plus those ‘in the bubble’). Well said.
I agree Joe, but passionate fans are becoming an increasingly isolate breed. I am a passionate fan, I follow the sport closely, I have always loved it.
Whilst many of my friends although they did not share the same passion we could always have a good lively debate down the pub about drivers, overtakes, teams and their cars.
Not any more.
Unless your a passionate fan you are not going to fork out for Pay Tv of attend a race. Hamilton, Vettel, thats all the formal casual F1 viewers understand (oh and that guy who crashes alot… – whats his name er er er Malder something or other) Thats what I get now .
If it wasnt for his head injury I even think some of my friends would think Schumacher was still racing! Thats how closely they follow the sport these days. Its not picking up any casual viewers.
If I speak to my friends now they cannot remember the last time they watched a race. They just see the Hamilton headline on a monday to say he has won again. Try and explain to them KERS, DRS, ERS… they haven’t a clue, nor more importantly are they interested! Bore off it quite frankly is the response.
So whilst F1 may not be broken right now there is only so long I fear the passion will sustain it!
James M – Totally agree with your comments.
Well said. But now we have the announcement of the restructured quali format which is ridiculous and a good reason to complain. Probably for the first time in years.
Joe, it feels to me like you’re burying your head in the sand… perhaps you’re too close to the sport to have perspective on this one?
F1 doesn’t need to be DEAD to require wholesale change, does it? Shall we only moan when it’s defibrillator time? It might not be dead but Bernie is right, it’s never been worse – a good deal of it is his doing! Sure, there may have been crises in the past for short periods but in terms of a contest, excitement, awe at the spectacle? Can anyone name a prolonged period when F1 was worse?
Genuine, life-long fans are turning-off. I know many of them and I am one. I followed this sport so passionately for close to 30 years. My Dad was a mechanic for Mike Hawthorn in the fifties and I’ve spent my life going to motorsports events (new and old). I am GUTTED at where we are today.
F1 has been systematically ruined. We’ve been on a path for about 10 years now where every incremental decision has taken us in the wrong direction, like an F1 team blindly following the wrong design philosophy.
It’s not dead, that’s true but nothing is being done to rectify it.
– Get rid of tyres that mean drivers don’t drive flat out (whatever form that takes – certainly don’t sign Pirelli up for another X years with the same mandate)
– Get rid of the PUs and bring back engines, I don’t care what the arguments are, most people just don’t want them and if you don’t believe that, wake up! Why do you think people are turning off? They are a big part of it whether you like it or not. Efficiency is not exciting, especially not when it’s at the cost of a something visceral i.e. noise! (And let the manufacturers leave if they want to, F1 would survive without them)
– Reduce aero reliance by limiting complexity of wing elements and relaxing underfloor regs
– Get rid of DRS
– Get rid of new, soulless tracks and return to European heartland
– Get rid of CVC!!
– Change the distribution of wealth so the teams benefit and we can stop charging monopoly money to host GPs
These are big changes but the rot and bad sentiment will not stop until this happens.
If you dropped F1 of the mid-eighties, mid-nineties, or even mid-2000s into today, it would immediately be better than what we have now. We need to look back to go forward.
PS: I’m not trying to be clever. I’m appealing for something or someone to please save this sport! Can’t you and other respected journalist campaign for change too, or are you happy as-is?
I don’t think I am. I think my perspective is pretty sound
An ostrich usually does.
I have no idea what this refers to but I suspect it’s not polite.
The ‘bury your head in the sand’ line at the beginning of the first comment in this chain is a reference to how ostriches bury their heads in the sand to avoid looking at danger. I was suggested that you, like the ostrich, think that the perspective of choosing not to see the on-rushing problems is “pretty sound”.
Sweet of you. The thing is that I don’t think my head is in the sand and as the article states nor do some serious companies. I’m sure you right though. Commenters also are…
Those serious companies have turned F1 into something rather different from a sporting contest for their own self-interest. If that’s people’s cup of tea they are entitled to it but the current ‘product’ appears to have disenfranchised much of its core following.
I think you are confusing ‘looks like a viable business to huge companies’ and ‘is an entertaining sport’. Do you honestly believe that a race series in which 99% of overtakes require absolutely no skill because they are achieved by an artificial boost of top speed to the following driver on a straight is exciting? Do you think people really care that Renault thinks it can make money from being in F1?
Fewer and fewer people are watching F1. Sure, some of that is the result of it going to PayTV (also a massive problem), but it is very short-sighted to assume that it’s just ‘grumpy old men’ who are being turned off by the lack of real action, of real overtaking. How much does the audience have to decline before you start seeing it as a problem? Because F1 fans are generally older people, and with payTV, lack of exciting close racing, and it no longer being clear that the drivers are doing something particularly impressive, old fans are not being replaced. Once that long tail is gone, it will be far too late to rebuild a fanbase, because we’ll all be watching and committed to something else. Getting people to care again about something is very hard if there aren’t people before them to explain why it’s so interesting.
Oh and I would like to add that it is impressive that you engage with people here, even if it is a little superficial and sarcastic. I’m really not trying to have a go at you personally, I’m just sad that a sport that I’ve always loved has become progressively more neutered.
It is not meant to be superficial nor really sarcastic. I do not have time to do more and sometimes people deserve a little sarcasm for being so blinkered.
“sometimes people deserve a little sarcasm for being so blinkered”
Given that whether someone is being ‘blinkered’ is a subjective opinion, does that rule apply to yourself too when others think that of your perspective? Are you happy to receive such feedback and input (in a polite if sarcastic manner) or would see yourself above such reproach?
My house, my rules.
Understood but that doesn’t answer the question posed.
Now you are answering yourself?
The system did not permit me to reply to the last response (there was no ‘reply’ option against the “my house, my rules” comment. I therefore responded to the comment before it in an attempt to gain the clarification originally sought.
I disagree with you on a couple of points.
DRS is a fantastic idea, if it were up to the driver to use it whenever they want to use it, with no activation zones. It changes it from ‘push-to-pass’ desecration of overtaking to ‘wow this guy really has huge big brass balls’ when someone activates it halfway out of a corner to get that extra tenth to pass someone into the next corner.
I also think that having hybrid engines is a great idea, but not at the cost of having amazing engines in the first place. Give me a screaming V8/10/12 plus KERS so that we can have them revving at 18k revs and still have power during shifts, and boost. My point is that it should be possible to integrate electric motors to decent engines and produce better performance than just those engines alone.
Finally I would add that the relentless focus on safety has ruined F1. It used to be about bad boys who stared death in the face every weekend and didn’t blink. A braver driver was able to use that to his advantage in races and we as the audience could marvel at whether he was crazy or a genius or both. There is not as much reason to respect today’s drivers, because while they are technically as good, they don’t really seem to be putting anything on the line. I know it’s unpopular to want danger in F1, but that is what people want to see, what gets the adrenaline pumping.
Let me understand you clearly if you would, please…..’DRS is a fantastic idea, IF….with no activation zones’. ??
Well it’s not configured like that so you’re saying it sucks?
Great. we agree then. Just another gimmick.
Yeah, if your problem isn’t with moveable aero in principle, and only with it being used to create artificial overtakes, then we are in complete agreement. DRS would be fantastic if the drivers could open the wing up whenever they felt like it.
+1 – sound perspective Alex, couldn’t disagree with any of your suggestions!
Not sure about all the suggested steps to rectify F1 however up until then, your perspective is sound. Would agree that one shouldn’t be a naysayer or take the pessimistic stance by default however having rose-tinted glasses isn’t a completely objective perspective either.
This is my opinion.
And like noses, everyone has one that’s unique to themselves :0)
Nicely put..another excellent article..
F1 isn’t broke, it never has really been.. Its been a bit “bent/scratched/in need of an oil change” every so often but never worthy of the scrapheap as some are saying.
its not perfect though but that’s part of the appeal.. Its no longer a sport as such but now big business with big time players (squeezing the small guys out) and a lot at stake and everyone is out for themselves but every 2 weeks I and millions of others, still sit down and watch (on free to air) the race/highlights from start to finish and then talk about it amongst friends on Monday..always have done..hopefully always will do.
Its funny that the sports dying on its feet because Hamilton/Mercedes have won two in a row..it wasn’t that long ago that Ferrari/Schumacher then Red Bull/Vettell had long win(g?)ing streaks but I dont recall all that big a fuss. teams just got there head down and tried to catch up….
anyway keep up the excellent work and bring on F1 2016!.
@SimonSays
“Its funny that the sports dying on its feet because Hamilton/Mercedes have won two in a row..it wasn’t that long ago that Ferrari/Schumacher then Red Bull/Vettell had long win(g?)ing streaks but I dont recall all that big a fuss. teams just got there head down and tried to catch up…”
A) The problems today aren’t by any stretch simply due to Mercedes’ domination (although 1 team dominating never helps). I had a good old rant above ^ (see post above yours) ^ and Mercedes’ dominance didn’t even feature.
B) I think you need to jog your memory if you don’t recall a big fuss about the Ferrari/Schumacher or Red Bull/Vettel dominance of the past…
In 2003 the FIA actually changed the points distribution to try and stop Schumacher winning so easily, that’s quite a big fuss.
You might also remember that exhaust blown diffusers are now banned and engine maps are restricted, primarily so that Red Bull didn’t continue their domination using the technology that they had perfected.
Sorry for the history lesson. I just felt your closing statement implied that the teams today are somehow acting like babies? If so, I think you’re missing the point. The teams and drivers may vocalise disatisfaction with the rules because they make the spectacle less exciting / feel that the drivers aren’t “racing” for much of the GP but I’ve not heard teams complaining that Mercedes are winning. In fact, the teams are usually the first to accept that the boys & girls in Brackley have just done a better job.
The descent I’m addressing is more far-reaching. It’s about the fans not being happy with F1 full-stop, rather than the teams having sour grapes at the success of Mercedes. This sentiment isn’t about Ferrari or Red Bull fans being unhappy at losing either… I’d give me right arm for such a cosmetic gripe given the circumstances. My beloved Ferrari can lose for another 10 years if I could just have some proper engines back and drivers at maximum attack for the whole race.
To follow-on from your point above re discussing with friends on a Monday. I used to do the same. Now those discussions usually end quickly with:
– No I couldn’t be bothered to watch it
OR
– Yeah, it was cr*p / boring wasn’t it
That was the first sign for me that things were going really wrong!
I deperately hope that F1 sees the light soon.
The sport is dying on its feet because it isn’t exciting any more. There are no more overtakes, or indeed daredevil drivers.
Steel brakes, no more wings, and let the drivers talk like normal people, then I’ll stop my old man complaining. I have indeed lost touch with many of the sports I grew up following; I hope it doesn’t happen with F1.
Nice suggestions – have never really understood why steel brakes have never been seriously considered. Letting the drivers not be gagged by commercial marketing men (and women) would be a god send!
“but the grey City men don’t care. It is business. There is no passion involved.” And sadly this is the attitude of many at the teams factories too, because the rise of technology and size of teams means that’s all it is now, a factory job; a j.o.b. that pays more that’s all. Yes, we’re grateful, not for any emotion-charged end game but because it provides a good standard of living.
I doubt you’ll ever get a real life insight of the factory side though because not even your press-pass can access it, and when people are interviewed… it’s for the press isn’t it. Long may it live, we all have bills to pay!
To some extent I agree but these places still run on passion.
I would have to think there’s some passion involved to work the hours that they do. I doubt it’s a 9 to 5 type job, and I doubt the pay is that much better than other industries.
I’ll disagree with Joe. All of the people in Pitlane are the most passionate fans. Most don’t get paid anywhere near enough to compensate for the grueling job that working in F1 is. It destroys their health even their families, only passion for what they do could compensate what they do. I’m very close to someone who tried and failed, he payed with his family and health. It would not surprise me if Joe misses a GP this year for the first time since …
Slightly disturbed that F1 journalists see it as their job to act as boosters for the sport they cover – I thought part of the job was to hold power to account, but it seems almost everyone is terrified of upsetting the Poison Dwarf. I wonder why? I can certainly understand how F1 is a thrilling spectacle to those who are lucky enough to earn their living flying around the world to produce breathless accounts of these amazingly subtle contests, but outside the bubble it’s not quite as enthralling. I’d love you to do a proper job on these 400 million television viewers and drill down into the demographics. The UK figure will be a tiny fraction of the global total, so where are they all coming from? Clearly Renault think it’s worth the investment. Maybe you could do a big piece on how the numbers all add up for a manufacturer, because I don’t think I’d touch F1 with a bargepole if it was my money.
People are frightened of powerful people who can mess around their jobs if they choose to do.
Why have they felt the need to mess around with the qualifying format? It was fine as it was. This elimination idea is hare brained at best.
Secondly, (but actually more importantly) if this is truly the end for genuine, open cockpit racing, then F1 has failed. I want to see drivers putting it all on the line with their incredible skill and bravery. They are massively rewarded financially and socially and this is a fair exchange for the risks that F1 brings. The drivers can’t have it both ways. The dangers are part of what makes F1 so interesting.
“The answer is very simple: F1 fans are passionate. And there are an awful lot of them… The biggest asset F1 has is its fans. Most of them are part of the silent majority. They are not out there tweeting negativity every two minutes. They are not always asking negative questions and thinking it makes them look smart. They are not making up fantasy stories to get clicks in the hope that they can dance on the yellow brick road with Judy Garland.”
Nail on the head. It’s a problem across the board not just for F1 (I’m looking at you, The Guardian) – these people outraged on the internet aren’t everyone, and their opinion isn’t necessarily public opinion.
How do you know? I AM outraged and I’m not only on the internet.
I know many people who used to love F1 and now not a single person I know does (including big motorsports fans, some of whom are active racing drivers) – some have moved their passion to MotoGP. It is purely anecdotal, so a crude measure, but I am the last one who bothers to watch F1 and I do so out of loyalty rather than the enjoyment I used to get out of it.
I don’t assume that everyone holds the same view as me but ask yourself, how can there be this much hype about everyone being ****ed off with F1 without there being a strong basis in truth?
– Current and ex-drivers regularly vocalise that the sport has gone down the wrong path.
– Read the response of fans in this thread to Joe’s rallying cry, it’s at best mixed (being polite) and that’s on an F1 blog, where you’d expect the readership to be partisan diehards, right? What does that tell you?
– Even Mr E has said F1 is the worst it’s ever been and he’s supposed to be the sport’s biggest promoter.
What is more likely?
1. That there is this massive silent majority that doesn’t speak up and is delighted with F1 – you love that drivers nurse their tyres for vast portions of the race, that they have to save fuel, that they use DRS to breeze past people on the straights, that 95% of all overtaking manoeuvres in the top half are totally contrived due to a massive delta in tyre deg, that the engines sound like hairdryers rather than roaring monsters and that they have to last 5 races, that there are ludicrous penalties for changing vital organs, that we talk FAR more about tyre management than we do about racing. You enjoy the predictability that comes with no refuelling, the lack of strategic options it brings and to know that if your man is 6th after lap 5 then that’s probably where he’ll finish. You really get-off on the efficiency of those PUs and despite the lack of theatre and all the fuel-saving, you’re still in rapture with the fact that they’re using a third less fuel than the V8s… awesome man.
OR
2. That you are in fact part of a silent MINORITY that will accept this flaccid attempt at F1?
I firmly believe it’s the latter and that things need to change. But if you are happy, you carry on, Sir. Enjoy it on my behalf and for all our fallen comrades.
+1 – salient points that resonated with this F1 fan who has followed the sport from the age of 9 (sadly less so nowadays though)
All I know is I am looking forward to Australia and to being at the Montreal F1 race. As far as other people finding F1 boring, as my old drill instructor told me and my 39 roommates in boot camp: opinions are like noses. Everybody has one.
Hear hear…from one of the many in the silent majority!
People fantasize about the “good Ole days.”. Go back and watch some of those races as I have been doing with my son. There were some snoozers back then too. But there are also some fantastic races among them. Like the golfer who shoots 100, but has the one good shot that makes him come back, it makes us get up on Sunday mornings and watch. Remember Murray used to say, ‘anything can happen in formula 1, and it usually does.’. That’s what makes me watch every fortnight.
There’s something I never understand about F1 negativity. Why is it the only sport where, after a contest which has been less exciting than expected or has been dominated by one participant, people demand that the rules be changed?
There are boring contests in football, tennis, golf, even the Olympics… But nobody seems to suggest afterwards that “the show” needs “spicing up”.
Maybe it’s because F1 tinkers with its rules a lot more than other sports – but no matter what the rules are, in just about any given season there will be some outstanding races, a lot of good races and some boring races.
Maybe it’s because other sports don’t have their top brass telling the world that the product they are supposed to be promoting is utter rubbish.
Maybe it’s because there are so few contests in a season compared to other sports that there is increased focus on each one and the entertainment it provides.
Whatever the reason, I find it immensely frustrating. F1 was great in the past, it’s great now and it will be great in the future. But not every race can be a classic!
@bigrobmac
I agree with your much of your argument and I think that the tinkering is where F1 went wrong.
The sport wasn’t broken and it didn’t need fixing but in its chasing of ‘the show’ it lost its way. Any moves to artificially spice things up have (in my view) been where it’s gone wrong; tyres that degrade unnecessarily quickly becuase of one barmy race in Canada, DRS because Fernando got stuck behind Petrov, it’s all knee-jerk stuff that has contributed to an overall loss of authenticity.
I don’t think F1 is great today. It still has moments where it’s great but they are far less than they used to be and that is because when it IS boring (and all sports have boring events sometimes), you can’t entertain yourself with watching drivers holding on to savage machines, flying around a track as fast as possible. The reality is they aren’t driving the wheels off because they can’t and everyone knows it, so it really is boring.
But you are right, it’s the tinkering where we went wrong. If they’d just left it alone, we would’ve been fine, thanks.
bigrobmac – you’ve touched on a very pertinent point. When the rules were (relatively) stable in terms of the points distribution being 9-6-4-3-2-1, there wasn’t such an inclination to change things on a constant basis. With that stability came credibility – this is why other sports are hugely reluctant to change rules. If they did so, it devalues the sporting credentials of the competition. In F1, the participants have too much say in the rule making while the governing body’s power is nominal at best. Could you imagine FIFA (despite it being in the fiasco it is now), suddenly extending extra time or changing the size of pitches/goals for the sake of ‘the show’? Of course not, these changes are gimmicks and devalue any sport. F1 has already made its choice in this respect and is paying the long term price for its short term gain.
Half the problem is that the sport only ever seems to try and “fix” problems that are not really problems. Everything that has been announced in the last two days is addressing issues that are on the periphery. Nothing is there to address the fundamental problem that aerodynamics have created a situation where one car cannot get close enough to another car to try and pass. In fact, the front wings are going to be bigger, so it will get worse. DRS does a half-decent job of reducing this problem but it is only a sticking plaster. And who really likes it?
Aerodynamics cannot be unlearned so what is required is some top brains – of which there are many in the sport – to sit down and come up with a set of rules that will lead to cars being able to follow one another more easily. Why is that so hard?
Personally, I think the sport should be run by Gary Anderson (Technical) and Joe Saward (Commercial). They’d sort it out!
Who remembers Nena these days? 🙂
My point, I think
Speaking as a Grumpy old git we have had most of this argument several times before, so I am going to ignore the wider picture and just answer the “Why Renault” part.
I think Renault in back in for two main reasons, one domestic and one export.
Renault has been closing factories in France and suffering the usual riots for its actions. Renault have been opening factories and JVs in countries far away which does their home image to the “man in the street” no good at all. (In the UK Renault have royally pissed of their dealers with unreachable sales targets, while at the same time vastly extending lead times so if they sell a car they cannot deliver it for months, both my local dealers have quit Renault during 2015)
So for the domestic market Renault need to raise their profile and the public perception of their greatness, to wipe out the disgrace of their last foray into F1.to make the French proud of them again. Gain kudos with the
On the export side Renault have JVs in China and expect their new electric models to become big over there once the factories are completed this may hopefully coincide with the Chinese market picking up again. (Though various banks may screw this up.) Then there is Iran which used to be a big Renault market, now deemed a friendly trading partner again, they have been almost knocked over in the stampede to do business there; everyone you can think of waving fistfuls of money! (Surprising Bernie is not over there,organising a GP.) In the interim the name of Renault has subsided and need re-generating. High profile F1 GPs in nearby countries may help. Especially if Renault F1 team do not screw up.
Kudos with the masses. (oh for an edit feature!)
As a grumpy old man, I take issue with your characterization of us 🙂 I think there is very little wrong with the sport that the departure of CVC and that horrible little man, Bernie, who should be exiled to Russia, wouldn’t cure.. If the FIA took control of the sport, after cleaning up its own corrupt act, and did some proper marketing, things would be great.
The technology in F1 is fantastic and it’s also useful. The whining about noise is done by children. Anyone with a brain knows that noise, is a waste of energy. A good designer would strive to make the car as quiet as possible and would also like to eliminate the heat generated since it too is a waste of energy.
I am English but I live in the US. The coverage of F1 in the US is worse than useless (Note: I don’t blame the on air talent for this) so I contrive to watch on Sky. If Bernie Ecclestone had a functioning brain then he would realize that a partnership with someone like Sky where they streamed all the content over the Internet so it was available worldwide. I think most fans would pay a reasonable fee to see every practice session covered properly. The Sky people are at the track and there are enough of them to cover it all. The coverage here in the US is done from a studio in Stamford, Connecticut – how can you cover an F1 race from a studio. The notion is absurd.
To be fair it has been like that for about 20 years. It was ESPN in the 1990s when they last had more than a pit lane reporter on-site
Wasn’t John Bisignano from ESPN?
Yes, he was. It was Hobbs, Varsha, Bisignano and Economaki, if I remember correctly. The producer was Jeff Hallas.
Also note Joe for decades we’ve paid to watch Formula One. Behind a pay wall as many here call it. No free to air. Guess what… we lived. Others will as well. Life costs money.
I could not agree with you more, especially about streaming. When will F1 get into the twenty first century?
You think it’s bad in the States, in Canada we get FP2, qualifying just as it starts and off air as soon as it ends, with the same for the race. No pre or post commentary or interviews. And we have to get it as a pay package. One positive thing is that we used to get the feed from the BBC, this year who knows!!!!!!
We here in the States have watched F1 behind a pay package for decades. I can only snicker when I read the crying over not having it on free to air tv. Too bad, value costs money. 😉
I am in the southeast US and I watch F1 just as you: via someone streaming Sky, and have done for years. You are absolutely spot on with your assessment in the last paragraph!
F1 isn’t a great series for a spectator or ordinary fan/enthusiast as far i’m concerned. It has been slipping downhill all this century, and infact as far back as the narrow track / awful grooved tyres of the last years of the 20th century.
It needs a complete overhaul, and whilst the PU’s are remarkable, they are more gimmick than anything. Recently it was shown that the 150mpg claims for certain Hybrids sold in the UK were some 100mpg out at least….but then tampering with figures on engine parameters is a sore subject in the Automotive World at present.
Why do Merc, Ferrari, Honda & RBR stay? Well Merc is winning eveything and their Board has not yet got bored with that concept…Ferrari would still be there if it was transformed into a Soapbox series, just as long as they could have an ICE in there somewheres……Honda, well how long Honda stays is not something I’d want to put good money on, as if things don’t look up, they will surely exit stage left soon. RBR? Well they have a problem as they have 2 teams with constricted PU’s and no other options. The teams are not very sellable at present as there are no long queues of buyers are there?
Which leads us to Haas & Renault. Personally, I think Mr Haas won’t have too bad a time, but will he impress many potential Machinery Buyers with his cars running around in the Midfield? Which may well turn out to be the case.
Renault? Many years back i knew a guy who owned a garage, quite a busy one. However his main thing in life was being a Main Dealer….in British Leyland products. He just loved being a Main Dealer, it was Prestige and Ego enhancing….but it didn’t make him any money and in the end his Dealership colllapsed….being an F1 Team is Prestige & Ego enhancing for the Renault Big Wigs for the time being, but how long that time is depends on how they progress.
I haven’t bothered to check, but it looks like the numbers of comments here are no better than 50/50 at suggesting there’s nothing wrong. And i seem to recall that SKY were only getting 500,000 viewers for a race, whereas the BBC recorded shows were doing several Million….will C4 be able to do that?
I might get called a Naysayer, but i’m not, i’m a pragmatist, and my feeling is that the F1 Circus, in all areas, is out of step with the Fan Base, and has been for a fair time now. Much as the Westminster Bubble in UK Politics is out of step with the voting public. The F1 Circus is too close to the problems and either can’t see them, or just doesn’t want to as they are still making lots of cash from it….either way it is a sad situation in my view.
However, i’m looking forward to reading GP+, well that is the bits i’m know i’m going to be interested in…..as to the 2016 F1 series, well, why don’t they just give Hammy & Nico a Euro and let them toss for it…..would save the Environment a lot of Pollution and we can then spend this year looking forward to any more absurd ideas for F1 2017!
Bang on the money Damian.
Hmmmm. I welcome your article Joe, but… I think F1 in its current form is definitely lacking something to be honest. I’m not really one to wallow in the glory days of anything, but I really can’t muster as much passion or enthusiasm for most of today’s crop of drivers, cars and circuits, compared to the late-90s when we had Michael, Mika, Damon, Ralf, Jacques, Eddie, Jean etc screaming around better circuits than today’s Tilke-dromes in their V10s, and the races one watches from the 70s were even better than that.
I’ve attended two races in the past year or so – Abu Dhabi in 2014 and Singapore 2015. I’ll be attending Mexico 2016 also. I know this is a drop in the ocean compared to your attendance, but… they were kinda boring. The cars DIDN’T sound good; really, they didn’t. Particularly in Singapore a few months ago, they sounded like wheezing vacuum cleaners, and completely lacked that aural magic that thrills fans’ ears. The spectacle wasn’t really much to write home about, though I understand that you take your chances at any track in any era – physically, one can only see the straight or corner in front of oneself, and so unless a great manoeuvre or crash occurs on that particular patch of tarmac you’re going to feel cheated. But it was definitely lacking something – it felt sterile; removed; neutered… I’ll keep going to at least one exotic race per year, because it’s a great excuse to combine visiting new locations etc, but I truly believe we need less aero, more overtaking opportunities, better sounding engines and more thrilling characters if the sport is to genuinely make the leap from its current older generation of fans towards the youth generation who right now wouldn’t even recognise an F1 car unless some imbecile like Kim Kardashian or Kanye West was sat in it…
Parallel TV-deals with free2air & pay are totally fine. Exclusive pay-deals rather not so — limiting the audience.
F1 has been a pay deal only here in the States for decades. Get used to it.
It is not quite the same level of paying and I don;t see why you need to be so aggressive in your approach. This is supposed to be a civilised comment section. Thank you.
I don’t necessarily disagree, but I guess I’d quibble a little bit. F1 succeeds in spite of itself, because of the passion of fans.
I don’t want to stick my head in the sand and ignore the glaring problems with F1 (mostly management and money related). If those issues could be sorted, F1 could be even better than it is. A great start would, for sure, be management not badmouthing their own product.
Everyone likes a quibble
Bernie owns a few pets but he does not treat them well, he feeds them rubbish and they gobble it up and beg for more. It is actually quite cruel but they are just very simple dumb animals.
I should cancel this reply …
Sports in which you can change the core sporting rules are always subject to this sort of crap. No-one messes with tennis, football, etc to make a better show. I used to be a serious competitor in a minor sport, with no fan base but a world wide federation. The administrators were tripping over themselves to change the rules to try to get into the Olympics. It was never going to happen, but they had stars in their eyes. So, they wanted to ruin the sport for the competitors, who spent all their money and time, to chase some imaginary fan base and unreachable dream. Even FIFA is not stupid enough to change football, and smart enough to keep the World Cup as the pinnacle. F1 seems fortunate in that the competitors (teams) have some influence at least. The problem though is that teams can make the rules more advantageous for themselves. It’s like F1 needs a third party who is only there to advocate for the health of the competition.
You mean like a governing body like the FIA? Oh hold on.. :0)
Time to add my own opinions I think!
I don’t see there is much wrong with the cars and spectacle for a start. I’m perfectly happy with the PU’s, moving with the times and so on, the only thing I would like to see changed is the aerodynamics so that they can follow each other closer. If that means less aero then so be it, a faster car/driver should be able to get past.
But then (sighs) my grumpy old man bit. I have been to a race every year for the last twenty years or so (and a few back in the 70’s as well, there was a gap!) but now every new race except Austin is somewhere I have no desire to visit. Bear in mind when I go abroad it is a holiday as well so now I only go to Silverstone every year and have a great time. So why lose European races in favour of all the far flung ones? I’ve seen the empty grandstands there as well so apparently even the locals aren’t interested. And, sorry to say neither am I.
The TV coverage. It seems to me that pay-to-view makes no sense to anyone except CVC. For myself I really enjoyed the BBC coverage, even the highlight shows, and refuse to pay Sky for a sports package which I don’t want and would take away pretty much all my Silverstone beer money in one hit. Also I have seen one Sky race (Australia, 2014, my wife got a free Sky 24 hour pass from somewhere) so she suggested I used it to watch the first race of the season live. Great excitement! Up early, really in the spirit, I thought the coverage was appalling! Even Martin Brundle, who I used to really enjoy on the BBC, seemed to be lacklustre and just going through the motions. I could go on about the waste of talent but let’s just say if Sky gave me live coverage free I would still have watched the BBC! This year with Channel 4? Who knows, but we’ll see.
In short, get rid of CVC, get rid of Bernie because I don’t even pretend to understand his motivations any more, put someone sensible in charge (Me? 🙂 ) and all will be well.
F1 isn’t broken, it has just ceased to be relevant and looking at the current tastes of young people, it will be dead in twenty years time. As Sir Martin Sorrell recently pointed out to the International Olympic Committee, the plethora of far more engaging and entertaining distractions that young people have access to now means that unless sports find a far better way to connect with and entertain younger audiences, they will simply die. To make things worse, the increasingly sedentary lives that young people are living means there may not even be enough people good to compete in them let alone watch them. When you realise that the largest audience for F1 now skews heavily as 40+, male and white, its very clear where F1 is headed.
good post thanks.
The old Flavio Briatore or the new improved Flavio Briatore?
Both are undesirable…
The manufacturers like Mercedes, Renault, Honda, and Ferrari are in F1 for targeted marketing as well as being able to try out and develop things for use in road cars on the race track while running the costs through their R&D departments/budget. For example, Mercedes hybrid technology that has been developed in F1 and transitioned to their road cars.
F1 is the manufacturer’s playground and, for the most part, the manufacturer’s wants and wishes are considered. Parts of the show are tweaked as long as do so won’t be adverse to the manufacturer’s wants and needs. The second consideration is Bernie’s/CVC’s wants and needs and whether any changes would be adverse to their interests.
If the FIA can ever loosen the manufacturer’s grip on F1’s balls, the show will become more fan friendly. Until then, F1 is what it is.
Joe, I would be one of those grumpy old men who complain from time to time about the state of F1.
These would be one of those times.
I love the sport & will never stop watching but I deplore seeing an F1 car being driven to deltas to conserve tyres & fuel.
I like to see a car having its neck wrung & seeing it on the limit for as much of the race as possible & none of this coast & save.
I loved the qualifying when they put in a grenade instead of an engine, wafer thin discs & tyres made of Gorilla snot. It was wonderful to see car on the ragged edge in the hands of an elite driver & knowing that was the absolute max for man & machine.
F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of the sport. If they want to show they are green then they have a myriad of other categories they can use to demonstrate green technology.
As for having relevance to road cars they once again have many other categories they can use for this purpose.
But if it has to be F1 let them put the engines up front & make them front wheel drive.
I will still continue to follow & watch as I love the sport in all its guises & I believe the present crop of drivers are as good as any there have ever been since I started following F1 & that was 1950
A really old grumpy old man.