New F1 owner Liberty Media making room for its fans in race-car driving’s fast line
Seven races into its second season at the helm of Formula One, there’s little doubt new owner Liberty Media has brought change to the sport.
Fans only have to pop onto a social-media site to see the difference from the Bernie Ecclestone days when everything in F1 was tightly controlled and any move outside the accepted lines was harshly and swiftly punished.
Liberty spent the better part of its first year at the helm reversing that mindset and ensuring fans got a closer look into the inner workings of the sport, especially on social media. It’s a move that may go a long way to help attract younger audiences to a sport with an increasingly older fan base.
“If I go back, I feel pretty good about what we’ve achieved and where we’ve gotten to in 12 months,” F1 chairman Chase Carey told the New York Times in March.
“We want every one of our races to be really a weeklong celebration that captures the world’s imagination. And then we wanted to make sure we connect because obviously only a small slice of our fans are there live.”
The U.S.-based media company bought the commercial rights to F1 from investment company CVC Capital Partners for US$10.4 billion year that he wants to bring a race to the streets of Miami. Two races in the U.S. has been a goal since the series returned to that market in 2000 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, although that grand prix went away in 2007. F1 has raced in Austin, Texas, since 2012.
While Liberty quickly harvested some low-hanging fruit to enhance the fan experience, the heavy lifting of finding consensus among teams in a paddock, affectionately known as the Piranha Club, has proven more challenging.
Changes to technical regulations are needed because opening the series to fans won’t help much when the on-track product remains less than optimum. Recent aerodynamic regulations and complex engine rules have delivered cars that make close racing almost impossible, which usually leads to processional races unless the unexpected happens.
It can get so bad that sometimes even the drivers find it tough to stay interested.
“This is probably the most boring race ever,” said McLaren driver Fernando Alonso after the Monaco Grand Prix two weeks ago.
“The sport needs to think a little bit about the show because this is very disappointing. We probably need to give something to the fans at the end of the race just to pay their tickets back a little.”
The teams also want a bigger piece of F1’s revenue pie when the commercial agreement in place expires in 2020, while on the other hand many race promoters also want a better deal from Liberty after being strong-armed by Ecclestone into onerous contracts with huge fees. Essentially, Liberty faces a situation where it may need to pay more money to teams while bringing in less money from races.
Undaunted, Liberty unveiled its broad ideas for 2021 and beyond in April: a US$150-million budget cap, cheaper and louder engines, more standardized parts and a more equitable distribution of revenues among the teams.
“We want to preserve, protect and enhance that history by unleashing F1’s potential, by putting our fans at the heart of a more competitive and more exciting sport,” said Carey.
“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.”
Unfortunately, the massively esoteric hybrid engine technology pushed by F1’s manufacturers not only alienates much of its core fan base, but also makes the sport even more inaccessible to the casual observer.
Although Mercedes and Ferrari made rumblings about leaving if the “power unit” regulations were changed, it appears they relented in meetings at the Monaco Grand Prix. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff told reporters in Monte Carlo that it was agreed to get rid of one of the energy recovery systems called the MGU-H.
The concession would mean higher-revving engines and the loosening of restrictions on fuel consumption, which should deliver the louder engines fans want, and perhaps move things toward better racing.
“We believe that in terms of technology, it’s a backwards step, but for the sake of increasing the entertainment, we went for a certain compromise,” Wolff said.
“It’s not the most correct approach from the point of view of the environment, but we can understand it. We are all close to reaching an agreement.”
We want every one of our races to be really a weeklong celebration that captures the world’s imagination.