For many motorsport fans – and aspiring drivers – Formula One is seen as the pinnacle of modern day Motorsport, its the series that every other as to look up to; its the series that eclipses all others; It’s the series that puts engineering and development at its very centre. Today though I’m going to challenge those theories and tell you why I think “the pinnacle” isn’t a phrase that we will associate with Formula One for very much longer…
To start with, we need to take a look at Formula One’s reach around the globe. If any World Championship series is to succeed in catching the imagination of new race fans – both young and old – it needs to inspire them. Currently Formula One is stuck in its old ways of making access to the teams, the drivers and the races difficult. It needs to embrace social media, it needs to put it’s drivers more directly in the public eye.
The one thing that needs to be done is making “race day” more accessible to a wider range of people. For a family of four to attend JUST the race-day at Silverstone in 2015 it will cost close to £500 (with early booking discounts and not including travel etc.) and why is this? Because those in charge insist on setting ludicrously high tariffs for the tracks to host the Grand Prix in the first place. And the only way the tracks can recoup the cost is by charging fans a high ticket price.
Now we need to look at how Formula One views itself. While declining viewing figures say the contrary, F1 still sees itself as the highlight of every motorsport fan’s weekend. That might have been true in the past, but with so many quality alternatives Motorsport is more accessible than ever before.
While viewing figures in the USA rose by 18% last year, to 11.4million. This still means their audience total is less than half of that of the UK (29 million) and with the USA having nearly 5 times the population of the UK it isn’t hard to see that F1 hasn’t quite captured the American public’s imagination, and why is that? Because F1 insists on antagonising the American motorsport fan.
Following the 2005 tyre debacle at The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Formula One has been struggling to make its way back in to the American public’s thoughts.While making headway however, it has decided to schedule the American Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas at exactly the same time, in the exact same State as the antepenultimate race of the 2014 Sprint Cup Series. While there are still rumours there could be a change of date it looks as though American Motorsport fans will have to choose between F1 and NASCAR, which do you think will win that war?
My final point is thus. In the past Formula One as always been at the leader in terms of embracing and developing new technology. However, extremely tight rules mean that F1 drivers are running around in cars that at their very base are almost identical. This coupled with the fact that any new idea that designers and engineers develop is quickly banned, usually after the first half of the season as concluded. My point is proven by the mid-season in 2011 of off-throttle blown diffusers and the 2014 ban of the FRIC suspension system.
This is in stark contrast to the World Endurance Championship, where there are multiple manufacturers (Audi, Toyota and Porsche) competing against each other, with Nissan to come for 2015. The rules in WEC however allow the designers and engineers to be imaginative, each of the LMP1-H cars in the 2014 season as a different engine and hybrid arrangement. This has given us some tremendous races with each car being at its most effective at different time during the race. This is no better highlighted than this years Le Mans 24 Hours where the podium positions were still undecided going in to the last few hours.
For now I believe that F1 is still the pinnacle of World Wide Motorsport. It still attracting the best drivers and it is still the dream for many of the next generation. However If F1 is going to maintain it’s position at the forefront it needs to embrace a more open rulebook, while listening to the fansand watching what is making other Championships so successful.
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