By Parth Jhaveri
F1 for long was perceived to be a sport for the ultra-elite, rich tycoons who consumed this high adrenaline, electrifying sport in opulence. Multibillionaires flexed their financial muscle by buying and sponsoring teams, Entrepreneurs showed up to the paddock to network around and amongst this circus of money, technology and business, stood a casual F1 fan looking to get more access to the world of F1.
Now, make no mistake, F1 till date remains an expensive sport, but gone are the days when the sport largely targeted wealthier and older fans. With Liberty Media acquiring F1 in 2017 for $4.4 billion, the US based conglomerate opened its doors wide open for the young generation of fans and made concrete attempts to market F1 amongst the youth.
Liberty Media have played their cards right. Firstly, employing social media, digitalisation and Netflix to draw the youth audience towards the sport and then expanding its global footprint, mainly making US a key area of significance.
While Europe always had rabid F1 fans, the same enthusiasm did not land to the US shores.
Liberty Media’s deal with Netflix for ‘Drive to Survive’ proved to be the gamechanger. Through ‘Drive to Survive’ and social media expansion, Liberty Media managed to create the hook in the minds of millennials and Gen Z in the US.
Their gangster move has redefined sports marketing and created buzz across the globe that refuses to die down. Next, the F1 owners armoured YouTube and Instagram with F1 race weekend content, hitting at the perfect spot of this digitally native generation.
Once the craze amongst the young US fans was created, Liberty Media decided to expand the F1 map by adding more GPs in the US. With new tracks came the glitz and the glamour too. Hollywood celebrities, Rappers, Pop stars, athletes from other sports flooded the tracks of Miami and Las Vegas. Another calculated move by Liberty Media to bring faces and celebrities to the races that youngsters resonate with.
With 3 F1 races every year on US soil for the foreseeable future, it is safe to say that F1 has made a mark amongst the US audience and that too with a bang. However, F1’s US obsession comes at an inevitable cost.
Firstly, the addition of new modern circuits like Miami and Las Vegas, poses questions over the continuity of traditional F1 tracks in the long term. Under Liberty Media, F1 has gone onto not only add Miami and Las Vegas to the calendar but also expanded their foothold in Middle East with added racetracks in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
As a result, some of the traditional and popular circuits have faced the brunt of the new age expansion.
Spa-Francorchamps, the longest F1 track on the current calendar, will soon be raced in alternative seasons. The undulating, high octane circuit, which is one of the fan favourites will not be raced in 2028 and 2030 seasons.
France’s Circuit Paul Ricard has already been dropped from the calendar and murmurs of more traditional circuits being dropped continue to circulate.
With F1 expanding to new circuits, the current calendar stands at 24 races in a season, posing workload management questions to teams, drivers, technicians, mechanics and whole F1 ensemble.
While the debate of athlete workload continues to wrack brains of many in football, not much has yet been spoken about F1. Not just for the drivers, who are the crown jewels of the sport but for the whole F1 ecosystem.
Having 24 races across the world coupled with sponsor events, car testing and commercial presence translates to being roughly 150 to 200 days away from home. At some point, too many races will start hurting the drivers, their efficiency and their lives, which in turn would affect the quality of the sport and the races.
This is the silent inevitable cost that keeps on adding up. Liberty Media have done an exceptional job in popularizing the sport amongst the youth, have made US a strong consumption market and made a concrete push to become a truly global sport but they now need to strike a balance where the tradition isn’t lost nor is the quality, after all F1 is where innovation meets tradition.
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