F1 needs to promote itself better, says critics
In light of the financial struggles which Grands Prix have been experiencing over recent years, Formula One bosses have voiced a need for the sport to make itself more accessible to the public. Many argue
that F1 needs to utilize the internet more effectively to draw in revenue, and to build a closer relationship between the drivers and their fan base.
Gerard Lopez, the F1 chairman of Renault, argues that F1 has been lacking in its use of newer technology and will need to take big steps to keep up with the rest of the business world. The entrepreneur
stated in an interview with AUTOSPORT, “Formula 1 does need to promote itself better as it is a global sport. It probably also needs to monetise better, which is a different thing. Promoting means putting money into something and hoping you get known, monetising
means making money. The future of the sport is an evolution in terms of adding additional media channels and increasing revenue to the sport [and] is also the new geography it's trying to go to. To do a better job acquiring audience in these new geographies,
we all know what it takes to do that – which is having a successful driver from these places.”
Lopez’s comments come into agreement with McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh’s, who also believes that F1 needs an effective change. Not taking advantage of the internet medium, Lopez argued, is one way
to effectively diminish the popularity of F1. “You can do it the wrong way, like the music industry, where you don't do anything at the beginning, then you do something that is half-baked, and then you find that you're in a troublesome situation,” he cautioned.
“Bernie [Ecclestone] has waited for the market to mature, and nobody can criticise F1 in terms of security – it has been a very protected model – so now is the right time to act. F1 does not need to be more famous, but needs to do a better job at monetising
itself outside of television rights and so on.”
He added, "We know that all the races, including all the black and white ones, are now digitised, so there's a huge amount of historic content that you can sell. Then there's all the betting sites, and
not just the high-end betting, [but] also the fun betting. Then there is gaming. Technology is coming out now for real-time gaming, so you can start the race on Sunday at 2pm and be part of the race. There are so many areas that can be developed. You have
to have a sport where the teams themselves don't just criticise but make proposals. I think our role as teams is to not just voice criticism, which might be warranted, but also voice ideas."
Lopez also argued that the drivers themselves need to step out of the paddock and devote more time to the fans. “It's very easy to criticise F1 as a sport and be detached, but we [Renault] push our drivers
to walk without guards and so on, one kilometre down to the cars,” he commented. “Why? Because we think it's a good thing and nobody's going to kill them. Nobody's going to rob them. At the most, people are going to touch them. Being over-protective of the
drivers is kind of a first measure of not being close to your fans. Vitaly [Petrov] and Robert [Kubica] will sign autographs for an hour, and those are little things where you tell yourself that even we as teams need to do a better job. And sometimes a better
job at doing nothing means not over-policing it.”
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