FIA President Jean Todt criticises Formula 1 circuits for TV decline
President of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), Jean Todt, has recently stated that circuits have played a role in Formula One’s “TV decline”, due to lack of overtakes at each race making F1 a bit boring.
The rate of television audience all across the world has decreased for Formula 1 as he believes that circuits like the Yas Marina are making the sport boring even though the Abu Dhabi circuit is held up by the CEO of Formula 1 Management, Bernie Ecclestone,
as one of the most appealing circuits of the world.
“Races like Abu Dhabi in 2010, where you cannot overtake, are unacceptable. Recent data indicates a fall in the numbers of spectators. People have many choices in how to spend their leisure and every day we must ask ourselves how we can improve the entertainment”,
Todt told the media.
Other than that, the chief executive of the Yas Marina circuit, Richard Cregan, stated that the current problem exists in the older circuits as well and that the new circuits are not suffering from this problem alone.
“We are looking at various track modifications that we have to do for MotoGP and also what impact they would have on Formula One. We want to be active in terms of increasing the spectacle,” said Richard.
On top of that, Jean stated that the lack of visibility of the drivers during a race is another major factor, which contributes to the sport’s televised audience’s decline. It is not easy to judge, which driver is driving, which car, while watching F1 on
TV, while in NASCAR, it is clearly visible and their organizers have done a good job in making this feature prominent on the television.
Besides this matter, the FIA’s president defended F1’s new rules, which he vows are going to make racing “greener” starting from 2013.
Even though Bernie Ecclestone is against these ideas, Todt still believes that racing would become much better and the sport’s yearly budget would decrease substantially starting from 2013.
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