F1 in the age of "Reality TV"

[zeph]

I made a thread about this topic after Leclerc's 2019 win in Monza, as I felt that race and victory signaled the arrival of "F1 reality TV": viewtopic.php?p=860508#p860508

I certainly feel that we've slid down that scale over the last two years, with today's final lap showdown as the inevitable conclusion.

I understand F1 needs to find new viewers, a younger audience if it is to survive, but to what extent do we need to accept the "gamification" of the sport? Is it okay if it turns into some kind of WWE? We're not there yet, of course, far from it, but at the rate we're going I fear it might be closer than I'd care to admit.

[leftyiz]

I'm not sure Leclerc aggressive defending on Monza was the trigger, the beggining was when they started letting Max wreckless driving become the norm, unfortunately it dragged the hole field down by lowering the driving standards with this let them race (crash) policy.

As a motorsport fan I would like to see the supposedly best drivers in the world driving wheel to wheel giving each other respect/room (Raikonnen used to be very good at it) because it takes 2 to tango and it's a terrible message to send to these youngsters watching that to achieve your dreams you must step on the rules and fairness is for the weak..

So yeah we're definitely heading there, it does have some advantages though like having more races, regulations change to help cars in turbulent air ...

[ENGINE TUNER]

I'm not sure Leclerc aggressive defending on Monza was the trigger, the beggining was when they started letting Max wreckless driving become the norm, unfortunately it dragged the hole field down by lowering the driving standards with this let them race (crash) policy.

As a motorsport fan I would like to see the supposedly best drivers in the world driving wheel to wheel giving each other respect/room (Raikonnen used to be very good at it) because it takes 2 to tango and it's a terrible message to send to these youngsters watching that to achieve your dreams you must step on the rules and fairness is for the weak..

So yeah we're definitely heading there, it does have some advantages though like having more races, regulations change to help cars in turbulent air ...

Exactly this, Austria 2019 when VER crashed into and pushed LEC off track directly led to LEC pushing off HAM at 2019 Monza

[AngusF1]

The former sport known as Formula 1 is now owned by American vulture capitalists. Introducing.... "Racetainment".

If these idolaters have their way they will pervert the sport in every possible way to chase American $eyeballs$. They'll turn it into something resembling UFC, featuring:
- The proper tradition of consistent, comparable races and seasons trashed.
- Confected soap-opera drama and feuds between the drivers.
- A calendar made up and altered on a whim by the directors with an ever-changing array of made up events and contests, featuring any combination of drivers, teams and race formats.

Are you not entertained?

[Zynerji]

The former sport known as Formula 1 is now owned by American vulture capitalists. Introducing.... "Racetainment".

If these idolaters have their way they will pervert the sport in every possible way to chase American $eyeballs$. They'll turn it into something resembling UFC, featuring:
- The proper tradition of consistent, comparable races and seasons trashed.
- Confected soap-opera drama and feuds between the drivers.
- A calendar made up and altered on a whim by the directors with an ever-changing array of made up events and contests, featuring any combination of drivers, teams and race formats.

Are you not entertained?

Where do you think the true "value" of F1 lay?

It's the eyeballs attached to it, and the attention that it demands.

Min/maxing the metrics is definitely the American way. Morganization had no emotional intelligence, but the concept became universal.

One can only hope that they hire "me" (read in the first person) so "I" can fix it.

The only fix is a fully self-balancing system based upon metrics instead of emotion.

[Stu]

I'm not sure Leclerc aggressive defending on Monza was the trigger, the beggining was when they started letting Max wreckless driving become the norm, unfortunately it dragged the hole field down by lowering the driving standards with this let them race (crash) policy.

As a motorsport fan I would like to see the supposedly best drivers in the world driving wheel to wheel giving each other respect/room (Raikonnen used to be very good at it) because it takes 2 to tango and it's a terrible message to send to these youngsters watching that to achieve your dreams you must step on the rules and fairness is for the weak..

So yeah we're definitely heading there, it does have some advantages though like having more races, regulations change to help cars in turbulent air ...

It started before Max was born, there was some pretty aggressive driving before even Schumacher came on the seen (or Senna). Jack Brabham got the nickname ‘Black Jack’ for a reason.

All season we have seen drivers (through the field) engage in aggressive driving, sometimes dangerous (Stroll in particular has an unfortunate habit of ‘jinking’ as someone is lining him up on the approach to a corner).
As you quite rightly say, it does take two to tango, but when they want to share the same spot on the dance floor it gets a bit ugly.

In the past drivers have died because they felt slighted by another (RIP Gilles), thankfully the cars are much stronger/safer now. But simply because they are safer, the drivers take more liberties than they used to.

[west52keep64]

The problem is, in terms of the "value" of the sport, this strategy has paid off. Just look at the value of the FWONA stock over the last 12 months:


https://www.google.com/finance/quote/FW ... &window=1Y

It hits it's all time high at the end of the November, and the recent events haven't made much of a dent. As much as people don't like the new way of running F1, it's paid of financially for the investors...

[bosyber]

The problem is, in terms of the "value" of the sport, this strategy has paid off. Just look at the value of the FWONA stock over the last 12 months:

https://i.imgur.com/izWhFpI.jpeg
https://www.google.com/finance/quote/FW ... &window=1Y

It hits it's all time high at the end of the November, and the recent events haven't made much of a dent. As much as people don't like the new way of running F1, it's paid of financially for the investors...

I get what you are saying, and agree that realistically speaking we will not be going away from that too much any time soon. However, had all, or most, of the best on track action been like what Perez showed Hamilton in Brazil and Abu Dhabi, how Alonso held back Hamilton, etc. I am not convinced we'd be very far, if at all, under that. Yes, drama and mayhem is easy to sell, but that was also drama, and additionally great sport too, which the current show has, well, sometimes seemed to lack.

All the great drivers we have in the field can fight at that high level, we have seen them do it after all.

[El Scorchio]

The problem is, in terms of the "value" of the sport, this strategy has paid off. Just look at the value of the FWONA stock over the last 12 months:

https://i.imgur.com/izWhFpI.jpeg
https://www.google.com/finance/quote/FW ... &window=1Y

It hits it's all time high at the end of the November, and the recent events haven't made much of a dent. As much as people don't like the new way of running F1, it's paid of financially for the investors...

It's at a three month low since Sunday, but you may also credit that to the end of the season as much as what happened on Sunday. It's only natural the price has risen through this year given events. This season really was a wet dream for them.

However, you raise a really interesting point in that share price is probably what's being used by Liberty and FOM as some sort of measure of success so I've no doubt 'the show' over good old fashioned sporting endeavour only certainly feeds into trying to raise that. They have managed to get so many more people than usual talking about F1 in the last month (BUT AT WHAT COST) so I genuinely think they'll be secretly patting themselves on the back and rubbing their hands with glee even if outwardly they are paying lipservice to the vast swathes of negativity from several quarters in the last week.

[Sulman]

My wife (an American) told me she was amazed the Vettel 'overtake award' wasn't some sponsor feature. It's coming, surely.

Like most people, I enjoyed Drive to Survive because it's more of what I like. I very rapidly soured on it though, because I couldn't get past the very obvious mandate, and even new fans became cynical of it remarkably quickly.

The trouble is a lot of young people do view the sport through this lens now, because they've been trained to. The whole entertainment television machine has moulded their thinking to adopt to this reality, and the combined front of reality TV and social media has meant it's very hard to break out of it.

I went on /r/formula1 to read some reaction, and after the urge to harm myself passed, realised how deep this psychosis is. "I can't wait to see this on Drive to Survive" was the mantra. Like, you don't need to see it, you just watched it on live television for Christ's sake.

I think it's only going to get worse, I'm afraid. I am however of an age when you start to complain about these things...

[Hoffman900]

NASCAR went all in on this type a fan in the 2000s, but when those people moved on to the next shiny toy, they were left having chased away their longtime diehard fans and now they’re scrambling.

Will be interesting to see F1 go through this evolution.

[El Scorchio]

NASCAR went all in on this type a fan in the 2000s, but when those people moved on to the next shiny toy, they were left having chased away their longtime diehard fans and now they’re scrambling.

Will be interesting to see F1 go through this evolution.

That's a very real possibility with this nouveau F1 we've been witnessing recently

[Stu]

I tend to agree with that, but I do wonder how ‘golden ages’ of the sport were perceived at the time (not just from a UK perspective - Mansell-mania, James Hunt - 1975 Brands Gp, Damon, etc) but as a general ‘thing’.

[jjn9128]

My wife (an American) told me she was amazed the Vettel 'overtake award' wasn't some sponsor feature. It's coming, surely.

Pretty sure it was sponsored by crypto.com.

[Sulman]

I tend to agree with that, but I do wonder how ‘golden ages’ of the sport were perceived at the time (not just from a UK perspective - Mansell-mania, James Hunt - 1975 Brands Gp, Damon, etc) but as a general ‘thing’.

I can tell you. Mansell-Mania was loved by the red-tops, but frowned upon by the the specialist press. I know Nigel Roebuck hated it; the rushing of the track, the xenophobia towards Senna, that sort of thing.

There's a whole story from Damon Hill on how he made the mistake in '95 of trying to play the game (stoking up the press about evil German Schumacher), and it backfired on him dramatically after the collisions at Silverstone and then Monza. All of this was pre-internet though. I dread to think what it would have been like, because a lot of the pent-up fandom was still roaring about that when F1 forums became a thing around the Millenium.