The Formula One recent and significant increase in popularity is the outcome of new owner Liberty Media approaching the sport with an unique mindset, as explained by former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn.
Following Liberty Media’s takeover from CVC five years ago, Formula 1 has become a much more popular sport, with a massive uplift in interest all over the world.
The recent focus on social media activity alongside the hype of the Netflix series Drive to Survive series, has led to the support of a younger and more diverse audience, who became interested in Formula One.
Despite the fact that some decisions made by Liberty Media, such as the introduction of Sprint events on Saturday, have not been seen in a positive manner by long-time fans, the sport is in a better shape than ever.
Ross Brawn, who is leaving his position as Formula 1 managing director of motorsport, feels that grand prix racing’s current strength is the result of Liberty Media’s management, which is completely different than the one adopted by the previous owners:
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“I think Liberty have done a great job. I would say this, but they employed me! And while I say that, they recognised that they wanted to improve the sport. They didn’t just come in and say ‘how can we improve the margins?’ Their mindset was: ‘There’s this great sport, how can we take the sport forwards? Because the rewards will come when we take the sport forwards, not by squeezing more juice out of the lemon.’ And Greg [Maffei] and Chase [Carey] had that vision. And, luckily, I had the opportunity to be involved.” – Ross Brawn explained.
“Therefore I think Liberty have taken a great approach. Certainly, if you look at the history of owners in Formula 1, they’re the only ones that I’ve seen do it – and I’ve been here quite a long time. If you look back, I can’t think of many owners that put that sort of investment into the sport. I won’t tell you my budget, but it was a substantial budget to do that work we did. And that’s a commitment, which is paying off now.” – the former Ferrari boss explained.
At the same time Ross Brawn pointed out that while currently things are going great, there was no complacency at the sport’s senior level that this situation could continue in the same way:
“I think it’s pretty good. I mean, we can’t be complacent, but we’ve got huge interest in Formula 1. What’s pleasing is there’s a new demographic coming through with a great balance of diversity – particularly gender diversity in that new demographic. And that’s really encouraging. We’ve got to make sure we retain our sort of core, long-term fans – we don’t want to alienate them. And that’s why I say I think the integrity of the racing is critical.” – he explained.
Despite the fact that many spectators are still against the Sprint Race format, the former Ferrari boss feels the Saturday short events have brought something races have delivered something different for Formula 1.
Ross Brawn also shared his thoughts on the plan for reserve grid races, while admitting that it may be a step too far at this moment:
“There’s always this debate about reverse grids,” he said. “Reverse grids would be pretty entertaining. I think most of us would love to see what would happen. But there is an element of our fans who think that’s getting too synthetic, too World Wrestling sort of thing, and that you should reward the best guys and so on. I get that as well and I think we’ve got to be very cautious on that side of things.”
“You have a sprint race [now]. And, for me, a sprint race can only add because it’s a competition, it’s a contest, best guy wins, smartest guy wins – it’s a meritocracy. It’s just an additional demonstration of the drivers’ talents during a race weekend. I think the sprint is great. I can’t see why anyone would really have a problem with that. That should, if they’ve got an open mind, appeal to all our fans. I can see why a reverse grid could be divisive and could unsettle some of our fans and that’s something we’ve got to [keep in mind].” – he added.
Ross Brawn is confident that Formula 1 has reached the ideal balance between the product it is offering and what fans would like to see on track:
“I think we’re in a great place. We seem to have engaged well with our existing fans. We’ve got this new group of fans that we need to continue to engage with, and I think we’ve taken the opportunity of giving our fans a much deeper insight into the sport than they had before. I can see why personalities are appealing. And, as you know, we’ve opened up social media, which has its downsides and we’re never gonna stop that, but I think for fans who engage in the sport and feed their passion, that’s [good].” – the outgoing Formula 1 managing director concluded.
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