F1 Fan Study: Everything Is The Same/Different
A Formula 1 study released yesterday shows that in just 5 years fans have gone from describing the sport as “Exciting” to “Boring” and that the more things change, the more things stay the same.
The 17-page report, which polled more than 200,000 fans of the sport, also revealed that fans are growing older and many fondly remember an era that didn’t go over so well in its time.
The study was conducted by the Grand Prix Drivers Association and Motorsport.com, and polled more than 215,000 fans from nearly 200 countries.
Among some of the more surprising responses were the fans’ favorite driver (Kimi Raikkonen), their favorite team (Ferrari) and their favorite era of F1 (2000s). It may not be surprising considering the average age of an F1 fan is 37 years old — the approximate wheelhouse for the Schumacher era. The winningest driver in F1 history finished second in a list of all-time drivers behind Ayrton Senna and ahead of Alain Prost.
While the report may serve as a warning for F1 bosses that the sport is growing dull, uncompetitive and too expensive, it’s very possible that the same sentiment was prevalent 20 years ago.
More than 30 percent of respondents said the 2000-era cars were their favorite (they were panned in their time), 89 percent said the sport needs to be more competitive (despite selecting one of the most-dominant drivers of his era) and the fan’s favorite team is the very expensive, very closed-door, very dominant Scuderia Ferrari.
Among the other interesting answers:
- Only slightly more than half of respondents think a budget cap would be a good idea (54 percent);
- Only 40 percent think the Drag Reduction System for passing has worked;
- Four out of five surveyed think there should be more than one tire manufacturer in F1;
- Nearly three out of four surveyed say the sound and power of F1 engines are important;
- Less than half (45 percent) say F1 has the best drivers, although 88 percent say F1 needs to feature the best drivers;
- And only 60 percent say F1 is still the pinnacle of motorsport.
More by Aaron Cole
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F1 has often alternated between mediocre, good, and great seasons. Arguably, in this decade the bad (boring) or truly bad seasons were 2011, 2013, and 2015. On the other hand, 2010, 2012, and yes, even 2014 would be considered pretty good. The main issue right now is not the costs, engine sounds, etc, but the fact that the Mercedes car-engine package is vastly superior to everybody else. Renault is struggling and McLaren is serving as an obstacle for other cars to pass. If you somehow cap the costs/expenditures or give a little more money to poor teams like Sauber, it won't change the dynamics of the current competition. To make things worse, the within-team competition is still quite weak. I'll give Rosberg a big credit for not lagging behind Hamilton, the way Webber was lagging behind Vettel at Red Bull, or Massa behind Alonso at Ferrari, but the last 30 GPs are showing that in the absence of technical failures, pit crews, or Rosberg's mistakes (like last year in Monaco or Spa) Hamilton will be consistently beating him. And that of course, adds a bit of predictability to the outcomes of most GPs.
F1 is simply boring, why do I want to watch people drive cars that are basically all running the same boring configuration as everyone else. It's one thing if it takes skill to do the race, but everything needed is predesigned into the vehicle. Major changes need to come, end fuel restrictions, end engine restrictions, end tire restrictions, just race.