Carey: F1 shares World Cup’s global appeal

RaceFans Round-up

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In the round-up: Chase Carey sees F1 as a global sport like the soccer World Cup

What they say

I think we want a balance of races around the world. We’re a global sport, we really are unique. There are sports which are followed around the world, Premier League [soccer] has a following around the world but its competition is in the UK – we compete around the world with drivers and heroes from around the world.

We’re, in many ways, like the World Cup, a unique competition. And we do it nine months a year every year, not two to four weeks every four years. We want to have a balance of events around the world, make sure we continue to build on the foundation, which is Europe for us.

We don’t want to have growth being [that] we’re not recognising the importance of that foundation. So take advantage of being able to grow it in America and Asia, while continuing to build on the foundation in Europe.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

Most countries are in trillions of dollars of debt and motorsport gets more expensive by the year to both take part in and spectate. There will be a financial crash or ‘readjustment’ at some point and it’s going to hit major motorsports very hard.

You can buy pretty amazing race seat set-ups for virtual racing for the price of a top Kart engine $3000-3,500. You could spend $10,000 on a home simulation and not even feel guilty compared to the costs of Karting at a semi-serious level.

BigJoe

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On this day in F1

  • On this day in 2003 Ralf Schumacher led a Williams lock-out of the front row in Canada

Author information

Hazel Southwell
Hazel is a motorsport and automotive journalist with a particular interest in hybrid systems, electrification, batteries and new fuel technologies....

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52 comments on “Carey: F1 shares World Cup’s global appeal”

  1. To complete the COTD ; “and you wouldn’t ever need to leave the house again”.

    1. “… or never leave your mom’s basement!”

      1. Anyone trying to characterise ‘gamers’ as mostly male, young, poorly socialised, or lacking gainful employment has got a fair bit of rethinking to do.

        There’s actually pretty much a 50/50 split between men and women; the average PC gamer is over 25; and they span pretty much every career, income bracket, and other significant demographic you want to name.

        If you’re buying a $10,000 home racing rig, I’d wager there’s a better chance you’re probably a married working professional who owns your own house, than that you’re an unemployed shut-in who lives in the basement of your parent’s home.

        1. Yes and no. Maybe in China. But the “core” western gaming demographic audience is still male, young and poorly socialised. Women tend to play less “core” games or gravitate to those features of said games.

          Anyone buying a $10,000 anything related to gaming isn’t the “core” gaming audience. It’s hard enough to get people to invest $2,000 in a VR headset and associated hardware which opens up entirely new possibilities for gaming experiences

          1. western gaming demographic audience is still male, young and poorly socialised.

            Why poorly socialised? Close to 90% of all men played games at some point during their teenage years and twenties.

          2. @skipgamer, what exactly are you basing those claims on? And how exactly are you defining what a “core gamer in the Western gaming demographic” is to begin with?

          3. @anon

            check my comment below for some stats.

  2. Montoya and Alonso aren’t the only drivers who can secure additional parts to a Triple Crown charge

    Unfortunately, Montoya’s drive won’t really count to the triple crown since he’s in LMP2. Unless, of course, all LMP1s fail this year too. Hopefully, he’ll drive well enough for Toyota to consider him for a seat next year?

    PS: All links link back to the round-up instead of the sources.

    1. You sure? If Montoya wins his LMP2 class he is still considered a Le Mans winner. So it should count.

      1. Good question. Did a few minutes (only) of googling and couldn’t find the answer. For one thing the triple crown for motor racing isn’t an official thing like it is for horse racing. Personally I would think it should be the overall winner of Lemans which usually occurs with the top class, no? But has a lesser class ever won the overall if let’s say the top class all dnf’d or had enough issues that they were many laps down in the end? Anyway imho to keep prestige in the Triple I would think it should be an overall win at Lemans, in whatever class of car.

        1. Class win should be good enough… it’s a 24-hour race of endurance for everyone.

          1. So winning Monaco in F2 should count too, then, no?

            No.

            It should only count if you beat all the cars, not just your class. Otherwise the triple crown is nowhere near as difficult as it should be. Just stick those F1 drivers in the lowest category driving the same car so they can all blitz the opposition and get an easy Le Mans credit.

          2. So winning Monaco in F2 should count too, then, no?

            Although the comparison is a bit weird as F2 is a different championship and the WEC is one as a whole with the same rules for everyone bar the car you’re driving and thus the class you’re in but you still ‘win’ the 24 hours of Le Mans, GTE is a world championship. That being said I do agree it should be the overall win, regardless of what class you’re driving. If you for example can do what Porsche did in Petit Le Mans couple years back it should count.

            Just stick those F1 drivers in the lowest category driving the same car so they can all blitz the opposition and get an easy Le Mans credit.

            @selbbin, that’s a huge discredit to all GTE-am teams. I’m fairly sure that if we’d plomp Hamilton, Vettel or Alonso in any of the GTE-am cars they wouldn’t be faster than let’s say Bergmeister, or Fisi, or Campbell, or Ried, or Long, or MacNeil, or Griffin, or Keating, or Bleekemolen, or Lamy,…

        2. @robbie, lower ranked categories have occasionally been the overall race winners at Le Mans, such as McLaren’s win in 1995 (with a GT1 category car), but they are very rare events. Last year did see one LMP2 category car nearly take victory, but with the enlarged LMP1 field I suspect that is rather less likely to occur.

          As far as I am aware, it is normally defined as being the overall victor at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, not just a class victory. Mario Andretti is usually only recognised as having won two of the three parts – whilst he won his class in the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans, he didn’t take the overall win (he was second overall) and is therefore not recognised as a Triple Crown winner.

          1. Didn’t know that about andretti. So there’s precedent then to answer the question of what is a le mans victory vis a vis triple crown.

        3. McLaren 1995 maybe?

      2. Of course not, obviously the overall win is the only one that counts.

      3. @jaymenon10 Convention suggests that its only the overall win that counts. Unfortunately, there’s too much leeway given to F1 drivers, who have the luxury of being able to get into any series given the popularity of F1 compared to other sports, and some people say that the Triple Crown is the Monaco GP, Le Mans and Indy 500, while others replace Monaco with the F1 title. Anon pointed out Andretti’s case, I’m sure there might be one or two others who faced the same thing – if not in the Triple Crown of motorsport, at least in the Triple Crown of Endurance.

      4. It has to be an outright win for it to count.
        The lower category is still a good thing to have on your CV but it’s that outright top step that really matters.

    2. Agree with @selbbin above; only the overall LeMans win can count towards a triple crown.

      But what is a LeMans win really worth if there are so many rules which stop fair competition. Non hybrid LMP1 cars have to stop more often than the hybrid cars, and they are not allowed to lap them. (can’t even believe these rules are for real)

      1. Agreed, couldn’t believe my eyes when I read

        They are not allowed to lap faster the Toyotas, and if they do, they are called in to the pits for a drive-through penalty. Hybrids can do 11 laps between fuel stops and non-hybrids only 10

        !!!

        I realise there is a supposed equivalence formula or whatever that the two classes have to follow but this doesn’t sound like equivalence to me.

        Is the difference between the laps between refuelling a regulation thing though or just the effect of the Hybrids being more economical and that is just the way it is (which is what I have always assumed)?

        Either way, It sounds like it has all be planned to gift the race to Alonso ;) I certainly can’t see him ever having an easier opportunity to win it with only your teams other car allowed to beat you.

        1. @asanator, the difference in fuel stint length is partially down to the way in which the ACO has balanced the regulations, which were intended to always give the manufacturer entrants an advantage – the same thing happened in the past when there were privateer entrants, so it’s not just for Toyota this year. If anything, compared to, say, 2016, when the Rebellion entries were more than four seconds off the slowest manufacturer entries and seven seconds off the pole sitter, the current performance balance is less uneven than it has been in the past.

          With regards to being penalised, the reason why a privateer team would be penalised if it was faster than the manufacturer entries is because the ACO has stated that the Balance of Performance regulations are intended to equalise the pace of privateer and non privateer cars. If a privateer entrant was lapping more quickly than that, the ACO have said that they would consider that as evidence that the competitor provided them with false information and was trying to cheat the Balance of Performance regulations, which would earn that competitor drive through penalties.

          In theory, the way in which the regulation is written does mean that, if Toyota were to exceed the target performance levels that the ACO has used as the baseline for their Balance of Performance, they could also receive the same penalty. The regulations state that “All competitors and manufacturers that deliberately provided misinformation, tried to influence the EoT process, or whose level of performance is higher than the expected result may be sanctioned with a penalty before, during or after a race.” – so, in principle, the same penalty mechanisms also apply to Toyota. https://www.motorsport.com/wec/news/privateer-lmp1s-faster-than-toyota-penalty-1004986/

          It has to be said that the likelihood of Toyota being penalised is pretty low though – being the only manufacturer left, they are effectively the ACO’s only baseline against which to measure the privateers.

      2. Crazy isn’t it. It kind of reminds me of some GT series like that where some teams chose a minimal lap time strategy as opposed to minimal pit stop time strategy.

        In Le Mans I guess it’s Toyota that have put in the effort to have an LMP1 Hybrid, so that class is protected from a lower class who might use more simple tech to beat them. I can see where the rules are coming from if that’s the case, but I don’t like it.

    3. Just think what more Montoya could have won on top of his excellent career if he hadn’t wasted those years in Nascar.

      Considering he’s closer to the triple crown than Alonso, he could have alresdy won Le Mans by now, to go alongside his 3x Daytona 24hr titles.

      Funny thing is Montoya himself isn’t fussed about the triple crown (can’t remember the specific interview, but it was recent).

  3. I think Liberty are doing a pretty good job at realising the potential for the product they’ve purchased. Whether they can actualise that potential and instigate the change required for that growth remains to be seen. But it’s looking pretty hopeful. First steps are probably making this streaming service flawless with great value and succeeding with Miami.

    If Brawn’s regulation changes result in the outcomes they are aiming for then there’s no reason why F1 can’t be bigger than the world cup or any other global competition at all really.

    Re: CotD
    I wouldn’t base any prediction on a financial crash or major readjustment. There are too many industries and governments invested to allow anything major to happen on a global scale.

    That being said simulation, gamification and virtualisation will definitely play a big role in developing new talents and attracting a wider fan base in the future. The FIA and Liberty are pretty in tune with this and already invest in this space, which is pretty impressive to be honest. A few years ago I’d be writing about how foolish they are not to be.

  4. In suport of the COTD and in response to some of the stereotyping of gamers in the comments, I:
    – am married with two kids
    – am a professional who owns my own house
    – have probably spent close to $10k on my gaming rig
    – get my motorsports fix from sim racing not real racing
    – often find myself ‘on track’ with many real drivers (Lando Norris recently for example)

    I sometimes think sim racing has a brighter future than the real thing…

    1. @aussierod – you forgot one point “living the dream” :-)

    2. You’re not the norm though mate… It’s easy to get wrapped up in how big it feels when you’re doing it but in the grand scheme it’s not something a majority of people are even aware of.

      These is an example of some american stats but it puts things into perspective. 90% of the most popular multiplayer games are shooter, action or casual. By contrast the racing game genre makes up just 6% of units sold. Including games like Mario Kart.

      Gran Turismo recently celebrated 80 million units sold across it’s whole franchise and I remember reading it and going “What? That’s all?” It’s a real pitiful number in the grand scheme of things. Last time it was brought up in a press conference games were pretty much shrugged off as being something for kids and not of interest for most drivers. Until that at least changes and on the whole sale across motorsports and gaming, that sim racing is given some attention and respect I’ll always just view it as that fringe activity where those passionate about both activities intersect (although still where a lot can be developed and fun can be had of course).

      1. You seem determined to push this point…

        “western gaming demographic audience is still male, young and poorly socialised.”

        You need to take into account that’s just how young males usually are, nothing to do with gaming.

        It was a crappy thing for the journalist to say anyway so it’s not worth it trying to back it up all the time.

    3. What rig should I buy for the best F1 Sim experience, @aussierod?

      I’m still stick in my PS3 with steering wheel days. I’d like to have a real gaming room.

    4. Same here but with cheaper rig… And not as much time as I’d like.

  5. @keithcollantine Thanks for wishing me three times! No idea how that happened.

    1. Congratulations! @mashiat
      All three of you ;)

    2. @mashiat – happy birthday, to your id, ego and super-ego :-)

  6. Hm, OT for this round-up, but does anyone have any statistics around the tenure of team principals? To my general memory, it seems like Christian Horner and Franz Tost are the two longest-serving TPs at present on the grid. Also, where do they stand w.r.t. the tenures of past TPs?

    1. Check this: http://f1.wikia.com/wiki/Team_principal

      Though Frank is still listed for Williams, @phylyp

      1. @coldfly – many thanks for that link, very nice to have that summarized in such a manner (Wikipedia didn’t help in this case). And it’s very interesting to note that Sir Frank is still the titular TP. The time Claire took on operational responsibilities some years ago is when I (wrongly) assumed she’d taken over the mantle. And ugh, my pet peeve of Mallya being the TP instead of Bob Fernley.

  7. @keithcollantine , Are we not getting the numbers and statistic articles anymore?

    1. @chapor
      The last three stats articles have been published on the friday after the race, so I guess tomorrow.

      Not sure how that’s gonna work out when this tripple header (France-Austria-Britain) starts :)

      1. @eurobrun

        I missed the one for Monaco somehow, and it wasn’t for a lack of looking… I went back multiple times to before the qualification articles, but could never find it… :-( Do you remember under what heading last race ones was?

          1. @jerejj Thank you good sir. I completely missed that article.

          2. @eurobrun, Hahaha! Should have asked for it last race as well then… Thank you.

  8. Ian Leapingwell
    14th June 2018, 8:04

    30 years ago football and F1 were great. Today football is a joke and the players are paid obscene amounts of money to kick a bloody ball around for 90 minutes once a week. And the fans? Foul mouthed violent yobs. I never watch! The World Cup? No thanks! But they did finally get rid of that criminal who ran the sport for so long.
    F1 is now being destroyed by Liberty who clearly don’t understand what it is. They try to improve it by making one stupid mistake after another. Banning Grid Girls because it does not fit their social values, but continue to have races in Bahrain where the regime imprisons, tortures and murders anyone who protests for basic human rights.
    I hope Lewis wins the title because he is British and a great driver.
    I don’t want Vettel to win because he behaves and drives like his hero Schumacher.
    Max showed great early promise but has turned out to be an idiot, like his dad.
    Daniel is a fantastic driver and a breath of fresh air and young Charles will do great things too. But F1 is boring as hell, so I just can’t be bothered with it and I wouldn’t pay to watch it.
    These are the times we live in.

    1. 100% agree with you. Sport seems to be measured by how much money is in it, how much the ‘stars’ get paid. No thought is given to those who used to enjoy it. You can add Boxing to that list. It became cash focused and now exists in a world where only the rich see it. To the same degree football. I foresaw the fate of sport years ago. A pastime you only read or hear about on the news. Billionaire players who nobody knows any more (unless you are rich). But don’t worry as F1 and its ilk are priced out of the common consciousness, new sports will take its place for a few years until someone decides the few should get rich at the expense of everyone. I don’t blame Liberty. They know the fans of F1 are stupid and will gladly pay whatever is asked of them. If you could make billions on your investment why wouldn’t you? You can always sell out when the going gets tough.

  9. Let’s start. 300th GP for …

  10. Hazel – Link for the spotters guide takes you back to this round-up.

    Thanks

  11. Thanks for the birthday wishes !

  12. I’d agree with the global appeal point, there is no doubting that F1 has fans right across the globe. However what F1 doesn’t have which the World Cup does is mass appeal. There are about 150 people in my office and I’d say at least 2/3rds of them care that the World Cup is kicking off tonight and that at least 7/8ths of them know it is happening.

    I know 5 people in the office who care about F1 enough to speak about it, and one of them only cares because her sister works at Red Bull Racing…

    1. @geemac ”one of them only cares because her sister works at Red Bull Racing…”
      – LOL.

  13. I agree with the COTD to a certain extent. It points out some interesting aspects.
    – JEV’s tweet, though.

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