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Show Biz?

FEATURE BY MIKE LAWRENCE
23/06/2015

I wasted part of my life watching the Austrian GP (pictured) and the Canadian race before it. Previously I had been bored out of my skull with the Spanish GP, and then for most of the Monaco GP.

After the strategy snafu with Lewis's pit stop, the result was never in doubt so we had excitement for, ooh, several seconds. We now have a Virtual Safety Car, how long before we have virtual crashes just to enliven a race? I am not altogether joking because it has happened.

Bill France Snr, creator of NASCAR, was known to throw a wrist watch on the track and signal the race stewards that there was debris which meant yellow flags and the field closing. France was a great fan of 'Monsewer Dey-brie' and he created one of the great threads in motor sport. He put on a show and people came.

Carl Fischer built the Indianapolis Speedway in 1909 and then, for 1911, he had it paved and announced that he would stage just one race a year, the 500, with a fabulous prize fund. It was an inspired piece of showmanship. Long before television shows offered big prizes, Fischer realised that spectators would pay to see someone win the long dollar, he bought into the American Dream.

Fischer made money because he gave the public what they wanted. I can remember when 'purists' in Europe (all self-appointed) criticised Indianapolis and all American racing because of features like safety cars and yellow flag/light spells.

Forgive me if I have missed the point, but I thought that F1 was about attracting an audience, aka putting on a show. TV rights are sold on the back of an expected audience. Sponsorship is sold on the back of television exposure. Carl Fischer and Bill France Snr understood the Show Biz element and F1 has lost it.

Even before qualifying began we had drivers out of contention because they had to use new mechanical elements (the internal combustion unit, what most of us know as the 'engine', is only one of six elements.) We are not even halfway through the season.

Putting the quickest drivers at the front was originally a safety measure. The safety aspect has gone out of the window, now grid position is a way of penalising drivers and teams.

If the new power units are so unreliable that drivers have used up their allocation before halfway through the season, there may be something wrong with the basic concept. The 2.4-litre V8s were reliable and there is much to be said for the adage: 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.'

We have mandatory pit stops for tyres to spice the show. It has been proposed that fuel stops be reintroduced to add interest though they were abandoned on safety grounds, or so we were told. How has refuelling suddenly become safe?

Motor racing pioneered sport sponsorship, but there is now a host of sports competing for the money. We have come to accept that some F1 teams are struggling financially, but the FIA has been less willing to see why: they are not attracting sufficient sponsorship to pay the bills. The FIA may regret the rise of the pay driver, but that is the economic reality.

It does not help that the new generation of power units are much more expensive than the outgoing engines.

In Montreal we saw drivers having to feather-foot because of fuel. This is nothing new, fuel has always been a part of motor sport. It's a part of everyday driving. A heavy right foot affects economy. Run a Bugatti Veyron at full chat and you need to find a petrol station after 24 minutes.

What the FIA Strategy Group has introduced is fuel-flow, as though we in the grandstands, or in front of the telly, can grasp that. Fuel-flow is what cost Danny Ricciardo a podium finish in his native Australia last year leaving a lot of fans not gruntled.

In this season's early races, it is possible that Ferrari found a legal advantage by increasing the diameter of some of the pipes in the engine's plumbing. If this happened, it was a case of storing a reserve in the wider-diameter pipes until it could be utilised whereupon an extra 25 bhp could, in theory, be obtained.

The rules were 'clarified' before Barcelona.

What are you and I supposed to make of that? Is it possible that Ferrari won a Grand Prix, not because of the consummate skill of Sebastian Vettel, but because of the diameter of some fuel pipes? How Show Biz is that?

The headline to a piece in 'The Daily Telegraph' ran: '80,000 Brits descend on Le Mans to sample glorious antidote to troubled F1.' More major manufacturers are in endurance racing than are in F1. Sports car racing uses hybrid power without fuss and manufacturers support it even though it does not have much TV coverage.

If the Telegraph is correct, more Brits went to Le Mans, with the English Channel in the way, than fans in the whole of Europe went to Austria for the Grand Prix. The crowd was down to 55,000 from 95,000 in 2014.

In most branches of show biz, and professional sport it has always been about putting on a show, such a drop in an audience would be catastrophic. Serious answers would be sought.

The time maybe right to ask whether F1 has run its course? Sports do wax and wane in popularity. Just after WWII there was a time when motorcycle speedway was second only to football in popularity and major events were televised. Now it is a niche sport.

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READERS COMMENTS

 

1. Posted by MKI, 01/07/2015 17:08

"I come in late as ever! Mike this is up to your usual brilliant standard. Somewhere along the line there has surely soon got to be some way of looking at motor sport's problems from the live fan's point of view. The current model that forces spectators away from anywhere of interest is nonsense. (In no other production, sporting or theatre, does it happen or is even considered). Circuits should have refused to comply with regs that made it necessary; why they didn't/still don't needs to be properly understood. If it's not incompetence, what is it?"

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2. Posted by Motorman2, 26/06/2015 13:16

"Formula One designs used to represent the next big thing in auto engineering. Now, driven by the EU econazis in Brussels, who already gave us the really ridiculous Formula E processions, the cars being developed are of interest to only the 1%. While the general public happily goes on buying internal combustion engines at the rate of 99.4% world wide. How off target can these people ever get?"

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3. Posted by The stogie, 26/06/2015 0:50

"Ferrari probably got the fuel line idea from the late Smokey Yunick. NASCAR thought his fuel tank was too big so they confiscated it after the 500. Smokey then got in the car and drove it back to his 'Best Damn Garage in Town' on the inland waterway in Daytona."

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4. Posted by ScottC, 25/06/2015 16:49

"I watched the Austrian GP at the weekend. Wow, problems for Renault, no joy for the British drivers in the race, beautiful scenery, the current world champion on pole - although not winning, a young Max in the pits. Sound familiar so far ?

Yeah but I’m not talking about the bore fest that was the Red Bull Racing go-cart track in 2015. I’m talking about the 1982 Austrian GP that the BBC were showing on their web site. What a race with one of the closest finishes of all time and the win going to De Angelis in a real Lotus just ahead of Nico’s dad in his Williams. The rest of the cast read like a who’s who of F1, Prost & Arnoux in the Renaults, Lauda & Watson in the McLarens, Piquet & Patrese in the fantastic (but in this season fragile) Brabham-BMWs and not forgetting Patrick Tambay, Nigel Mansell and Jaques Laffite.

Then of course there is the not so insignificant detail of the actual location. Yes it was in the same place and the pits are probably better now but in 1982 there was a proper circuit. A majestic circuit. Possibly one of the best and just possibly on a par with Spa in terms of flow ? But the Osterreichring is no longer and it almost made me weep to watch the cars head half-way up the hill and then having to turn right on to this half track where they were possibly coasting and lifting and braking for half the straight. Who knows ? Who cares ? It’s not F1 as we know it and perhaps on this new Osterreich-Half-Ring we should now start to call it Formula Half.
"

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5. Posted by Leo, 24/06/2015 11:20

""I wasted part of my life watching the Austrian GP (pictured) and the Canadian race before it...."

I sat through the 1990's and 2000's and learned to live with things like the 'Trulli train' (slower car holding up the entire pack) and the 'strategic fuel stop' (making an extra stop for fuel to avoid an actual on-track battle for position). The show today is so much better than what we had for a long, long time.

And there was 2012 plus the first half of 2013, possibly the greatest show in the entire F1 history and I remember many, many people complaining. Maybe F1 should ban blogs, readers comments and message boards first?!

"Is it possible that Ferrari won a Grand Prix, not because of the consummate skill of Sebastian Vettel, but because of the diameter of some fuel pipes?"

Toyota once won a world championship being creative with their air pipes. Looking for loopholes (and outright cheating) is part of the show, especially a technical one. So either you choose open rules and live with the fact that someone will probably 'get it right' and dominate or you have very restrictive ones to bunch up the pack. (Note that the difference between P1 and P18 today is much smaller than most other seasons in history. When Williams dominated, Mansell got pole by second from his teammate and 2s or more from the rest. Today the entire field is within 2s).

Sure, there's a lot wrong in F1, especially in governance and economics, but on track not so much."

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6. Posted by RY, 24/06/2015 11:13

"Brilliant as usual Mike.
There are too many regulations and rules and too few cars.
Over the past few years I just watch SKY news to catch up."

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7. Posted by Tombstone, 24/06/2015 2:38

"In an ideal world the only rule for engines would be '100 kg of fuel per race'. Aything else goes."

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8. Posted by Max Noble, 24/06/2015 2:05

"@Tony Soprano - ABS came from the aero industry then via the Jensen FF road car, and early experiments by both Chrsyler and Ford to the wider automotive world. It was not created by F1. "

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9. Posted by Max Noble, 24/06/2015 1:51

"Great article Mike, thank you.
I fully agree the "sparkle of the show" has been lost chasing the "sparkle of the dollar". It is a very good point you raise that in his day Bernie was the man who took the sport and made it a great show. All signs are that his time has passed. Not only do we need the sport to gain the elements to be once more a great show (whatever they might be), we need a new captain for the 21st century who is the right person for the moment.

We need... Someone who understands business and dollars, but "gets" the need for showmanship, and fan engagement. We need them to have minimal current vested interest, so they treat all sides fairly and logically. Then we need that passion and magic that makes them the person of the moment.... Then they need the authority to act and organise the teams in a useful, non-destructive manner. Sounds like we need the love-child of Donald Trump and Princess Diana and sadly I'm not sure that person exists. I am confident it is not Jean Todt in his current role. Like your excellent example of motorcycle speedway, is it simply a matter of F1 entering a natural decline for the time of greatness is passed...?"

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10. Posted by Tony Soprano, 23/06/2015 16:21

"F1 needs to stop thinking it is the "pinnacle of technology". It has long introduced new technologies (think ABS and forget 6-wheel cars) that eventually found their way into the real world of road cars. But even when F1 cars were thrown together with a bit of tape and bailing wire here and there, when they ran with little to no concern for safety (sans seatbelts, helmets, barriers) it was always a show. Perhaps fans showed up for the thrill of seeing some brave fool kill himself but more showed for the thrill of speed and watching drivers display skills that the average fan could only dream of (and we all did).

Your observations about Bill France are true. NASCAR is a show. Indycar on a 1.5 miles speedway is a show (like playing slot cars in your garage) What NASCAR needs, what F1 needs are more "characters" like Richard Petty, Buddy Baker, Dale Sr., James Hunt and Graham Hill - drivers that fans can love or hate but who always generate discussion. The homogenized "looks good on a Wheaties box" drivers in NASCAR and F1 today don't inspire fans the way AJ Foyt did. But I digress.

In the early days (the 60s) American manufacturers supported NASCAR with the philosophy of "race on Sunday, sell on Monday". Fans were not just Petty fans or Allison fans. They were Chevy fans and Ford fans. Audi supports sports cars because it sells cars. Fans buy Audis in some cases because Audi races in sports car events. Le Mans sells more road cars than F1 ever will. Ferrari likely sells as many cars because of its involvement in sports car series as it does because of its involvement in F1.

F1 is supposed to be a show. A procession of cars that never pass one another is not a show. Running on Tilke's tinker-toy tracks is not a show. Empty grandstands in countries with no history of supporting motorsports and only get a race because some politician thinks the world will see his country as having "made it to the big time" because he writes a ridiculous check to Mr E does not show F1 as the pinnacle of anything except greed.

You want to spice up the show? Go back to reliable engines, engines that allow the manufacturer to brag about supplying a winning car. Audi, Jaguar, BMW and, yes, Ferrari will do just fine learning from sports car racing ways to translate what they learn on the track to what they build for the street. They don't need to learn that from F1. F1 is supposed to be about raw speed, not economy runs. In NASCAR if a team needs to save fuel it's because their pit strategy had a driver refueling at a point that might mean by running full out he/she won't see the checkers. Let F1 run all out! Let F1 run reliable engines - ANY engines with displacement limits. Then we might see Audi V8s running against Ferrari and Jaguar V12s, Infiniti turbo 6s and all sorts of unusual (experimental) things. Don't laugh! Andy Granatelli brought his turbine cars to Indy in the late 60s and almost won. The point is that the unusual captures the imagination of fans. Fans want entertainment, not boredom and F1 these days is all about boredom.

Want to spice up the F1 show? Follow the NASCAR lead again with tires. This nonsense of two compounds and artificially requiring that both be used is ridiculous. Run one compound that's REALLY soft, gummy even, and lasts MAYBE 15 laps. That requires multiple stops and multiple opportunities for one team to mess up and another to take advantage. One stop at Austria last weekend meant if we didn't see Hamilton pass on that one stop we knew it was over for him. Four stops would have kept open the excitement of "he'll get Rosberg on the next stop". Maybe he would and maybe he wouldn't but the uncertainty is what keeps us watching. Tires with a limited range would allow one driver to take care of his tires maybe two more laps on each stint and get away with doing one less stop than other drivers. The "show" would be that driver trying to make it home on seriously ragged tires while drivers who made the extra stop and are running behind on fresh rubber try to run him down. Fans will love the uncertainty of "can he make it?". This happens in NASCAR all the time. And the fans love the show.

Even though he appears not to know it, Bernie Ecclestone is NOT in the sports business. He's in the entertainment business and the sooner he learns that and stops going to the middle of nowhere for the money, the sooner he recognizes that no sport can last when it ignores its core fans (in this case, European) the sooner he pushes for changes that improve the show, the sooner F1 might start to draw fans again."

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11. Posted by Paul C, 23/06/2015 14:03

"Good thoughts, Mike. The last few rounds of F1 have been um...dull. The Blancpain GT Series is actually more interesting sometimes. Different looking cars make a difference, and real racing is better than coasting and cruising to save everything."

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