Business and Sports: Does the modern world ruin traditions of motorsport
- Taylor Kirkwood
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Is an American company what's right for the sport? That is what many Formula One fans said in January 2017, when Liberty Media Corporation acquired F1.
Previous owners CVC Capital Partners and chief executive Bernie Ecclestone sold their commercial rights to the Formula One Group for the value of $8 Billion. Ecclestone was a motorsport specialist, knowing lots about the sport and having a large collection of vintage cars.
When F1 was passed over to Liberty Media many questioned do they know anything about the sport or is this just a business call. Originally starting in America as television company, Liberty grew into a mass media company.
The company became Live Nation’s biggest shareholder in the early 2010’s, so the company had lots of experience running a large group but was it cut out for sports?
From the first day fans have criticised Liberty Media for the job they have done while owning F1. Many fans felt they were straying away from the true identity of F1 and motor racing.
One of the biggest things Liberty has done with the sport is promote it whether that be through brands or sponsorship. Through introducing these new brands to F1 the sport has become more commercialised.
While older fans may argue that F1 is only about the racing, it is a business at the end of the day and if these companies did not invest the sport may not survive as mainstream.
From the commercialisation of the sport, it has also drawn in a large social media presence. As little as just 10 years ago F1 did not draw large audiences through just promoting on social media. Instead, the accounts were filled with loyal followers who didn’t need to learn anymore about the sport.
Promoting the sport on social media has become so important in the past five years. It has saw some of the largest audiences while watching the sport and has brought in mountains of revenue.
Ru Haworth, marketing lecturer at City of Glasgow College said it is extremely important to use social media when promoting your brand, he said:
“Social media is incredibly important. I would say it's the most important channel out there right now because it has the broadest reach.
“Everyone's on social media now. You have got the oldies on Facebook, the millennials on Instagram, then you've got Gen Z on TikTok with X scattered in there as well.
“The fact that there is so many different people on it means that it's such a vital and important tool, if you want to stay up to date. The way that social media works and why it's so important is that you slip your brand into their social lives.”
Liberty Media have done exactly that, in 2017 Liberty Media commissioned the idea of a 10-part documentary on Formula One.
In 2018 the greenlight was given and Netflix would begin to film the ins and outs of the sport. The arrival of the series ‘Drive to Survive’ took F1 to a new level.
Streaming services are booming everywhere now and what better way to grow the sport than have the series on Netflix.
Having a series on Netflix introduced the sport to so many new people, with a new aspect of drama and reality.
However, this upset the petrolheads as they viewed it as overdramatising the sport. They felt it brought in a group of fans who are not true motorsport fans. Throughout the years the hate has continued to grow for the series.
When you dive deeper into the hate a lot of it is misogynistic. F1 for years was considered a ‘male’ sport. When Drive to Survive was introduced it brought a lot more female attention to the sport.
Male fans would just assume that women watching F1 are there for the drivers or because they find a driver attractive.
Which for the majority of female F1 fans this is untrue, Drive to Survive showed them a new sport to love and get into. One of the main pulling points from Drive to Survive was a younger audience, something F1 was needing to carry on their legacy.
When bringing in a new audience it is also important from a business perspective to also stay recognisable to older generations.
Ru Haworth feels it is important when marketing to add to the lives of all generations, he said:
“Marketing and brands need to add to people's lives; you need to make sure that whatever the brand is doing that it makes their lives better in some way.”
Liberty Media isn’t going to get it right for everyone. Some people are just stubborn to change and don’t see their sport as anything more than that. It is important to remember they are ruining a business.
Without big sponsorships and partnerships with brands, F1 would fail. Yes, maybe 30-40 years ago it survived but we are in a modern world now. Money is everything, whether its sports, politics, business or just day-to-day life.
Looking at what Liberty Media has done as a business is impressive. From opening the sport from exclusive club almost into a global powerhouse has left a good stain on the reputation of F1.
The partnerships, revenue and social reach puts the majority of claims to rest as the sport is at its highest point right now. There is one claim that unanimously fans, drivers and anyone else that works in the sport feels.
That is that Liberty Media are removing classic and historic tracks on the calendar to replace them with cash-grab street-circuits. While some street circuits can be fun to watch majority of new tracks introduced nowadays in F1 are street circuits with long straights and less corners.
Corners, chicanes and embankments are a part of not just Formula 1 history but motor racing. Over the past few years, we have seen the removal of iconic circuits like Zandvoort, Imola, Paul Ricard and Portimão.
Ru Haworth says it is importance to have balance when promoting and adding to your brand he said:
“Times change and you want to keep your brand up to speed and with what's going on especially that right now. There are so many cultural things that you want to move with, so you don't lose touch.
“But you also need to balance traditions in there and sticking to your roots. Every brand is built on a certain idea and is successful for a certain reason.
“You Have to find this balance or decide that you're going to either throw out the old or swap it with the new. You can try to grow and try to have new ideas, but you must remember the traditions of the brand or company.”
Formula 1 is a sport after all; it is considered one part of the triple crown of motorsport. It truly oozes traditional values of motor racing and is considered the highest level of motorsport.
Now it is also a business, a successful business.
Whether you are a fan or not of some of the decisions Liberty Media have made in their time as owners of Formula One, you must accept they are a great business with top quality skills and ideas.
Liberty has now acquired both Moto GP and World Superbikes, the possibility to grow into something even bigger is in their hands now.
From lessons learned in F1 and new chapters in the world of motorbike racing, Liberty Media could finally see eye to eye with motorsport fans across the world.
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