Plank Gate, Puma x F1, and Revamping the Sprint!
Hi there! Welcome to Track Limits, a weekly F1 newsletter where we break down the major headlines and dive into the questions, trends, and topics that spark our collective curiosity. Nothing is off-topic and a little fun is always part of the mix!
Good evening! This issue comes to you a bit later than usual, but that’s on purpose! Next week, I will be traveling, so there won’t be a Track Limits issue. As such, I decided to push this one back several days in an attempt to include some of the news of this week. Honestly, not much happened that was worth mentioning, but I tried!
🏎 Debrief
We had high hopes for Austin, but on track, it didn’t really deliver. All we got was a sprint that started spectacularly but died down very quickly and a race that was a few laps too short for it to become interesting. Tire degradation, track surface, and strategy were the hot topics last weekend, but none of them was able to create something beyond frustrated drivers and bored fans!
Off-track the weekend seemed to be a hoot!! They had all kinds of cowboy shenanigans in the paddock, including a beautiful huge cow! There were several major concerts and food that looked so good I was seriously considering figuring out if barbecuing in an apartment was possible! Not even the drivers were immune to the overall “good time” vibe in Austin. As was evident when Ricciardo arrived at the circuit with some odd facial hair and Leclerc showed up in a bar/nightclub on Saturday looking like the craziest all-denim cowboy! This man urgently needs a stylist!!
Add to it several major celebrities, marching bands, cheerleaders, and a cinematic national anthem, and we have the most cliché representation of AMERICA!! Annoying without a doubt, but also really really fun!!
👀 Shenanigans!
The weekend started with the FIA being a bit greedy and increasing the maximum fine drivers, teams and events can receive to € 1,000,000! Drivers continued their quest for harsher penalties for illegal overtakes, as the 5-second penalty doesn’t seem to be able to deter this type of behavior. Hamilton and Russell visited the F1 Acadamey paddock during the U.S. Grand Prix. Honestly, the lack of interest by the remaining teams and drivers doesn’t look good. Even a 5-minute photo op would have been better than nothing.
Netflix announced its first-ever live sports event, the Netflix Cup. It will pair an F1 driver with a golfer in a golf tournament to be held in Las Vegas in November. Call me crazy, but if you are going for a crossover event why not have the golfers race and the drivers golf? Add the points up for each team and you got yourself a fun tournament! Right?!
Sargeant finally scored a point! Leclerc signed with the American talent agency WME, which is very interesting. Hamilton launched his new alcohol-free sprint brand, Almave, and has been shameless about plugging his drink! We will see five young drivers during FP1 in Mexico, yeah!! And last but not least, Red Bull hired additional security for Verstappen and Perez during the Mexican Grand Prix, which made total sense after seeing Alonso being jumped by an enthusiastic fan during an appearance at the Boss store in Mexico City.
Ohh….I’m I the only one who has been listening to the Mariachi style F1 theme song?! I truly LOVE it and don’t get why other promoters haven’t made their own version of it. It’s fun, shareable, and a great snapshot of the local culture…I mean do I need to say more?!
Now that is done, let’s take a look at the major headlines of the last two-ish weeks!!
Plank Gate!
THE GIST:
Following the race in Austin, four cars were selected to undergo a floor check after data from telemetry led technical delegate, Jo Bauer, to suspect potential issues with the ride height of some cars.
The conclusion of the physical floor and plank wear inspection was that indeed two of the cars were in breach of Article 3.5.9 e) of the technical regulations, which requires the skid block, a glass-reinforced plastic plank, mounted on the floors of the cars to be a minimum of 9 millimeters thick. Resulting in the disqualification of Hamilton and Leclerc.
Mercedes and Ferrari have not contested the findings of the FIA and have explained the incident as being the result of the sprint weekend format and the particularly bumpy track. As a response to the news Leclerc and Hamilton posted the picture above as a joint post on Instagram with the caption “Mood”. Without a doubt an iconic moment in F1 social media!
THE CONTEXT:
Despite the technical infringement being straightforward it has caused some heavy debate on the process of scrutineering.
The usual way the FIA operates is that after qualifying, sprints shootouts, sprints, and the race cars are placed in Parc Fermé and subjected to a set of technical checks. The FIA technical team headed by the delegate is responsible for verifying that all competing cars comply with the technical regulations, which among other things means scrutineering the cars.
Due to the increased complexity of Formula One cars and the tight logistical schedule, it has become impossible to fully check all 20 cars. As a result, the FIA has turned to telemetry data and onboard footage to help the technical team identify target areas that have to be looked at. This means, that in addition to a set of standard checks that are done each weekend on each car, the technical delegate is allowed to carry out further investigation on a car or a set of cars if he has seen something “suspicious”. Additionally, one car is extensively checked each weekend - including internal components - which is selected at random.
As such, the fact that the FIA only checked these four cars was not random, it was based on data. But it does give merit to the question of the fairness of scrutineering if each competitor isn’t scrutinized in the same way beyond the standard checks.
However, the process of scrutineering isn’t limited to these post-competition moments, it’s done all weekend long. Several FIA scrutineers are present in the garage from the moment the teams arrive at the circuit and they check everything from the team’s equipment, the driver’s apparel, tires, external dimensions of the car, surface aerodynamic components, and much much more. As such, post-race scrutineering is an important step but it’s not the only time teams are looked at to ensure compliance with the regulations.
Is this method bulletproof? Absolutely not. Statistically, the FIA is more than likely going to miss something. But in a fast-paced, highly complex, and time-constrained environment, this selective scrutineering process has allowed the FIA to find a balance between thoroughness and efficiency. Last weekend’s disqualifications kind of prove the protocol works.
This however doesn’t mean it can’t be improved. Some of the suggestions that have been made absolutely make sense, such as updating the “standard checks” in order to reflect relevant issues in the current season’s cars or having all point-scoring cars be subjected to the same additional checks allowing for a greater sense of fairness.
But ultimately, we have to come to terms that it’s not possible to be sure every car is legal.
More Investors…
THE GIST:
Just before the U.S. Grand Prix Alpine announced that several elite athletes had joined the team as investors. Kansas City Chiefs Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes, heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua, golfer Rory McIlroy, and Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold are just some of the names on the list.
These new investors joined the consortium that bought a 24% stake in Alpine earlier in the year by investing in Otro Capital Investment’s fund. As such, they didn’t acquire any additional stake in Alpine, the 24% is simply being divided by more people!
THE CONTEXT:
After Alpine announced their new investors, conversations started to pop up about teams being owned by investors rather than people with a passion for the sport. A recurring comment was “They don’t even like F1 or know how to say the name of the team”.
This is very interesting as it reflects an “old way” of looking at sports ownership. The days of wealthy sports enthusiasts being owners of sports assets (team, league, event, facility, broadcaster, etc.) as a “hobby” are over. In its place, the financial service industry has emerged, in the form of investment funds, private equity firms, and sovereign wealth funds. Sport has actually become a booming asset class. Just so you have an idea, nearly $60 billion in private equity was invested in sports in 2021.
The main reason why it’s on the rise is the fact that several leagues have begun loosening their ownership rules. But sport has always had the characteristics of a good investment! Stable cash flow from ticketing, broadcasting, and other commercial agreements. Resilience to macroeconomic cycles and global events. High valuation appreciation due to high barriers to entry, as well as direct ties to critical sectors such as tech, media, and health.
Having investors has also shown to be beneficial for sports assets. Usually, investors help drive long-needed organizational transformation. They provide operational and commercial expertise, help reduce the amount of debt, and increase liquidity. This is for example what happened at Williams Racing when it was acquired by the American private investment firm Dorliton Capital in 2020.
But despite the apparent benefits, the growing entrenchment of the financial industry in the sports ecosystem is causing concerns amongst fans. If the owners are no longer driven by fandom, but by the pursuit of financial gains how will that impact the competition, the teams, and the fans? And what if the interests aren’t aligned?
These questions and concerns are valid and suggest a lack of communication between the team and its stakeholders. Just announcing new investors isn’t enough. Teams have to communicate what the shared vision is, what the level of involvement will be of the investors, and what the long-term goals are for the team. If they are asking fans to stay loyal and spend their money and time on them, then the team has to be transparent with fans. Especially during these critical moments, it’s the bare minimum!
Puma x F1
THE GIST:
This week Puma announced it has appointed A$AP Rocky, the American Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist, as the creative director of the Puma x F1 partnership. Back in May, Puma revealed it had signed a multi-year deal with Formula 1 to exclusively produce and sell Formula 1 apparel at races and beyond.
According to the German company, Rocky will be designing capsule collections surrounding several races on the calendar. He will serve as creative director for all the marketing efforts surrounding the collections, and curate activations at each of the races relating to them.
THE CONTEXT:
Sports merchandise is a booming billion-dollar industry, and as such it’s a great opportunity for leagues, teams, and athletes to diversify their revenue stream. But most of it is still catered to older men, even though sports fans have become a more diverse consumer group. This is also the case in Formula 1. Slapping a logo on a hoody or a cap no longer does it for the younger fans. They care as much about the fashion they wear as they do about the sport.
As such, the current lack of creative vision by Formula 1 presents an opportunity for Puma. Through the partnership, they will be able to capitalize on the current popularity of the sport. But they will also be a key element in the creative process of reshaping Formula 1’s image. All this makes A$AP Rocky as the creative director a very logical choice. He is a young innovative taste-maker who is the bridge between fashion, streetwear, music, and motorsport. These are all spaces Formula 1 seems to want to insert itself into and pull from as it tries to revamp its image.
This is a risky move as it breaks away from Formula 1’s conservative image in a clear effort to expand its audience. The hope probably is that Puma and Rocky are able to capture the spirit of Formula One, in such a way that the products appeal to the fans who have been following the sport for years, the young fan who is new to the sport, but also those who are just interested in tapping into the cultural zeitgeist of Formula One.
I wonder if this is Formula 1’s way of exploring the possibility of appointing a creative director, just like the MLS did this year. Honestly, I think Formula 1 could benefit from someone shaping the brand’s identity through a clear creative direction and interesting cultural partnerships. It would be an exciting way to push the sport’s cultural relevancy forward and of course, grow the business!
Sprint Revamp?
THE GIST:
In 2021 Formula One introduced the sprint to provide fans with more on-track action. Initially, the finishing order of the sprint on Saturday determined the starting grid of the race on Sunday. This changed this year and now the sprint is a stand-alone race with no impact on the main event on Sunday.
As most of us expected, it created a situation where teams have no incentive to give it their all. Turning the sprint into a preview of the race and making most fans, drivers, and teams wonder: What is the point?
THE CONTEXT:
The idea to tweak the format of the Grand Prix weekend had been a hot topic for a couple of years before the sprint was actually introduced. The main issue Formula 1 wanted to “fix” was that only two days had exciting on-track action. This was seen as the reason why Friday sold fewer tickets and fewer people watched the broadcast. Not because people work on Fridays! Don’t get me wrong, it’s interesting, for sure, but not essential to enjoying the race….isn’t that why it’s on Friday?
Regardless of this detail, the sprint was introduced with the pretext of giving people some sort of entertainment on each day of the Grand Prix. With the hope it would boost ticket sales and viewership on Friday and Saturday. This, however, didn’t turn out to be quite the reality, at least not in Austin. According to the circuit having a sprint race didn’t help sell more tickets for Saturday, they actually had less sales! Sure, this could be due to Verstappen’s dominance, but as the COTA chairman stated if that was true why did Sunday ticket sales increase compared to last year? The only thing that changed was the sprint.
So if we are adamant about keeping the sprint, why not revisit the format? It clearly isn’t adding any value to fans, teams, drivers, and promoters as it is. Luckily, that is exactly what paddock insiders are saying Formula 1 is doing. But what does the sprint need to be good? The two main elements everyone agrees on are:
A Stake - Something to motivate teams and drivers. Be it championship points, a competitive advantage, or as some suggest additional prize money.
A Jeopardy - Something that creates an added risk or uncertainty.
I would argue it needs an additional ingredient: novelty. Every iteration of the sprint format has been a shorter version of the race. But to make it worthwhile for fans, enjoyable for teams and drivers, and good for promoters’ business it can’t resemble the race at all. It has to be a different racing product.
What does that look like? I’m not sure, but I don’t think there is a lack of ideas or examples in other motorsport series of formats that provide exciting racing. Just at the top of my head, the Formula E qualifying duel format has the potential for an exciting sprint format. As does NASCAR’s three-stage race format, with points attributed at the end of each of them. As such, it’s just a question of how bold Formula 1 dares to go!!
🗞 Stray Headlines
F1 Star Lewis Hamilton Launches Nonalcoholic Blue Agave Spirit, Almave. Seeing Young Girls Get Excited About F1 Academy Was An Unexpected Highlight Of The U.S. Grand Prix. Bianca Bustamante joins the McLaren driver development program. Inaugural F1 Academy Champion Marta Garcia to receive fully funded FRECA seat for 2024. Spectacular star-studded opening ceremony to kick-off Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend. Mexico GP reduces F1 paddock crowds to avoid security issues. Breaking down the most marketable F1 drivers in 2023. F1 maximum fines increased to €1m by FIA. Teams and FIA to discuss F1 cockpit heat issue in next technical meeting. Mercedes F1 mega-prospect bombshell echoes a Verstappen shock.
🎧 Worth It!
F1 Explains: The Incredible Logistics of Formula 1 - With DHL + Alfa Romeo. F1: Beyond The Grid: Liam Lawson - Thrilled but “unfulfilled” by F1. Finish the Lyrics with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. 13 questions you've always wanted to ask an F1 pit crew | F1 Unpacked Calum Nicholas.
As always, if you have anything you want me to look into, if you have any questions, tips, suggestions, or if you just want to say hi, please don’t hesitate to reach out! You can find me on Instagram and sometimes on Twitter!
Photo Credits: Lewis Hamilton, ESPN, PlanetF1, F1, COTA