F1 team bosses back glitzy pre-race driver announcements - to a point

F1
- Last updated: May 24th 2023

From rainy days in camp chairs to non-stop Miami entertainment, F1's fan experience is evolving – current team principals are all for it

XB Charles Leclerc Ferrari 2023 Miami GP

The new Miami driver intros brought mixed reaction in and out of F1, but is all part of Liberty's continued push to change the image of the world championship

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Without the novelty value of the first year, and with Las Vegas on the horizon, the second edition of the Miami GP was always going to struggle to make an impression.

But that wasn’t through lack of effort. Building on last year, the event continued to develop its own ostentatious flavour, with a big focus on attending VIPs and “the show”. It might not be what the purist fan appreciates, but it’s the way the sport is going in the slipstream of Drive to Survive.

“I think entertainment here got a lot better from the old days,” said Haas boss Guenther Steiner. “In the old days, we went racing, cookie cutter racing, we do one race, we do the next one, we do nothing around it, we go racing for the motor sport fan.

“I think the sport before Liberty Media came in was not successful in the US. I came to America and I understood it more when I moved here – you need to live here to understand.

Guenther Steiner Haas 2023 Miami GP

Steiner supports F1 evolving its weekend itinerary

Haas

“People want constant entertainment, not just sitting out there waiting three hours until the next time the cars go out. So they want something to do, something to consume.

“The other stuff which is going on, you’ve got concerts, entertainment areas, if you’ve got kids with you, you want to entertain them, not sitting on a grandstand, or on a hill. Try to tell a 12-year-old that now we have to wait two hours until the cars come along again. That’s pretty difficult.”

The one thing that did cause a stir was the driver introduction ceremony. The FIA regulations were changed a few weeks ago to send the cars to the grid earlier to allow for extra activities at some, but not all, races.

In Miami’s case that meant a glitzy driver introduction hosted by musician LL Cool J and very much the responsibility of the F1 organisation rather than the locals.

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To be fair a similar concept was tried at the 2017 US GP, the first home race for Liberty Media. But this time around it didn’t go down to well with drivers who have a prescribed routine and are trying to get into the zone. A moment of contemplation for a national anthem is one thing, but this was seen as a major distraction by most.

“It’s quite tough for the drivers to be honest with you,” said Red Bull’s Christian Horner, “to be running through dry ice and high-fiving A-listers that they’re probably not quite sure who they are, then thrown into the national anthem and then expected to deliver.

“There’s not many sports that the athletes have to do that. And so I think we need to be respectful. Maybe there should be the team principal coming through the dry ice!

“But I think that we just need to find a balance between what is show and what is the sporting element. That’s why I put our chief marketing officer up on the podium today.”

Christian Horner Red Bull 2023 Miami GP

Horner says getting drivers to do more and more before the race is “tough”

Red Bull

“I’m more data-driven” says Williams boss Vowles. “I want to see what the stats were, how it was perceived, but not by ourselves, because frankly, change is always hard. And actually, what I’m more interested in is: how was it seen publicly?

“Actually, if it’s ‘This is a good way that I got to know your athletes,’ that’s a tick. If the public go ‘This didn’t work, it took too long,’ then let’s refine the format. And I honestly don’t know the answer to that question.

“You’re on a world stage. Yeah, we’ve isolated individuals and then made them public. And I get it from their perspective. You’ve spent even prior to that point, probably 20-30 minutes getting yourself into the right mental headspace and then it’s changed that.

“But what we also have are elite athletes that are very good at adapting. So if that is the direction of travel, I think you’ll find that it gets adapted to very quickly.”

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Times definitely are a changing, and it’s hard to argue against the push for more entertainment. A lot of people reading this will no doubt have spent many hours sitting in grandstand or on a camping chair in the pouring rain at Silverstone, staring at an empty track with nothing much else going on. We’ve all been there…

Thus perhaps even diehard fans should appreciate that making a proper of day of it has to be a positive – as long as the grand prix itself remains the focal point.

“I think F1 is doing a very good job in that,” said Steiner. “They started to put more entertainment beside it. They do for Singapore, a lot of these races.

“But I think what they did very right, the sport is still the centre point of everything. It’s the F1 race, and you’ve got two high-end concerts on Friday night and Saturday night. It not like there is the concert, and by the way, on Sunday, the race. It’s the opposite. And I think they do very well.

“And here they brought it up and up. I think there’s a good chance for what we call the classic race, where we go racing and nothing else, to catch up with this. We have moved in to 2023 now, and people want more entertainment.

Alex Albon Williams 2023 Miami GP

Williams boss James Vowles keeps an open mind, saying if fans react positively to changes, then he’s all for it

Williams

“They don’t want just to see any car race. And I think F1 has done a very good job over the last five years to bring this to the consumer – because there is more to F1 than a race, but it’s still the centre point.

“They always keep that in mind because, that is the value of this event, the F1 race, it’s not the concert or the DJ.

In the end it’s about getting the balance right.

“I think there’s a lot of experimenting going on,” said Horner. “This is a new market, US sport is different. You’re not going to see drivers running on through dry ice at Silverstone. It’s different things for different markets.

Nico Hulkenberg Haas 2023 Miami GP

Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg gets in the mood

Haas

“And of course, you can understand Liberty and the promoters exploring different things, because they’re competing with other sports. But I think it’s finding the balance that’s right and appropriate.”

It will be interesting to see what other races come up with this year. The big one is of course Las Vegas, where as promoter F1 will have free rein to do exactly what it wants. It’s unlikely to be low-key…

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