Kada Sárközi joined GPblog as an editor ahead of the 2023 Formula 1 season. He graduated with a BA in Sports Journalism in the UK and has covered Grands Prix and other F1 events live.
Stefano Domenicali claimed that viewers enjoy the amount of on-track action the new regulations have brought to Formula 1 and don't care about the technical details behind it. In the latest episode of GPblog's F1 Paddock Update, Ben Hunt and Jim Kimberley discuss whether that's really the case!
Listen to or watch the GPblog.com video podcast. In the F1 Paddock Update, Jim Kimberley and Ben Hunt discuss the latest Formula 1 news. New episodes are available every Monday and Thursday on YouTube, Spotify, or your favourite podcast app. You can watch the latest episode at the top of this article as well!
Fans don't care, CEO Domenicali claims
Speaking to a select group of media, including GPblog, the Italian previously said: "There's been some, I would say, debate on the technical regulations, mainly from the inner world, some drivers, some people that are part of our ecosystem. But in a nutshell, the championship is becoming very, very fascinating.
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"There is a lot of action on the track. People are loving it. They are focused on what is happening on the track. They don't understand our technology or clipping, chipping or whatever it is, because it's too technical for the wider base that we have.
"Therefore, the effect on the track has been widely super positive. It is true that, of course, it’s the nature of the sport to talk, listen to input from the drivers, the teams and the manufacturer.”
GPblog's lead columnist, Ben Hunt reacted Domenicali's words in F1 Paddock Update. He says: "Strange interview to do. I think talking to my colleagues and friends that were on the call, they were equally bamboozled as to why it was done.
"Statistics, it's all very well saying that it is the most popular that it's ever been and more people are watching but you need to have the proof of the statistics. It's all very well someone saying it but you've got broadcasters, not just F1, but broadcasters don't reveal their numbers anymore. We don't know what the numbers are for Apple, we don't know what the numbers are for F1 TV.
"It's all very easy to say every race will get a text saying it's sold out and it's a new record attendance. That may well be the case, but we don't know what it's like from a global audience. We just have to take it at face value that, yes, there are more people watching now than perhaps before, but before when? Are we talking 70s, 80s, 90s, or are we talking Liberty’s era? It's very difficult to know what we're comparing it to. And I think that for me is the difficulty. We've got more attendance than the COVID years maybe..."
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Hunt continues: "It's really hard to quantify what he actually means by that. And also a little bit disingenuous to the journalists on the call to say that people aren't bothered about the superclipping and the technology terms. And I think this was with regards to not broadcasting certain elements and the blackout that has been mentioned. We can't see the energy depletion and the speedometer. They've cut back on a lot of that stuff. It is probably masking something that they don't want to promote.
"But then the flip side is it has generated really good racing. And I think that I've been pleasantly surprised by the competitiveness of all the teams, the closeness, the fact that we've got a championship fight on our hands. And that in theory, the regulations are just going to cause convergence and these cars are all going to be closer together next year.
"So that's a positive. That's the sort of message that I would be spinning if I was in charge of Formula 1. Grin and bear it, it's only going to get better, that sort of message. I think it would be wrong to say that people don't care about the technology, they do, but it needs to be explained to them in the right reasons. And I don't think that's been done at the moment," he concludes.
Watch more F1 Paddock Update here!
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