In recent years the debate has raged about how to streamline the path for young drivers climbing the ladder to Formula 1.
Now, with the commercial rights to F1 now sold to Liberty Media, could this mean a shakeup of the support series?
It is no secret that for young drivers today, the rise to F1 is a much more complicated path than it used to be, say 20 years ago.
British F3 used to be the main benchmark for those younger drivers, Damon Hill, Johnny Herbert, Ayrton Senna and Martin Brundle to name but a few came through that category on their way through to F1.
In the modern era, drivers face the choice to race in GP2, Formula 3.5, Euro F3 or even Super Formula in Japan, this is putting a lot of pressure on those drivers to perform well to ensure they are seen by the team principals in F1.
This isn’t just a problem for the teams in F1, but also for fans who look for the next stars of the future. With such a diverse range of series out there, it is becoming increasingly difficult to know which drivers will be those destined for the F1 arena.
It was announced in 2015 that a new superlicence structure would be put in place to prevent inexperienced or young ‘pay’ drivers getting a seat in F1 without having the proper experience before hand.
Included on this list was an official FIA F2 championship, which now looks set to happen as early as this year with reports of the current GP2 Series set to be renamed.
While Liberty Media’s main focus is going to be F1, their aim to create “21 Superbowls”, as CEO Chase Carey called it, could include plans to reshuffle how the support series is executed.
In recent years MotoGP has reformed their junior series into Moto2 and Moto3 respectively. The package of all three championships has proven that it works from a rider promotion perspective as well as making it easier for fans to understand.
I asked Read Motorsport’s MotoGP editor Lewis Duncan to give his views on how MotoGP make use of their system and why it’s so beneficial.
Here is what he had to say.
“The MotoGP World Championship’s development ladder is second to none; riders ascending the ranks from Moto3 to MotoGP is exactly how it should be. There are several reasons why MotoGP’s system work.”
“What helps as well is that Moto2 and Moto3 are also world championships, running under the same governance and commercial rights holder as MotoGP. You don’t watch Moto2 or Moto3 and then switch over to MotoGP – it’s part of the same package.
“That works because, the riders, teams, sponsors, etc, in Moto2 and Moto3 are getting the same amount of exposure as MotoGP. This introduces them to fans early on in their careers and allows them to be followed through the ranks.
“Drivers in F1 are coming from all over the place these days and it’s hard to keep up with if you aren’t a die-hard.”
“The biggest thing for me, though, is that Moto2 and Moto3 follow every single round of the championship and run the exact same format (except MotoGP’s shoot-out qualifying system).
“Again, this is great for exposure, but also in preparing them for the rigours of MotoGP. If riders are running the same race distances, there is going to be less of a shock to the system each time they move up a class.
“That part of the format is hardwired into them, so all they need to do is worry about using that time to adjust to the bike and focus on performance.”
To create a world championship in a similar fashion using F2 and potentially F3, has potentially fantastic opportunities for both drivers and fans alike.
Drivers, for example, could pick their own numbers as they do in F1 and MotoGP, utilising that to their advantage and help build their own brands as Lewis Hamilton and Valentini Rossi have for example.
This has huge potential in getting fans to know who those young drivers are, they then can follow their progress through those championships in their aim for F1.
Potentially, broadcasters of F1 around the world could also find benefits from the junior series being reshaped into something new.
BT Sport in the UK, cover MotoGP and broadcast every session of all three championships over the course a race weekend, making a full entertainment package out of the whole series, this makes that package have value for money.
Sky Sports in the UK also currently show GP2 and GP3, but only show the world feed coverage, for fans who enjoy watching the younger drivers may currently feel that they get the value for money with the package from Sky.
A potential move for Sky to get involved with all three championships similar to that of BT’s involvement of MotoGP could help bring fans on board with Sky, making the package much more valuable and worthwhile, especially as the sport moves fully to ‘pay tv’ from 2019.
A shake-up of the championships could well be a refreshing move for many parties who are involved with F1, right from the new owners, Liberty Media, down to the fans in the grandstands at home watching on television.
Drivers also would benefit massively in such a move, the ability to perform in front of the F1 teams and fans on any given race weekend, including the ability to market themselves to the public is a challenge I have no doubt any young driver would relish.
It is still potentially a long way off yet, but don’t rule out the possibility of this happening, Liberty Media will want to create the best environment for their investment into F1, making moves in the support series could well boost F1’s profile by doing just that.
