It’s one year since Liberty Media took control of Formula 1 and people are beginning to question just what its achieved in its maiden season. For decades the end of Bernie’s reign was eagerly awaited and feared in equal measure, contemplated as little more than legend. Bernie has survived heart surgery, bribery accusations, civil wars and more without letting his grip slip on F1. Like the abstract knowledge that one day the sun will be extinguished, the logical minded of the paddock knew that eventually, the 87-year-old tsar’s hold on F1 would end but there was still apprehension when the F1 rocked up in Melbourne what life after Bernie would entail.
We all found out, as the year progressed, that the F1 world didn’t stop turning without a certain Mr Ecclestone. In fact, it quickly proved that no one is irreplaceable, as the circus trundle on without much discernible difference. Optimism for some kind of utopian future was high in the early part of the year with promises of closer competition, increased openness and a festival-style atmosphere thrown about with abandon.
The global fan survey in April highlighted the changes fans really want implementing in the future and there was hope in the air that Liberty would soon begin work on them. The biggest priorities of fans included a return to the V8 engines, the introduction of a budget cap and the reintroduction of tyre competition. More recently there has been plenty of noise made about the engine grid penalties fiasco.
So it’s been established that Liberty started its rule with an extensive to-do list, but what has it managed to tick off? It didn’t take them long to lift restrictions on filming in the pit lane and to increase its digital and social media presence. There are plans to launch an in-house streaming service, both over a grand prix weekend and extra content to meet the expectations of a 21st-century audience. Free-to-air F1 will continue in Germany for another three years, again in a move against the Bernie model of pay-per-view coverage. The F1 Live event in London was celebrated as a success, engaging an audience that perhaps wouldn’t or couldn’t make it to Silverstone that weekend. With more of these events in the works for 2018, that’s at least one big accomplishment for the new team.
Ross Brawn has opened up the can of worms that is grid girls, starting a serious debate of its continuation in F1. Whatever the outcome, that it is even considering ending the practice shows that attitudes are changing in what can still be considered one of the most chauvinistic of sporting arenas.
F1 is heading back to France next year for the first time in a decade, fitting in with Liberty’s mission to return to iconic tracks but the praise for that one should be placed firmly at Bernie Ecclestone’s door. Its begun to work on the engine regulations post-2021 but its proposals sparked a dispute that has left Ferrari threatening to walk. In Austin there were the first signs of the new ‘Superbowl’ F1 with the drivers being introduced onto the grid but both fans and drivers were left unimpressed. As an entertainment company there feels to be a need to impress upon Liberty that fundamentally the fans are there to see a sporting spectacle. F1 is reluctant to be Americanised.
The action by Liberty that caused the most uproar occurred in the dying moments of their debut season. As Valtteri Bottas celebrated victory in Abu Dhabi the big reveal of the new F1 logo was taking place. The overwhelming response was one of disappointment. There hadn’t been calls to change it, and the general consensus was that the new logo was inferior in every way to its predecessor. Liberty claims the old logo wasn’t iconic enough for such a global sport and wasn’t adaptable to the modern world. Whatever the reason it has marked its territory, F1 is Bernie’s kingdom no more.
Have they done enough? It’s undeniable that much of its work so far has been cosmetic. It’s quickly becoming apparent how difficult it is to get agreement on idealistic proposals for cost caps and engine regulations. However noble Liberty’s intentions might be, not all parties have the spectacle for the fans as its highest priority. Changes are never going to be received with unanimous joy. The costs of its first year and the creation of the team necessary to steer F1 through the coming years has meant that the money going to the team has gone down for the first time in eight years.
But equally, F1 hasn’t fallen apart which is probably an achievement. As far as the fans are concerned, at the very least, it continued much the same as ever without the former tsar, no biblical apocalypse, no end of F1 as we know it. Give Liberty time. They’ve made a start but now the honeymoon is over and the coming years will be the real proving ground.
