The inevitable consequence of the Liberty F1 popularity boom

Where once, just a few years ago, venues were covering up their grandstands with banners to disguise the fact that they were empty through a lack of interest, now things have flipped around and some promoters cannot sell enough tickets. But while the explosion of interest in F1 is great news for promoters who have faced huge losses during the pandemic and sometimes struggled to balance the books beforehand, bigger crowds come with extra headaches.

And last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix proved to be a case in point as organisers were caught on the hop by the combination of an unexpectedly large crowd on the Friday, a heatwave, and a level of interest perhaps not seen for decades. Social media was full of horror stories about traffic chaos, bad organisation around the gates, a lack of food and drink (especially water) availability, and horrendous queues for public transport away from the venue.

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One race attendee, who wrote to Autosport after the event, said that while the views and the atmosphere were ‘electric’ inside the track, it was the logistics that let it down.

Father and son Andy and James Hartley wrote: “On Friday we queued for an hour for water in 30 degree heat, missing half of FP2 as a result because there were too few vendors who focused on also cooking and selling food to order prior to serving the next customer, with no dedicated drink vendors.

“On Saturday we left after qualifying finished and eventually got on a train at 9:30. After a 45 minute walk we endured a 3 hour ordeal standing at Montmelo station in the sun with no water or access to toilets seeing tempers fraying, lots of shoving and a number of people requiring medical attention. Sunday saw vendors run out of food (by that stage we were bringing our own water to drink) and we joined the many thousands of spectators who left early to avoid a repeat of the train chaos. Barcelona is wonderful and we’ll be back there in future, but not for the grand prix.”

Spain is not alone in facing such difficulties, and fans don’t need very long memories to recall the traffic problems that Silverstone has faced in the past – and even more recent venues like Austria and Paul Ricard have had their moments.

But perhaps what is most relevant now is that, as Liberty bids to capitalise on the current high levels of interest and build momentum rather than have it be a flash in the pan of fans wanting to go to races, F1 can be more picky in which races it chooses. There was plenty of intrigue over comments F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali made earlier this year that the future of some ‘classic races’ was not guaranteed if they did not get with the times.

A huge crowd of Verstappen fans at the Spanish GP - a common sight at many F1 races as fan numbers swell

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

And while it would be wrong to suggest that Spain’s traffic angst is something that could result in it dropping off the calendar – indeed a letter that Domenicali sent the promoters was more about working together to find a solution than threatening if they didn’t sort it – there is definitely some fresh pressure on races to not let fans down.

Old style venues cannot just ramp up the ticket prices, not put decent organisation in place, ignore the experience for fans, and then expect their slot to be guaranteed in the future just because they have history. As British GP boss Stuart Pringle told me recently about this new dynamic of mass interest for races – there is a need to nurture the new wave of fans to make sure they come back again in the future.

“The audience is different: it's good news for everybody,” he said. “We've got to capitalise upon it. You've got to keep them interested, you've got to get them to come back again. It's not just one of those sort of do it once and then forget about it.”

One race attendee, who wrote to Autosport after the event, said that while the views and the atmosphere were ‘electric’ inside the track, it was the logistics that let it down

It was the approach of trying to ensure the fan experience was good that pushed Miami in to a loss for its inaugural grand prix. While costs escalated to put the event on, Miami’s F1 managing partner Tom Garfinkel was adamant that they would not compromise the experience for fans by simply opening the flood gates to boost ticket revenue.

“We deliberately kept the ticket count lower than the demand,” he said. “I think it was really about trying to make sure we could get everybody in and out of here easily: concessions, bathrooms. I want everyone to have a great experience. I don't want them to be stuck in traffic for three hours, waiting in line at concessions for 20 minutes. I want them to come say it was a great event: ‘I got in and out easily. I didn't have to wait in line at the bathroom. Everything was clean. I was happy.’ So we're gonna start there and grow from there.”

Garfinkel’s caution was most definitely the right thing to do, as even with it Miami faced some teething problems: most notably with the paddock club experience for corporate guests having a troubled start on Friday due to problems getting staff in to the track. Lessons have been learned though and, like Spain, the solutions in place will be a win-win for everybody.

What is clear now is that just as Miami has opened eyes about what heights can be reached in terms of the fan experience at the track, so too more attention is going to be given to those venues that don’t offer enough.

As F1 heads to Monaco this weekend, and negotiations begin in earnest for a fresh contract, it means there will be a sharper focus on the organisation and logistics of the event to make sure it fits in with the kind of top-level experience that is now demanded everywhere.

In Liberty’s new era of destination grands prix where the fan experience is world class, there will be no room for second-class delivery. And that means all race promoters are going to need to pull their socks up.

Many fans were left with an unhappy experience at the Spanish GP which will need to be acted upon by the race promoters

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images