"Formula 1 is getting old." Darren Heath

[fandango]

I'm surpised that people are so quick to write off his opinion. I think he makes a very good point about the F1 demographic. It's not as tribal as football, but I think they should be finding ways to appeal to more people, men women and children.

I'd love to see F1 as a more all-encompassing pinnacle of motorsport. I think it would be interesting to see an oval race, an endurance race, some rally stages, to show that it's the driver and the team that's tested, as part of the championship. F1 has a lot to learn from computer games and really it should be the other way round.

I'd love to see more coverage of the garages, what the teams are actually doing in the small space and time available, make the mechanics and engineers have a higher profile online for the geeks who are into it.

[ShiftingGears]

I'd love to see F1 as a more all-encompassing pinnacle of motorsport. I think it would be interesting to see an oval race, an endurance race, some rally stages, to show that it's the driver and the team that's tested, as part of the championship.

You forgot rounds for motorcycle racing, jet powered wheelchair racing, and karts equipped with projectile turtle shells.

[SGWilko]

he forgot to say the average fan drives an s-max too

S-Maxmybitchup!

[F1boat]

You forgot rounds for motorcycle racing, jet powered wheelchair racing, and karts equipped with projectile turtle shells.

and of course, F1 boats!

[nigelred5]

This glut of 45 year old fans, won't their kids follow in their parents love of the sport????

I can say from experience, that's not a guarantee. In past times, it may have been. My son understands racing, understands that I like it and occasionally will go with me to races, but my daughter is actually far more in tune to it and actually knows drivers and who is ahead in the standings etc. He's only 11, so there's still time.

[schmenke]

Despite the dandruff shampoo logos on Kimi’s car, when my 7-year old sees the black and gold Lotus she exclaims “Ooh, there’s the Angry Birds car!”
I can’t be bothered to explain that sometimes it’s actually Grosjean’s car : .

[wedge]

My apologies, but this sounds like someone who doesn't use social media themselves but has heard lots about it

Of course there is drivel on social media sites, just as there is in newspapers, on television and (dare I say it) on forums like this. They key to it is finding the content you are interested in, which isn't hard, and filtering out the drivel. Once that's done you have access to information, news, and (for a business) the means to manage your brand and engage with your customers.

At the last count Fernando Alonso has 591,226 followers on Twitter and his team have 277,142. That's a lot of fans, and customers, which Fernando and Ferrari have direct access to and who are interested in their brand.

It is meaningless drivel.

I've done social networking via a different forum but not related to motor sport - that was about 10 years ago when it was considered a bit mental to have a social life conducted and outside the internet. I also used to be on Friendster which was the precursor to Facebook, et al; and then the novelty quickly wore off and never bothered moving across to Myspace.

Now its a case of been there, done that.

With forums you'd get a few narcissists who wanted to be popular but its a lot, lot worse with social media today - or so I've been told.

The 0.1% - its a useful tool to engage with the public if you leave out inanities or a tool to wind up certain celebrities/high profile people! (no, I'm not a troll, honest!)

[N. Jones]

Formula 1 Photographs - Blog - F1 Photos - Darren Heath Photographer

I'm inclined to agree completely with what he says (even though I'm 43 with two kids). Anyone any ideas on what F1 should do to move with the times?

Ticket prices? Online live broadcasting? Demotion and promotion like in football? A thread for some new ideas..

If he thinks F1 is getting old then he should stop going to the races. Stop watching. Just give it up altogether.

Because he is missing one great season.

[TheFamousEccles]

If he thinks F1 is getting old then he should stop going to the races. Stop watching. Just give it up altogether.

Because he is missing one great season.

I do tend to agree with you, but I think this Darren Heath fellow has achieved his objective - self promotion.

I read his blog once (stumbled across it, read it and left never to return) and he is a whinger, but he's got people talking about him and that - to my mind - is all these types ever want.


A good photographer, but a waste of electrons IMO.

[fandango]

You forgot rounds for motorcycle racing, jet powered wheelchair racing, and karts equipped with projectile turtle shells.

Ok, fair enough, I left myself open to that particular piss take.

BUT, when you have a situation where once a year they make a little Karting track in a stadium for F1 drivers to show what they can do, AND that there are at least two top F1 drivers who race (or would like to race) in rallies AND ex-champions who race on ice (sudden images of a Prost-Disney spectacular spring to mind) it shows that there is interest in mixing things up a bit. I mean, it could be fun, right? Which is why we like cars going round in circles, right?

I amazed at how dismissive people are of someone expressing an idea that involves change. I don't think anyone's saying that F1 is bad now, but if you're going to be the pinnacle you've got to be ahead of the game sometimes, and in relation to the internet and other things F1 just isn't.

One of the reasons I don't much like Wii racing games, for example, is that they're too far from simulating real racing conditions. I would imagine that for many kids who like those games F1 has the same problem, but in the opposite direction. Years ago I among others thought that night racing was silly and gimmicky, but from the first images of the Singapore GP I thought it looked wonderful - a whole new way for F1 to be interesting and glamorous, qualifying on a Saturday night!

People are afraid of change, but what freaks me out more is the idea of everything staying the same, to loosely quote Nick Cave...