I AM FALLING falling short of adjectives to describe the current Formula1 season which has seen seven drivers claim victory in the seven races conducted this season. Mclaren’s Lewis Hamilton won the first race of his season and his third Canadian Grand Prix victory overall. He drove a superb race aided by a good tyre strategy that saw him overtake the likes of Alonso and Vettel to score his win. Rookies Grosjean and Perez claimed second and third on the podium respectively after conserving their tyres in the early part of the race.
However, the driver who most expected to win in Canada, Michael Schumacher, scored a DNF after suffering from yet another retirement this season. This is Schumacher’s worst start for a Formula1 season ever! And the race wasn’t much to speak about for the Indian elements in the sport too.
Karthikeyan was one of the first retirements of the race with suspected brake problems that caused a spin on lap 22. The HRT team brought a new rear wing to this race which did show its effect when both Karthikeyan and de la Rosa were 3rd and 4th fastest in the ‘speed trap’ in the qualifying session. However, the team faltered when it mattered the most on Race Day and registered a double DNF, their first of the 2012 season. This result also saw them lose 11th place to the Marussia F1 team.
Sahara Force India too ended up without scoring any points in the race. Paul di Resta started from P8, the team’s best starting position this season, but couldn’t convert his early race pace to points and was ultimately beaten by drivers on a one-stopper. He finished P11, followed by Hulkenberg in P12. The Indian-owned team lies 8th in the Constructors’ Championship table with 28 points.
I have always maintained that Formula1 has various stakeholders which include teams, drivers, sponsors, broadcasters and even the race circuit owners. Last week, the race circuit owners launched the ‘Formula One Promoters Association’ (FOPA) to have a unified voice in the sport for all financial and political negotiations with the Formula One Management. Last year, promoter fees amounted to approx. GBP 330 million and represent about one-third of the sport’s annual income.
The creation of this association comes at a crucial juncture when the new Concorde Agreement is being discussed by all stakeholders. As with the teams, the circuits too bear a direct impact of the changes in rules and regulations of the sport. Much as the new Pirelli rubber, which has made racing exciting and unpredictable, is welcomed by the circuits, they are currently opposed to the new proposed engine regulations for 2014.
There are already a few associations present in the sport, the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA), which Ferrari and Red Bull broke away from earlier this year, and the Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA) are one of the most active associations. There also exists a Formula 100, which is an association of the top 100 sponsors in the sport. As for FOPA, I am not too sure of the criteria to be a part of this association. After all, we are seeing circuits being added and dropped frequently in the past few seasons and I wonder if this would help their cause, especially knowing how Ecclestone has dealt with such associations in the past!
On-track action has been splendid this season and it is the circuit promoters that stand to benefit this season, especially of the races to be held later in the season. The 2012 British Grand Prix has been a big beneficiary and the promoters have declared a sellout with only 5,000 of the available 125,000 tickets available for Race Day.
And while British fans will throng Silverstone in the month of July, their days of watching Formula1 free-to-air might be numbered. Last week, Ecclestone mentioned that he might drop BBC as the sport’s broadcaster as the exposure and reach of the pay-per-view broadcaster Sky is sufficient. While the numbers aren’t ratified, Ecclestone did comment that with Sky, Formula1 was reaching about 10 million households as compared to 6 or 7 million with BBC. While this doesn’t change much for Indian Formula1 fans who have to pay-per-view with ESPN Star Sports, the large TV audiences reached via free-to-air broadcast is critical for sponsorships in the sport.
Talking about sponsorship, the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) is in dire need of a promoter and a few sponsors. It was reported in the last few weeks that the original promoter of the INRC backed out forcing the governing body Federation of Motor Sport Clubs of India (FMSCI) to step in and organize the sport themselves. For 2012, the INRC will have a curtailed calendar of only four rounds. Rallying as a sport seems to be suffering globally with issues faced by the World Rally Championship as well.
To me, rallying is the best form of motorsport to attract larger crowds, especially since they convert stock cars into rally cars, something that the crowds instantly connect with. Indian motorsport needs more sponsors like Gulf Oil, whose commitment to the Gulf Cup Dirt Track Racing can be dated back to almost a decade!
