Formula 1 owners Liberty Media are considering an overhaul to the Grand Prix weekend format should that be the consensus of surveys being conducted to get the fans view.
It has been one of the areas that the leadership, under CEO Chase Carey, have often identified since taking over in 2016 with the possibility of reduced practice, a qualifying race and a shorter Sunday race all potential options.
What Liberty is keen to stress, however, is that such changes will only be done if it is thought to be at the approval of the viewers.
“One of the things we are actively engaged in is a huge amount of fan research,” former F1 sporting boss Steve Nielsen was quoted by Motorsport Week.
“It isn’t completed yet, but what we want to know is what fans really want from F1, from avid fans to people who don’t really engage with the sport, what they like, what they don’t like and what would make them watch more.
“The scale of this research has never been done in the sport before and it will have a big impact on how F1 is shaped for the future.”
What Neilsen, who is also a former Renault team manager, did concede though, is a lot of effort is going into attracting a new generation of F1 fans, which typically the hardcore fanbase doesn’t agree with.
“We have our own ideas but we want to gauge opinion, as many opinions as possible,” he insisted.
“Viewing figures were declining. There has been an improvement but F1 needs to change to engage with a wider audience. There are many people under the age of 30 for whom F1 is of little interest.
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“We need to retain the core values of the sport, while at the same time appealing to a younger audience. If we neglect that the sport will be in trouble.
“It is a difficult line to walk but that is what we have to do,” he acknowledged. “Perhaps that does mean a shorter race, or slightly less free practice, more sudden-death situations.
“People engage with sport in a lot of different ways and they don’t necessarily want to give up a Sunday afternoon or a Saturday afternoon to do it. So every idea has to be on the table.”
