Now that the three big motor races in this part of Florida are behind me it’s time to turn my attention to media coverage, international, national and local, recent and future.
My interest in Formula One has waxed and waned since the early sixties, spiking at milestones like Frankenheimer's Grand Prix and camping at the Glen (below) to watch Jackie Stewart run away from the field in 1970 only to be felled by a broken oil line in his first race with the new Tyrrell 001, allowing an unknown youngster named Emerson Fittipaldi to win his first Grand Prix. Later, the Canadian Grand Prix became my home F1 race, Montreal being less than a five hour drive from Boston.
Naturally, when the Miami Grand Prix came to light I immediately put my name on the waiting list. The day before tickets were to go on sale the organizers emailed to let me know that the event was sold out. Just as well, because for less than the price of a single bleacher seat at the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix I got to enjoy a four-day pass to the Rolex 24 at Daytona, a three-day pass to the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and a four-day pass with infield parking at the IMSA/WEC Super Sebring weekend. Besides, I’ve never watched a road race from a grandstand in my life and can’t imagine ever doing so. Instead, I upgraded my home viewing options with the addition of F1 TV Pro. Today was my first time watching an F1 Grand Prix – in this case Australia – using the official FIA OTT service rather than ESPN/Sky’s version. What follows are comparisons between the two as well as with the Long Beach IndyCar/IMSA weekend from a viewer’s standpoint.
In reverse order I need to address the inevitable laments on racer.com and other boards from folks who say things like, “Suggestion for Mr. Penske: get IndyCar off of Peacock and on a real network, and maybe you’ll get a few more fans interested in the series.” To which I answer this actual quote, not a chance. Today’s NBC over-the-air, three-hour coverage from Long Beach included sixteen commercial breaks totaling thirty-seven minutes, or roughly one every eight to nine minutes. My favorite was a spot for a local law firm that would run the same commercial twice in one break! Motor racing is not a sport that lends itself to interruption. By contrast, I watched all the practice sessions and qualifying leading up to the race commercial-free on Peacock. And what did this “big network” exposure do to generate excitement among non-race fans? Not so much as a mention on the local NBC affiliate (WFLA/NBC 8) 6:00 news that immediately followed the race broadcast, this from a town that hosts the first IndyCar race of the year! Let’s face it, the average American knows NASCAR and that’s about it. IndyCar may be growing in popularity but it will never reach the level of conciousness among the general public that it enjoyed through the mid-nineties so why not make it more enjoyable for actual fans? If that means alienating those who believe it’s their right to watch all forms of racing “free” over-the-air using some kind of digital antenna I say, sorry, your time has passed.
About that $2.38. That’s the cost per weekend of watching all twenty-three Formula One races, including FP1, 2 and 3, “quallies,” the race itself and more before- and after-shows than even I can stand! Peacock is $4.17 per month and includes everything the NBC streaming service offers in addition to IMSA and IndyCar racing, like non-stop Dateline murder mysteries! For me, there’s no going back.
As to F1 TV Pro versus Sky, the reason I chose the former for Australia was mostly a time issue, since the race started at 1:55 am EDT and I wanted to get some sleep and watch at a more civilized hour. Yes, I could’ve DVR’d Sky but I was curious about the official FIA feed. My verdict? I’ll stick with Sky for the actual race in the future. The first thing I noticed today was that the F1 TV crew calls the race remotely from back home (à la Diffey, Matchet and Hobbs from the NBC era) with one young lady on the ground at the event. Sky has a large rotating team of folks on location that generally includes one or more former World Champions and lots of race-specific exclusives, like Martin Brundle analyzing various driver’s lines through different corners by standing there watching, mic in hand. Sky imparts a stronger feeling of “being there.”
Incidentally, this is my first experiment with Substack. We’ll see how it goes. Also, the top photo memorializes my 2002 BMW 325i turning 220,000 miles at Sebring in March. Left, below, is how it looked at the 2016 race with half the mileage; at right is how it looked this year, with the front clip repainted to mitigate bug damage. It’s still running strong and at this point I can’t see ever selling it.
One oversight. When I mentioned the "three big races" hereabouts I didn't mean to slight the Daytona 500, which I WILL attend one of these years, given that DIS is just under two hours from here.