F1 Teams in Talks to Improve the Show

The Formula teams have been in talks with Formula One's rights-holders CVC and Formula One Management to find ways to improve the show in 2010, according to Brawn GP CEO Nick Fry, speaking at the Motor Sport Business Forum in Monaco.

Fry said: "It's been a difficult year for Formula One and hopefully we can now move forward. We had a very constructive discussion a couple of weeks ago with CVC, Bernie (Ecclestone) and FOM looking at how we improve the show in the future.

"Now we have signed the Concorde Agreement and we have a contract between us for a few years that helps the situation"

Fry is positive about the teams' dealings with the sport's promoters, especially compared to the situation when he first entered the sport.

He said: "I see a lot of open discussion and things have certainly changed. The meetings I went to between FOM and the teams eight or nine years ago were appalling. The meetings I go to now, involving Bernie and Donald McKenzie from CVC, are professionally-run business meetings. Bernie presents the numbers and the desires of the promoters and we decide together what we can do."

Fry said that in terms of improving the show, developing the ability of the cars to overtake is still a strong objective for all involved.

He said: "We need to get the circuit design right, we need to work on the type of tyres and we are also looking at the brakes. But part of the problem in Formula One is that the drivers are too good, they don't make mistakes. In some ways we are victims of our own efficiency and we need to undo some of that to bring more randomness into the sport."

Fry admitted that more could also be done for the fans, especially to help bring them closer to the drivers.

He said: "We all recognize that the drivers' parade at each Grand Prix could be improved. Having drivers standing on the back of a truck chatting with each other is probably not the best way of presentation. We will work on this."

Eurosport Chief Tells Motor Sport to Deal with Issues

Jacques Raynaud, Vice-Chairman of pan-European broadcaster Eurosport, told the Motor Sport Business Forum that motor sport has a number of issues to deal with if it is to remain a leading entertainment property.

Raynaud said: "There are issues to be addressed to make sure motor sport remains a great entertainment with a decent return on investment."

Raynaud's main gripe is with the teams and manufacturers that continue to complain publicly about the governance of their sport.

He said: "Manufacturers and Teams need to stop badmouthing their sport. Yes, it is part of the game to talk about diffusers, handicap weights, interpretations of regulations, but in no other sport do people systematically complain about the rules and systematically threaten to quit the sport. In no other sport do clients systematically publicly and loudly threaten to join other series."

Raynaud is uniquely placed to talk about motor sport from the point of view of both a promoter and a broadcaster. Eurosport currently broadcasts coverage from a number of major motor sport championships including MotoGP, GP2, and the Dakar Rally, and is also the promoter of the FIA World Touring Car Championship and the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

Raynaud went on to point out that despite the controversies in football or rugby, no teams ever threaten to withdraw and this should be the case in motor sport.

He added: "How can fans engage and how can teams invest long-term if motor sport people badmouth, complain or even turn their back on motor sport when they do not win or get what they want from the regulatory bodies."

World Motor Sport Competes

Some of the major global motor racing championships found themselves competing with each other on the second day of the Motor Sport Business Forum in Monaco. Paulo Flammini, CEO, World Superbike Championship; Sonja Kreye, Business Relations Director, Porsche Motorsport; Marcello Lotti, General Manager, FIA World Touring Car Championship; Ferran Juncar, Sponsorship Director, Dorna/MotoGP; and Stephane Ratel, CEO, SRO/FIA GT Championship were participating in the session on World Motor Sport.

Conference chairman James Allen asked them each the same question: What is their championships' Unique Selling Point. The responses were surprisingly different:

Paulo Flammini: "We believe the strong selling point of World Superbike is that it is a great show. It is a very attractive form of motor sport and the accessibility of the event really makes a lot of difference between Suberbikes and the more established forms of motor sport."

Sonja Kreye: "For us it is definitely the Porsche brand. We can't really compete with these other championships spectator-wise but we have a very good business platform and a great plan that we can market to attract a good crowd."

Marcello Lotti: "WTCC is a young championship but our thinking was always to create stability at a regulatory level for manufacturers. I think that stability has worked for us and for our fans."

Ferran Juncar: "The key point for MotoGP I would say is that motorcycling is the entry point into motor sport. When you're a kid you're not thinking about a car, you're thinking about a motorbike. Therefore we can reach the younger audiences and I think this is a very interesting aspect of our sport."

Stephane Ratel: "The best selling point is our cars. You park a Lamborghini Murcielago anywhere in Paris, in Rome, in Tokyo, you get people around it. We have the best looking cars, you look at a newsstand and look at the covers of magazines, 80 per cent of the cars are our cars."

Clearly, potential sponsors and investors really do have a wealth of opportunities in the motor sport marketplace.


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