F1 2021's Final Decision Was a Long Time Coming

Abu Dhabi's final decision has become the subject of much debate among fans. Not least due to its totally outcome over the course of the season. If that car stays out one lap longer, Lewis Hamilton breaks the only record he is yet to achieve. However, the decision Michael Masi made on Sunday transcends so called "motor racing". It's an indication of a changing sport. 

COVID-19

This story starts in Australia. It begins with an awkward press conference. Called in front of thousands o outraged fans. The words 'coronavirus pandemic' still roll awkwardly off of the tongues of the presiding track owners. Bewildered, F1 media reports to the world that the fastest show on earth is now cancelled. Fast forward through a few months of definite uncertainty, and a streaming service called Netflix releases a show. It's called drive to survive, and it focuses on the dramatic aspects of Formula 1. The clips of the actual racing are scarce, but in the absence of other content, many new eyes either glaze over to it or pick up the remote and desperately attempt to find something new. Either way, Formula 1 becomes the truly North American sport it had alway been trying to be. Netflix users from the 18-25 year old demographic soak up the personalized, humanistic take on what is to often a sport of numbers. There are no mechanics in Drive To Survive; no on track analysis. The only mention of race strategy only occurs after the highly replayed footage of a major accident. Audiences are fed Tom Cruise's version of what a Formula 1 race might be like. But for all the lack of realism one thing can be assured. Once F1 got going again in Austria, there were a legion of new fans interested to see what hyper-realistic drama show would come forth. 

Liberty Media

F1 had always been an old boys' game. from the 1950s all the best drivers were actually in their mid thirties. over time that age declined, but all of those behind the scenes retained their characteristically grey hairs. That was, until eccentric billionaire and awful political commentator Bernie Ecclestone decided to give up the reigns. In his place came an investment consortium operating as liberty media. Upon recognition that this was in fact an American company, Europeans immediately groaned. As one fan aptly put it: "The road for F1, I think, has never been more clouded. New owners at a time when nobody seems to agree on the best way to broadcast F1 or what the best formula is; at a time when viewing figures, attendance and competition are low; at a time of new regulations and new teams (Haas/Renault/Honda kinda)." Credit: u/threxd. Despite the conflict of tradition, some immediate changes were instituted. Po-race highlights began popping up online. teams became more human. Twitter managers became fan interaction ringleaders. F1 had finally transcended into the digital age. 

Content 

F1 is a game. It's a sport, and like every other piece of media, it competes. It competes with every other program on tv at 5 pm on a Sunday. Whether it's the late afternoon news, or another game show. F1 is a product. Out of the money used to purchase F1, one could have executed the Louisana purchase over 10 times. (for European viewers the Louisiana purchase transferred ownership over many of the modern day midwestern states from France to the United States. It estimated cost in 2021 is around $375 Million). With investment comes obligation. Liberty stood tall throughout a successful but ultimately wildly predictable 2020 season. Their inaction over regulations had seen the championship nary make it near the last three races since taking over in 2016. Title fights are the lifeblood of the sport. For a new fan, understanding the intricacies of a battle for third place in a team sport without real teammates makes little to know intuitive sense. Every sport wishes their championships to be as hotly contested as possible. Liberty didn't need the 2021 season to be perfect, but if the pandemic hadn't hit, they would've needed a lot less. In 2021 they announced a planned sale of the ownership rights of F1 to Disney for a reported 8 billion dollars. The sale comes as a confirmation of what ought have been obvious. F1's new owners were not seeing the return on investment necessary to continue funding the project. This undoubtedly was spurred on by the pandemic. However, plans were made, and plans well made are often well executed. 

Pre-season

Liberty are pretty confident when it came to forging their own path. Ecclestone's ignorance to modern internet fanaticism had hindered growth across the world's most lucrative platform. the blueprints laid by liberty media opened up a whole new event. F1 fans became sponsors. Social media interactions became selling points, and the sport that started out as a gentlemen's club, had become a truly open and accessible world. Before the season, Liberty Media had lost a whopping $386 million dollars due to the pandemic. A loss like that is simply unsustainable. ownership groups operate off of large debt commitments as it is, and the liquidity issue was no doubt in their minds as the season rolled around. In short, had they not found a buyer, they would've needed the 2021 season to be a smash hit. this is where the old finally became the new. Eccleston's final gift to F1's new owners came from 2012. In 2012, F1 targeted the blown diffuser system in an attempt to massively slow down the dominant Red Bull cars. 2011 had seen unprecedented domination from a team and a single driver. 2012 became many now older fan's favorite season. It was a recipe for a possible perfect concoction. Liberty media headed to the drawing board, and came up with a plan. 'We need to target Mercedes' unique aerodynamic structure.' And so they did. They simplified the design of the cars' floor. this small change had massive reverberations. Cars that relied less on this intricate airflow became immediately more valuable. Their years of data and experience with simpler floor designs helped them skirt the majority of the issues associated with testing out new parts. That being said, there were two losers. One, a massively wealth conglomerate owned by a Canadian billionaire. The other, was Mercedes. For their part, Mercedes were never a likely candidate to fail. As the story goes, Mercedes show up to the first pre-season test unaware of the sort of catastrophe the rule change had wrought on them. In a few short days, the world was made more than aware. Mercedes drove like amateurs, completing the least number of laps of any team during the first preseason test in Jerez. Liberty media had done exactly what they wanted. Despite their best efforts to keep things entertaining, they had just become the biggest leaders in F1's newest era. 

The Season

Liberty Media can only do so much to influence as season. Mercedes aerodynamics department were equipped with the tools necessary to achieve at least what they did this season. But for liberty there was no other way. Over the course of the year, and narrative appeared. there was this young upstart. He was fiery, raw, and relatable for the Netflix driven-new audiences. he was finally in the title shot, and was hoping to dethrone a 6 time consecutive champion. Netflix's room of writer immediately pounced on this narrative. they wrote it into last seasons script, and now they just had to make it a reality. The season created the drama the world wanted to see, but the narrative wasn't complete. red bull had faltered during the final stretches. It was an exciting show for long-time fans, but for those new to the sport it could have been catastrophic. As the headlines would read: "Hamilton wins the title for record 8th time." Fans of the NBA were frustrated by seeing the same two teams in the finals for three years in a row. MLB fans tired of the Yankees' repeated 3 year dynasties. All of those pale in comparison to the 8 straight years of winning Hamilton's next title would've brought forth. F1 needs to modernize. The quicker they can change the sport, the better. It had to happen. 

All of this, the money, the pressure, the new fans, and the internet lead to one thing. Lap 56 at Abu Dhabi. Michael Masi and his team of FIA-sanctioned race directors have to make a choice. Do we satisfy long-time fans of the sport? Do we uphold the dry regularity of regulations? Or do we invest in the future, and secure ourselves the windfall necessary to call this investment a success.

The rest, is history...