Social freedom

Formula 1 has always been a mixture of humans and machines performing on the edges of possibility. As compelling and exciting as the racing is, often what occurs outside of the car is the experience fans want to be part of too. For years now paddock drama and intrigue has been contained and filtered by the legions of press officers working for the teams, sponsors and drivers. Is this changing and how? We at Paddock magazine hear from our friends at VIAGP, an agency that focuses on strategic partnerships and sponsorship marketing in the motorsport industry, spanning across five continents.

Media consumption habits and its ongoing disruption will continue to pressure terrestrial and subscription cable delivery models. This complex landscape will need to be navigated cautiously and we trust Liberty Media will carefully guide the sport on the road ahead. Liberty Media’s opening of social media channels in the paddock during Barcelona winter testing is only the beginning of what could certainly be a very exciting time ahead.

Social media adoption has accelerated and continues to do so across numerous platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. The potential audience and therefore value to the sport simply cannot be ignored any longer.

More fans result in more impressions, more impressions lead to more value for the sponsors and more sponsors ensure the team’s financial security to go race competitively.

VIAGP team

New sponsorship activations are now possible that harness the power of social media and hold a major key to unlock new viewers around the world. For sponsors, interactions have always mattered and the new possibilities are promising. More fans result in more impressions, more impressions lead to more value for the sponsors and more sponsors ensure the team’s financial security to go race competitively.

Liberty Media hold the keys to unlock a content creation machine and unleash it to engage the audience while growing the sport in new markets in the highly elusive and arguably disinterested youth demographic. On the spot one-on-one contact with their heroes is now possible only moments after they finish an on-track session. Imagine this kind of social media access in the era of Hunt and Lauda!

Lewis Hamilton has been the star of Formula 1 in recent years, having gained a following of over eight million followers between Twitter and Instagram. New fans have come to the sport as a result of his online presence and the Hamilton brand engaging with other sports, fashion and cultural communities. This can only benefit all involved to grow the sport and its future.

F1Play was for a period of time a destination for fans to interact with each other before the dawn of mass social community platforms such as Facebook. F1Play, which was founded in the early 2000s, shared many similarities to the experiences that social media can now deliver – engagement, interaction, discussion, sharing and gaming. Liberty Media stands to greatly benefit by unlocking the access but also curating unique experiences and bespoke engagements that serve both business and fan interests.

I truly hope that forums that unite fans such as the F1Play domain return. All signs are pointing in the right direction as Liberty Media seems to be setting social media free.

#BringBackF1Play