With the arrival of Liberty Media to the Formula 1 many are the ideas that are emerging in order to attract Formula 1 to new fans, especially the young. Franz Tost agrees that something must be done to get the new generations to see to the category as something attractive and, to do this, think that it is important to perform parallel activities which allow to know the world of racing in an indirect way.
Franz Tost brings the examples of the Great Prizes of Australia and the united States, in which musical activities and leisure allow people who are not fans interested in Formula 1. “F1 is special. There is only one race once a year in a particular country. Should be promoted as something special, something unique, and people go. You should offer a spectacular program. I must say that the organizer of Austin did something fantastic because it’s 70,000 or 80,000 people came just for the concert, and then said, ‘There is a F1 race also, going to watch it. I’ve always liked the Australian GP because you can go to Albert Park with our families. See historic cars, modern cars, fantastic races and that is what people like to see”, said Tost in a statement to Autosport.
One of the ideas that Franz Tost proposes is to introduce the emerging world of racing simulators, commonly known as SimRacing. Tost believes that it would be a great way to create spectacle with a direct link to Formula 1. “we Must improve the show itself. We must bring him to the young people with, for example, video games. Why not have a career in the virtual Sunday morning with a big relay where people from all over the world is involved to increase the interest? Video games might function simply because they are games and companies would be involved in them”, commented Tost implying the commercial value of such an initiative.
To the Head of the team Toro Rosso, it would be advisable to do a test to see how it would work. “For example, we run in Abu Dhabi with exhibits from different countries and we will see how it ends that. The young people are not very interested in those cars and we must find a way to attract them to F1. The promotion should start soon, maybe three or four months before the race with some riders going to a session of autographs and doing demos. It can’t be that you arrive at the airport and do not see anything about that there is an F1 race that weekend”. The Formula E already did something similar in Vegas a few weeks ago, getting a great repercussion in the media with the event. One of the simulators more popular, iRacing, already organises the World Championships of Formula 1, NASCAR, and Blancpain GT Series, which rewards the best teams with attractive prizes in cash.
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