Haas Team Principal Günther Steiner thinks Formula 1 is doing a good job of improving weekend entertainment but stresses that the ‘classic’ races need to keep up with the popular new events.
The Miami Grand Prix raised the bar for off-track action, and November’s Las Vegas Grand Prix looks set to reach a new level.
Steiner believes that fans today want to see more than just the Grand Prix itself, especially in the US, where expectations of those who attend major events are higher: “I think the entertainment here has become a lot better than it used to be”, he says.
Steiner: Only Liberty Media understood the US market
“We used to race and it was the same pattern: we race one race, we race the next, we don’t do anything about it, we race for the motorsport fan. And I think that before Liberty Media took over the sport in the United States was unsuccessful.”
“I came to the US and understood the US better when I moved here because I didn’t understand it before. But you have to live here to understand it. People want constant entertainment and not just a three-hour wait ’til the next time the cars come out, so they want something to do, something to consume.”
“The other things that happen here are concerts, entertainment areas. When you have kids with you, you want to entertain them and not sit in a bleacher or on a hill. Try telling a 12-year-old that we’re two now Having to wait hours for the cars to come back. It’s quite difficult.”
Steiner: Racing must remain the main attraction, but …
Steiner cited the Singapore Grand Prix as a good example of an event where on-track action was successfully combined with other attractions such as live music. However, he emphasizes that it is important that the actual Grand Prix must always be the focus of the weekend.
“I think Formula 1 is doing a very good job in that regard,” he says. “They’ve started to put more entertainment alongside it. That’s what they’re doing in Singapore, at a lot of these races. I think they’ve got it all right, the sport is still at the center of everything. It’s the Formula 1 race, and you have two high quality concerts on Friday night and Saturday night.”
“It’s not like there’s the concert and on Sunday there’s the race. It’s the exact opposite. And I think they’re doing it very well. And here [in Miami] they always did better.”
Steiner: “We have arrived in 2023!”
He adds: “I think there’s a good chance that what we call the classic race, where we race and nothing else, can match that. We’re in 2023 now and people want more entertainment, they want more.”
“They don’t just want to see one car race. And I think Formula 1 has done a very good job over the last five years to convey to consumers that they enjoy coming here because there’s more than one Formula 1 race, although that’s still the focus. You always keep that in mind because that’s the value of this event. It’s the Formula 1 race, not the concert or the DJ.”
Steiner, who has close ties to NASCAR and recently attended the Circuit of the Americas cup race, says Formula 1 has also learned from making the paddock more accessible to guests.
“I think they both do very similar things,” he notes. “I think NASCAR doesn’t have as much entertainment as we do right now, they’re a little bit behind. But I think Formula 1 has learned from NASCAR that you have to give people more access.”
“I mean we have a lot more people in the paddock than we used to have, there’s a lot more people here who have the opportunity to come here to meet partners, sponsors and things like that, it used to be a lot more difficult. And NASCAR does that too, with the Hot Pass and all that stuff, so I think they’ve seen that it’s being done better.”