Motorsport is one of the most fascinating and adventurous sports of today’s age. Seeing people drive small, aerodynamic capsules on wheels at speeds eclipsing 300 kmph around windy circuits provides viewers with a thrill most other sports simply can’t match.
While Motorsport is not restricted to the world of Race Cars and Formula 1 and includes Endurance Racing, NASCAR and karting, Formula 1 alone attracts more than a billion eyeballs annually.
What is Formula 1?
Formula 1 is the most prestigious competition involving race cars in the world. 20 F1 drivers, representing ten different teams, race against each other on twenty (or more) racing tracks around the world.
Each Race-Weekend, or Grand-Prix, comprises practice sessions, qualifying rounds and the final race, and drivers receive points according to the position they finish in. The driver with the most points at the end of the season is crowned the World Champion, and the team with the most points takes home the Constructor’s Cup.
How Popular is F1 in The World?
Formula 1 is among the most popular sports in the world, bringing in more than 2 billion dollars in annual revenue. 500 million users tuned in to watch the F1 races on TV alone.
Formula 1 was founded in 1950 in Silverstone, England, and Europe continues to be the “home” for the sport, organising the vast majority of races in 2021. Formula 1 Races were also held in North America, South America, Australia and Asia - all inhabited continents barring Africa in 2020.
Formula 1 brought in 70+ million unique TV viewers from China, the most for any country. Spain, Russia and USA showed marked improvement in viewership last year, with many countries in Europe (and Brazil) boasting of stupendous viewership.
Despite the pandemic, more than 2.69 million fans showed up to cheer for their favourite drivers in person. The races which boasted the greatest attendance were the USA, Mexico and Great Britain.
The most successful F1 teams such as Mercedes, Ferrari and Red-bull Racing used to spend close to a quarter of a billion dollars to maintain their F1 teams. The star drivers, like 7-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton or current World Champion Max Verstappen, were given contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The marketing the sport generated for the respective parent companies was estimated to be of far greater value.
How Popular is F1 in India?
In 2019, after the Formula 1 Grand Prix started being broadcasted on Star Sports, and being streamed on Disney+ Hotstar, the popularity of the sport grew by 87%. India is projected to be Formula 1’s fifth largest market, bringing in 31 million viewers.
Despite being within the top-5 fan bases, India still fails to make the list of the top 20 countries when ranked by television viewership. This indicates that the television viewership of F1 in India is a huge, untapped market in the present day.
Netflix’s popular docu-series, “Formula 1:Drive to Survive”, provided users across the world with an intimate, behind-the-scenes look into the world of Formula 1. This introduced the sport to a whole new demographic of viewers and increased its reach of the sport.
India’s Association With Formula 1
India is the home to a world-class racing track- Buddh International Racing Circuit- which is located near Noida, Uttar Pradesh. It was inaugurated in 2011 and hosted three Formula 1 Race Weekends. The Indian Grand Prix of 2014 was suspended post a tax dispute with the state government.
Indian drivers have often been around the sport of Formula 1, with Jehan Daruvala being the latest Indian driver making waves in Formula 2, the step before the elite Formula 1. Force India, a team on the F1 grid from 2008 to 2018, was also partly owned by Sahara India Pariwar and Indian fugitive Vijay Mallya.
The popularity of Formula 1 is increasing exponentially around the world and in India. The talks of restarting the Indian Grand Prix are in the works, and it would be beneficial for Indian fans as well as the sport if F1 can gain traction in India.
Written By: Arushi Bajoria
Edited By: Nidhi Jha
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