VW Audi has no plans to join F1

[cosworth151]

How many people in the world would recognize the name LeMans and know it was a car race. How many would know that about Austin, Baku, Budapest, Sakhir, Sepang, Shanghai, Sochi, Yas Marina.....

F1 TV ratings are dropping like a rock. So is race attendance. Bernie & the FIA are rapidly running the sport into the ground.

I'm sure the FIA will continue to do everything they can to destroy endurance racing, too. But until then, the technology in LMP1 cars is still far superior to current F1. After all, they can race for 24 hours at a time. Current F1 cars often can't even make it to the starting line.

BTW, if one were to show a list of the F1 venues listed above with Indy added to any average non-race fan (or even a race fan who doesn't follow F1) and ask then which ones host a major race, what city do you honestly think would be picked the most? How many of the others would most people even know host a race at all?

[John S]

A lot of people may well know the names of both Le Mans and Indy 500, but that doesn't mean they are interested or even influenced in the slightest by them.    Both these historically famous racing names hardly make a ripple in the media - unless of course something disastrous takes place at either event.  

 

[cosworth151]

A lot of people may well know the names of both Le Mans and Indy 500

Whereas almost no non racing fans have ever even heard of F1.

[Jericoke]

A lot of people may well know the names of both Le Mans and Indy 500

Whereas almost no non racing fans have ever even heard of F1.

I think that most people understand that 'Grand Prix' means auto racing.  I also think that while most people wouldn't name Formula One when asked to name a racing series, I do think that if you asked what Formula One was, they would guess race cars.

The main attraction to F1 for the casual observer has long been Ferrari.  People know that Ferraris are luxury sports cars, and that they're also open wheel race cars.  Show someone a red open wheeler, and you're going to get more recognition than just about any other sporting brand.

[Monty]

I think you are underestimating 'people'. I think most people in 'old continent' Europe know what F1 is, and in my experience a lot of people in North America know what F1 is. The problem is that they don't care about F1. In fact many are hostile towards it. None of this is surprising because the sport has done nothing to attract new fans, it has done nothing to attract families, it has done nothing to attract young people and it is doing everything possible to push away nutters like us.
The drivers are anonymous and unapproachable, most of the sponsors are grey corporates that have no relevance to 'people', the TV coverage is mostly unattainable unless you pay and then the races are boring and hard to follow (the few casual watchers that I know all complain that they have no idea who is winning once the pit stops start!).
Other than these few points, F1 has got everything just right and you can fully understand why VAG might join!

[cosworth151]

My experience has been that most people over here think F1 is IndyCar. In fact, the only time in the past several decades I can remember it getting any coverage in the popular press was when they raced at Indy.

[Jericoke]

My experience has been that most people over here think F1 is IndyCar. In fact, the only time in the past several decades I can remember it getting any coverage in the popular press was when they raced at Indy.

That is true.  To causal fans openwheel racing is openwheel racing.  Just like a casual football (gridiron) fan isn't going to know if they're watching NFL, CFL or college.  Or a casual football (soccer) fan has no idea what game they're watching means (league play, regional qualifier, friendly...).

I would love for IndyCar to work with the FIA/FOM as a cost savings measure.  Indy should remain independent of the FIA/FOM, of course, but if they were to run the same formula, we could see more variety in IndyCar as they purchase chassis from F1 teams who don't much return on their R&D costs since they cannot have customers.  (Yes, I'm aware that the FIA/FOM doesn't play nice with others.  A girl can dream, right?)