FOM wants to streamline calendar and add city races
In an interview with Sky Sports F1, FOM commercial director Sean Bratches explains his intention to group the different races on the calendar by geographical zone, and to add more city races to the calendar.
For several years, a large part of the calendar has remained quite stable. However, the various races are quite spread out across the globe, which requires rather difficult organization for the different actors in the championship. According to Sean Bratches, who handles the commercial aspect for the new owners of Formula 1, the races should be grouped by geographic regions.
Sky Sports F1 spoke with the American who gave his perspective on the future of the discipline’s calendar: « We would like to create a balance between Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Obviously, the advantage is the efficiency from the teams’ point of view in terms of traveling around the world, but also for the fans’ travels. »
The objective, with an optimized schedule, is to allow fans to follow the championship without getting lost in the times during which the Grand Prix races are held: « Thus, by telling fans for the next two and a half months, you’ll have to get up early to watch the Grand Prix, then for the next two months, they will be at noon, and the next one will be at night. We believe this is really important. » says Bratches.
In the continuation of his interview, the commercial director of the FOM also mentions the F1 leaders’ desire to add city circuits to the calendar while keeping an important place for traditional tracks: « We want to play a bit more offensively and proactively identify cities around the world where we can have races compared to traditional circuits. We still want a balance. »
To achieve this, the businessman believes that promoters need to set up an organization that makes urban races attractive by offering spectators the best possible experience: « We want urban centers with large audiences to be able to generate interest in the tracks and attendance at the races. We want promoters who understand the art of promotion, which is an art in terms of elevating the story, setting up structures for fans, and creating unique experiences. »
The championship owners want to create a true partnership with the promoters to improve the business around organizing races: « We will partner with them so I am optimistic about this aspect of our business. »
To conclude, when Bratches is asked if the race organization fees would be reduced in the future, he simply responds: « We are a business. »
