Here Are Some F1 Memes I Made Pt.2:

Here are some f1 memes I made pt.2:

Formula 1 and Home Races - Disconnect between Marketing and Fan Expectations

Home races are a very exciting thing in Formula 1, for the fans and for the drivers. The teams make sure to capitalize on bringing attention to their driver and their home race.

But there is a problem with the way teams and fans think about home races. It leads to a big disconnect of expectations from the fans, and often leads to frustration aimed at teams or even individual drivers.

What is a Home Race?

A home race is a race taking place in the home country- sometimes even home city or region - of a driver. Not all drivers have a home race, but given the international nature of the sport there are often quite a few home races to look forward to in any given season.

For the drivers a home race is special. They get to be in front of a home crowd, show what they can do on track, make an exciting weekend for their home fans and even friends and family. These home races are usually more emotional as they are a part of a driver's journey in Formula 1. Winning your home race is often a goal of drivers who are lucky enough to have a home race on the calendar.

To the fans a home race is fun. It celebrates their favorite driver and also puts a spotlight on their country and city. Home races can really create a great sense of community between international fans and local fans. Fans also appreciate getting to see their driver have this more emotionally impactful part of their F1 journey.

To the teams a home race means two things: marketing and money. Teams do not really care about home races. Not in the emotional way they present. They use them for marketing if a driver on their team has a home race, they will take full advantage making them do more media leading up to the race, arranging special events, custom merchandise. One the surface it looks like they care, and they do, but only about the money and success than can be gained for the team. The actual race and outcome for the fans and the driver are second consideration.

The Disconnect

The final two points above are the disconnect we often see in Formula 1. Fans are very attached to the fantasy of a home race, the larger than life feeling, the emotional journey, the sense of real community. While teams are more concerned with money, they always have been and they always will be.

Teams are very good at marketing. They will make emotional videos, often filming their driver sharing their emotional journey. And fans naturally see this kind of content and believe that this emotional message from the driver to the fans is also shared by the team. When it isn't.

Teams aren't heartless, there are humans that care working behind the scenes. But the feelings are very secondary to the results and money. They are not going to do anything differently simply because of emotional impact for fans.

So what we often see is this setup of expectations from fans where a driver is “the main character” to the team for their home race weekend. And teams do a good job of making it appear that is the case on social media, they will often post more stats and pictures of the home race driver. But then teams don't give any special treatment to a home race driver on track and fans are left confused and sometimes hurt.

Because to a team it is a marketing tool. That's it. When the home race driver gets a result they lean into it more, hype of the mythology of the winning driver, the journey to winning it.

Make no mistake, regardless of the outcome teams see it as a marketing opportunity. Nothing more nothing less. Expecting more will only result in disappointment.

The biggest disconnect between the teams and fans is that there is the fan expectation a driver will get special treatment on track because it is their home race. That is not a reason to give a driver any kind of preferential treatment on track, it never has been and it never will be. The only thing that matters on track is a driver's performance, if they are fastest they will get priority, if they aren't then they won't home race or not.

Naturally this can lead to situations where a driver does not outperform their teammate during a race weekend, and fans are upset that the teammate seemingly got more support. When they didn't, teams run races the same way they always do regardless of location, the difference is the perception of fans due to the fact it's a home race.

The Press

The press also feed into this issue. They will naturally interview the home driver. They will run more thinkpieces on them, highlight their successes thus far, and naturally pull on the emotional weight of a home race. This is for entertainment. They know fans want to see the home driver so they give them that content.

And again this kind of spotlighting really skews expectations for the team's treatment of the driver on track.

All of this paints a very emotional picture that fans want to buy into, because of course they are attached to the home driver. However the fact it is all just entertainment and marketing is rarely clear.

I do not want to call fans stupid for “falling” for marketing. I do want to point out that teams never say they are going to give preferential treatment to a driver because it's their home race. The only reason they will do that is if that driver is faster. And if the home driver is faster they will say afterwards “we were happy to be able to help X win his home race that is always special” and people will think that meant special treatment was given, when again, it wasn't. The teams do what they always do.

I write all this to make people aware that this is marketing. As a fan I am emotional for my driver and their home race. I don't expect the team to care, and I try to take the content they put out for what it is, a marketing tool. It isn't a promise, it's to generate interest in the team and to sell team and driver specific merch.

Example

I want to examine the most recent example of this disconnect that has been seen with the Ferrari drivers. Both Charles and Carlos have a home race on the calendar.

In Monaco Ferrari made posts leading up to Charles' home race, he had the spotlight in the media.

On track nothing special was done for Charles. They ran the same program they intended to all weekend. Charles qualified on pole and won the race from pole. The important thing to note is that he qualified ahead of his teammate, that is the reason he got priority from the team, because he was faster, it did not have anything to do with the fact that it was his home race.

Ferrari didn't do anything different or special on track because it was Charles' home race. But because he won the perception that he got a lot more from the team is there.

Cut to Spain. Carlos' home race.

Ferrari do the same thing in the media, the attention is on Carlos.

On track nothing is different. Ferrari ran the program they had planned and no preferential treatment was given. Even the choice to upgrade Carlos' car first for a free practice session had nothing to do with it being his home race, it was about them wanting to compare data and they made the choice based on who was going to produce the best data with the older car model.

In qualifying Charles qualified ahead of Carlos. He was faster, and in the race this was also the case, Charles' pace was faster than Carlos. Ferrari did what they always do: support the faster driver. The softs they saved were for whoever was fastest. Charles was fastest. Carlos got no preferential treatment.

The only difference in these two weekends was not the way Ferrari treated either driver, they were treated the same on track. The difference was that Charles was fastest during his home race, and Carlos was not fastest during his. That's the only thing the team cares about, they do not care about the emotional impact of a home race unless the outcome is positive. If a driver wants to win their home race they have to be fastest. It's that simple.

I use Ferrari as an example here, but this applies to every single driver who has a home race. This goes beyond any one team and any given race or year.

So you can see how the media and team social marketing set up expectations for fans. They create this beautiful idea of a home race celebrating a driver. There is an implicit promise that the team care more about this driver for the home race weekend. The media draw attention to this driver, repeat over and over "how much this will mean for him" and fans believe it. Why shouldn't they? As a fan it's something people want to believe. But it is just talk. It doesn't translate to the track. And it leads to disappointment most of the time if the expectations are there.

Of course the few times a home race is won and we get that fairly tale ending the social media and press pieces feed into this idea that it's possible, that a team engineered the entire weekend to get a driver a win. When in reality the team just did what they would do any weekend to secure the faster driver the win.

It's healthy for fans to be aware of this reality. To be aware of the reason home races are valuable. And to know to temper expectations.

Conclusion

As fans have fun with a home race. Celebrate your driver's story and the country. However do not go into a weekend expecting anything special on track, that is setting yourself up for disappointment. The teams are here to win, not to fulfill narrative fairy tales. Understand that marketing does not mean anything about what a team will do on track.

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thepredstnd

10 months ago