The survey results are quite interesting. The item which has my greatest interest deals with qualifying - get rid of the single lap . . . "However one thing that has proved to unpopular with fans is the 'one-shot' qualifying format which sees grid positions decided by a single qualifying session, with 70 per cent of people saying that they would prefer to see a return to a qualifying format which sees a drivers grid position decided by the best time from a specified number of flying laps." I was also pleased to see that 53% of the respondents said their interest in F1 would decrease if Spa was removed from the calendar. Time will tell if the survey results really see implementation. Carol FIA/AMD Formula One Survey 2005 93,000 Fans Respond 07.07.2005 Formula One fans want more races, more teams, more overtaking and more emphasis on driver skill according to the findings of the FIA/AMD Formula One Survey 2005, the largest and most comprehensive analysis of public opinion ever undertaken in motor sport. - 94% want more overtaking; - 74% want more emphasis on driver skill; - 69% want more teams; - 84% want 18 or more races in a season. Max Mosley, FIA President said, Fans from all over the world agree that the most important challenge to F1 in the next five years is to maintain competitive racing. Many want to place more emphasis on driver skill and less on driver aids. It is also clear that the majority of fans are unhappy with the current qualifying system. These and other views will be an invaluable addition to the consultation process on the future rules of Formula One, which began formally this week. For the first time, fans opinions will form an essential part of this process. Henri Richard, AMD Executive Vice President said, "As an industry leading technology partner, AMD is proud to have put our customer-centric philosophy to work with the FIA to help connect Formula One fans around the world and help shape the future of Formula One racing through this unprecedented survey. Its encouraging to find that a majority of fans look forward to the technical innovations each season and most believe that technology developed in Formula One has improved the development and safety of road cars. Were excited about the overwhelming success of this survey and look forward to working more closely with the FIA to continue improving one of the worlds great sports." Survey Independent research specialists TNS Sport analysed more than 93,000 completed surveys from fans in 180 countries worldwide. The majority of respondents have been following the sport for at least six years and many for more than ten. Almost all describe themselves as either very interested or extremely interested in Formula One. The driver and technology - 88% say showcasing the skills of the drivers is the most essential aspect of Formula One; - 80% agree advanced technology sets F1 apart from other motor sports; - 74% want more emphasis on driver skill and less on driver aids; - 64% look forward to the technical innovations each season. Only 15% of fans think Formula One incorporates the right balance of technology and driver skill. Almost two thirds think Formula One currently showcases the most advanced technology in motor sport but only a third believe it showcases the best drivers. In the next five years, almost three quarters of the fans want to see more emphasis placed on driver skill and less on driver aids. Calendar - 84% of fans want 18 or more races a season; - 28% want 21 races or more; - 69% said that the sport should travel to even more new countries. With the 2005 season incorporating 19 races some of the current teams have argued for a shorter calendar. But that opinion is not shared amongst fans, 53% of whom strongly disagreed that there are too many races on the calendar. Most fans said new circuits had increased their interest in the championship. This was especially the case with younger fans rather than older fans. Circuits The most popular circuits are Monaco and Spa with 55% and 53% of fans respectively saying their interest in Formula One would decrease if these circuits were removed from the Championship. Other circuits were voted for as follows: 49% Silverstone 25% Indianapolis 43% Monza 24% Interlagos 38% Suzuka 23% Barcelona 35% Imola 20% Magny-Cours 29% Montreal 18% Sepang 27% Hockenheim 17% Hungaroring 27% Nurburgring 15% Bahrain 26% Melbourne 14% Shanghai 9% Istanbul Apart from the three new circuits in Bahrain, Shanghai and Istanbul, which have had little or no time to gain favour, the least popular tracks were considered to be Magny-Cours, Sepang and Hungaroring. Television coverage - 99% of fans watch Formula One on TV; - 76% will watch all 19 races; - 68% watch all of the race coverage; - 36% watch all of the qualifying coverage; - 54% think television coverage has improved in the last five years. With the increasingly international nature of Formula One, television has become the essential medium through which fans follow the sport. Japan is the most avid nation of viewers with 87% of fans intending to watch all 19 races this season. This compares with 79% in the UK, 68% in the US and 60% in Germany. Most fans agree that coverage has improved in the last five years. The vast majority of fans (95%) praised the increased use of onboard cameras. Many also commented on the increased quality of programme content, such as driver profiles, interviews and pit updates. Over a fifth (22%) of fans believed that TV coverage had deteriorated. They blamed the lack of depth of coverage, the quality of the commentators and too much attention focused on the race leaders. Qualifying is not as big a draw as the race. Fewer fans watch it on television and a massive 70% would prefer qualifying to be decided by the best time from a specified number of flying laps. Media and marketing In the last 12 months: - 95% of fans visited a dedicated Formula One website - 89% read about Formula One in the newspaper - 48% bought team merchandise - 40% purchased a product or service of a sponsor Most fans follow the sport via websites and newspapers. But just 55% were willing to buy a Formula One related publication. Many show their support with team merchandise. This is especially the case in the US where 57% bought Formula One team merchandise in the last 12 months. In Germany just 38% bought team merchandise. A number of fans have bought sponsors products. Again, US fans were the most supportive, with 58 per cent buying the product or service of a sponsor in the last year. In the UK, just 34% did so.
Isn't it interesting that 57% of US fans intended to watch all of the 19 races, 57% of US fans bought team merchandise in the last year, and 58% of US fans purchased a sponsors product or service and what did we get for being loyal F1 fans........................INDY!
That survey was poorly designed and the results are worthless. I have seen Freshman Marketing students in University develop better surveys than that junk!
Anyone that knows anything about statistics is when a poll is taken just the way the questions are worded can control the outcome of the survey in the direction that whom ever is conducting the poll can get the desired results they want. One thing to note Indy is at almost the bottom of the heap in terms of the spectators favorites. I just wish they had a comment section at the end of the survey so that you could truly speak your mind on the matter.
I agree with the opposite of what you just said. I thought the survey hit on very essential issues within F1 and is a good vehicle for the fans to let the FIA know what we want. With all the pissing and moaning about the FIA that goes on around here, I'd think people would want this chance to have a hand in deciding the sport's future.
You have pointed out two very important flaws in the FIA survey. It is exactly what makes this survey worthless.
Exactly, If Bernie ran the poll it would make the FIA and the teams look greedy and money hungry. If Ferrari ran it 99% of F1 fans would support Ferrari's view. If Michelin did it the fans would blame Bridgestone for everything If Flavio B did a poll 75% of the fans would want to see videos of him F$##@$@ super models. If Paul S did it 100% of the fans would agree that he was the worlds largest A$@#$ole
What the FIA should have done is hire a third party that actually has some knowledge about designing a survey and does not bias the results in anyway. The sad part is that the FIA is actually going to use these results as a justification for more bogus regulations and rules.
I agree with this and with beast's view. I thought the range of available responses was too limiting as well as not having a comments area to address issues not covered. I'm not so sure these results are to be trusted as I read a blurb somewhere about how Max said the results reflect how the fans want the same changes as the FIA. It's kinda like a presidential candidate reporting on a pole taken by their own campaign committee and saying that their candidate is the peoples choice.
Thanks Carol for posting this. VERY interesting IMHO. I haven't participated in the survey so I can't say whether its questions were guided or not, but I believe the critics on here. However it might be a mood point since Mad Max believes in the survey and almost 100k people participated, so that's probably enough solid a basis for him to take action on. Besides: I don't think the results look weird, but rather what I would expect. Note to myself: Arrange trips to Nevers and Budapest in the next couple of years. I missed out on Zeltweg and regret that eternally.
Its really amazing how some people will argue with ANYTHING. The survey just reported that fans: - want more passing, - want fewer driver aids - don't like single lap qualifying - love Spa Monaco and Silverstone while disliking Indy - want more races than 18 per year - want more teams But to some people they should have hired a professional research company because the instrument was flawed. What results would you want to see?
If the intrument / survey is flawed, most probably the results are flawed too. Ask the wrong question, get the wrong answer. The very fact that the survey was conducted by the FIA on the state of present day F1 on the FIA website biased the survey results. It is not about what results we saw, it is about what results we did not see!
But these results came from Max. So we can trust his results but we can't trust him ??? Help me out here ya lost me ....
Well, first of all the results are flawed but if they were to be correct there were several errors in the analysis provided by the FIA. For example one of the results stated as follows: The driver and technology - 88% say showcasing the skills of the drivers is the most essential aspect of Formula One; - 80% agree advanced technology sets F1 apart from other motor sports; - 74% want more emphasis on driver skill and less on driver aids; - 64% look forward to the technical innovations each season. What part of the 64% who look forward to the technical innovations each season ALSO say showcasing the skills of the drivers is the most essential aspect of Formula One? and What part of teh fans want more emphasis on driver skill and less on driver aids look forward to the technical innovations each season? (Important questions that were not answered) But here are some other very important issues: THE USE OF THE WORD FAN: Maybe the person was there to look at WRC news? Maybe the person just stumbled upon the website and decided to answer a random survey? Maybe they were a FAN but do not watch F1 anymore? By using the word FAN the FIA want to give these results legitimacy. I showed this survey when it came out to a marketing professional who has a doctorate in Consumer Research. He has been in the field for over 20 years. He is a consultant for Capgemini and a Professor at a very respectable university. He said that survey was so flawed that it was bound to give the answers the FIA wanted to hear. In fact he is going to use parts of the survey to give examples to his students next semester of how not to design surveys. The biggest mistake was posting the stupid survey on the FIA website. None of the questions had critical answers or space to fill in comments. So even if a visitor to the FIA website was critical (highly inlikely) about the current state of F1 there was no place to answer beyond the limits of the options. There is a famous case of an American company going to China and asking the Chinese consumers if they liked their American candy. The Chinese consumers loved American products and wanted the American products to come to China regardless of how it tasted. So they answered Yes. They could not tell the Americans No because that would not be courteous to the visitors. Needless to say the company lost a fortune when no one bought the candy in China. Bottom line: You cannot have the FIA ask questions about how F1 is doing? The answer is going to be heavily biased.
Imperial, I understand your criticism, but still don't get what different results one would have expected from the survey or what other questions you would have liked to see answered. To me none of the results were really a surprise (I don't agree with all, but that's my personal preference) and if Mad Max follows them as a guideline I'd say F1 is looking at a rather bright future.
Its pretty simple. I can't tell you what Max will do because that is up to him. But if his survey results are similar to the thinking of true fans, then how untrustworthy could they be. Let's have an open mind here.
Some questions that should have been asked: Are the rules in F1 easy to follow? Strongly Disagree Disagree Indifferent Agree Strongly Agree Comments: Are the rules changed too often? Strongly Disagree Disagree Indifferent Agree Strongly Agree Comments: Is the current qualifying system entertaining? Strongly Disagree Disagree Indifferent Agree Strongly Agree Comments: Are F1 races boring? Strongly Disagree Disagree Indifferent Agree Strongly Agree Comments: Is the points system fair? Strongly Disagree Disagree Indifferent Agree Strongly Agree Comments: These are just few of the tough questions that could have been asked if the survey had not come from the FIA.
Those are good questions and the answers would have been interesting to see. However that doesn't render the questions they asked invalid.
The questions they asked are not invalid but the results are invalid. The results are invalid because the FIA asking questions about the status of F1 on their own website is bound to give biased answers.
I agree with your logic. However the results look reasonable to me. I simply don't smell a rat. After all the implications from the results are that some drastic change is required, so the findings do not give carte blanche to FIA for doing currently a good job.
There was also a flag in my mind in the way in which questions were asked. For example the survey asked: The removal of which of the following circuits from the calendar would lead to a decrease in your interest in Formula One? Results: 49% Silverstone 43% Monza 38% Suzuka ... 15% Bahrain 14% Shanghai 9% Istanbul They did not ask: Which of these circuits do you think is boring and should be removed from the F1 calendar? Big difference!
