There was a stark contrast in the entertainment value of the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix compared to the opening round of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) sportscars event at Silverstone last weekend.
In Shanghai, the grand prix was yet again dominated by one manufacturer, with little in the way of a battle for the lead or passing for position at the front of the field. It was a tedious 99-minute race.
In Silverstone, three manufacturers fought it out for the win in a six-hour race that saw multiple changes for the lead and the uncertainty of whether Audi, Toyota or Porsche would emerge on top among battles throughout four different classes.
It should be the other way round, where the premier open-wheeler series provides the better entertainment in its more condensed package with the best of the best in terms of drivers and manufacturers.
Many motorsport pundits now believe there is a move away from Formula One in terms of television audiences, sponsors and manufacturers, into categories such as the WEC, MotoGP and so on.
Indeed, by the time Nissan enters the series with its bold new GT-R LM Nismo, the WEC will have a bigger factory-backed manufacturer presence in its top-tier LMP1 than Formula 1. After all, the hybrid technology used in the LMP1 cars is more relevant to road-going cars for these manufacturers with so much more technical freedoms allowed than the restrictive open-wheeler category.
But the series has a long way to go to challenge Formula One. The WEC, a growing championship built around the showpiece Le Mans 24 Hour classic, will struggle to appeal to the numbers once attracted by Formula One.
At a time when attention spans are shorter than ever and demands on people’s time greater, getting Formula One-style ratings for six-hour endurance events will be difficult.
And until top-line drivers choose the WEC over Formula One, rather than moving into the sportscar series at the end of their open-wheeler careers Mark Webber style, then the WEC will remain a growing niche category.
WEC chief executive Gerard Neveu is aware of this, as he describes with a levelheaded rationale that’s befitting of how his series has grown in recent years.
“There is nothing to compare. They (F1) are racing with celebrities…in our championship the main actors are first the manufacturers. The car is the star,” he told Reuters.
“The angle they (Formula One organisers) have adopted for the public is totally different. We keep the door open, we have a low price; we try to offer different value.
“All I am looking for is to find a new potential of fan, and a new generation for each race.
“The idea is to keep the value and to modelise Le Mans and to transport this around the world.
“For Le Mans it was also very important to have this world championship because if you want to provide for manufacturers a correct platform for the future, a single race is not enough regarding the budget they have to invest for the car and research and development of hybrid technology.
“What we try to do in the next three years is to create the real value of this championship.
“There is more and more audience, more fans, more and more media. And it means there is more and more interest.”
We may never see another motorsport category reach the level of interest and support that Formula One enjoyed in its heyday. But what we are seeing is its audience splintering off into other categories, to the benefit of the likes of WEC.
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