Do Formula 1 fans care about battery status when watching wheel-to-wheel action? Not according to Stefano Domenicali, the championship’s president and CEO.
This year, F1 introduced new machinery with power units featuring 47% electric power, meaning energy management has become preponderant in both qualifying and races.
As was the case with KERS in the late 2000s and early 2010s, battery state of charge was displayed on the TV broadcast in the entertaining season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
However, the information has been gradually phased out of the graphics amid criticism of the new regulations, as drivers refrain from pushing in high-speed corners in order to save energy, while overtaking is sometimes deemed too artificial with the new ‘yo-yo’ style of racing.
As a result, wheel-to-wheel action has become more difficult to understand, as viewers can’t quite figure out what the energy offset between drivers might be and, therefore, how overtaking moves and defences are being performed.
Asked why F1 was following this avenue given the graphics represent “important context” in wheel-to-wheel racing and there is “a very clear demand and trend for data-rich viewing experiences” in the United States, Domenicali expressed adamant disagreement.
“I think that the truth is exactly the other way around, because no one is interested in how you drive your car,” the Italian said. “The people are interested if you’re overtaking or not. That’s the vast majority of the people.
“I agree with you that certain people are focused on this thing that is very important. It’s like when you were opening the DRS, people were not interested in what was the point to pass.” One should point out no graphics were needed to notice DRS being used.
“I had an incredible and interesting discussion with [Star Wars creator] George Lucas on Saturday,” Domenicali revealed. “He was in Hungary and he was giving me an incredible view on how the new fans are watching Formula 1. And I think that he gave us an incredible [clarity] to see how we can really simplify things, because the new fans are not understanding the truth what is behind the scenes. They are fascinated on the fact that there is a lot of action.
Stefano Domenicali, CEO, Formula One Group
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
“So I think, on that, there is definitely the need for the ones that are so focused on that to have the right information. But for the vast majority of the people, trust me, they just want to see what is happening on the track. Not interested in the angle of throttle or the percentage of brake pressure on how you can overtake a driver.
“I mean, if you think, for example, an incredible overtaking of Max [Verstappen] and Lewis [Hamilton] at Turn 1 in Hungary, this is a piece of art, if I may say, that these people just want to see. And just connected to the quality of the drivers.” But how much of the move was down to Verstappen’s late braking, and how much to Hamilton saving energy at the end of the start-finish straight? We shall not know.
“At the end of the day, this is a scheme that the driver can have on how you can maximise the performance of your car, no matter if it’s braking, accelerating, power that is done by the electrification or not,” Domenicali continued.
“That’s what I think is happening. Of course, for a niche of our fans, this data is relevant. And of course, it is available. But as I said, for the vast majority, that’s what we receive as an information.”
Above, Domenicali likened the battery’s state of charge to “angle of throttle or the percentage of brake pressure” in an attempt to make it sound less relevant to viewers. So the bottom line is, based on his answer, this data is unlikely to be used much in the foreseeable future.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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