Formula 1: a sport or a money grab?

The minute I started watching Formula 1, I was in awe of the cars, drivers, events, famous people and attention that the sport attracts. It is like a whirlwind and guessing game of who’s who in the paddock. Teams fly out for 22-24 weeks in a year to countries all around the world to race and compete and different tracks with the fastest cars in the world. They leave no expense.

The culture industry as theorised by Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno explains how things that were formally considered as works of art are now being capitalised and monetised and therefore they lose the original charm of the work and the artist: “For the present the technology of the culture industry confines itself to standardization and mass production and sacrifices what once distinguished the logic of the work from that of society.” They explain how, due to the culture industry, we have all become consumers and we all feed into the ‘higher ups’ or people in charge of the companies who sponsor, own, or in this case broadcast these works of art.

The history of Formula 1 dates back to 1901 where the words ‘Grand Prix’ were first used to describe a race. From there, in 1904 the formation of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), a non-profit association established to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. In 1953 the British Grand Prix was the first to be televised on the BBC and the first to be televised with colour was the German Grand Prix in 1967. From then on Formula 1 moved from only racing in Europe to creating and paving tracks all over the world to see the show that is the fastest cars in the world racing against one another.

As time went on, Formula 1 incorporated more money and glamour into its world with money coming in from sponsors, TV networks and big companies wanting shares of the teams. In the 1950s it is said that racing drivers were paid $20K-$50K a year, now drivers can get paid from anywhere between $1 Million to $55 Million depending on a lot of factors. Driver also have their own brand: themselves. Formula 1 drivers, like any other athletes are their own brand and do things like adverts, sponsorships and deals as well as their teams. Lando Norris for example, driver for McLaren, is sponsored by Tumi whilst his team is sponsored by Chrome, therefore he represents both.

Formula 1 remains the richest and most expensive sport to get into with drivers having to pay their way through Formula 4,3 and 2 in order to be considered for a seat in Formula 1, with many not making the cut. This means that many of them already come from rich backgrounds and if they do not, they have to find sponsors from a very early age. All Formula 1 races are broadcasted by Sky Sports F1 in the UK and many other broadcasting companies around the world and so they make a lot of revenue from these broadcasting companies as well. In 2022, Formula 1 brought in a total of $2.57 Billion from things such as broadcasting and ticket sales in that one year alone.

In conclusion, with the cars becoming even more streamlined each year and the prize money for winning the two championships, drivers and constructors, increasing each year, Formula 1 has been a victim of the commodification of talent and the glamour of the sport has attracted much money into it. However, if this can be weighed up against the joy that it brings fans, the fact that countries who do not receive much attention from sport such as Azerbaijan also gain something from the sport racing there is still up for question. Is the original love for the sport of racing still embedded within Formula 1? Or has the sport fallen too deep into the trap of the culture industry?