To their credit, Liberty Media has done their best at listening to fans in terms of what they can do to improve Formula 1. The new owners are trying to create a better show and while it’s been a work in progress, Liberty Media is willing to listen and that’s better than what you could say about the previous owner.
Now, they are looking to improve their broadcasts and are enlisting the help of the public and F1 fans. The “Tata Communications F1 Innovation Prize” will offer $50k to the person who comes up with the winning idea and that idea would be put into action.
The theme for the contest is “My F1” and the concept will be to come up with a system that incorporates the human, mechanical and technical information that Formula 1 compiles during each race in order to get fans as close to the action as possible and improve the fan experience.
In terms of broadcasting, Liberty Media has made strides over the past year. While F1 TV had a rough launch earlier this season, things have gotten back on track and depending on what country you live in, fans can have access to onboard cameras for every car in each race, unedited team audio and the ability for cord cutters to watch the broadcast live and on demand.
Five finalists will present their ideas at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, TX where the judges will select the winner. Judges include World Champion Lewis Hamilton, F1 managing director Ross Braun, Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle, Tata Communications managing director Mehul Kapadia, Mercedes technical director James Allison and Roberto Dalla, F1’s managing director of broadcasting. They will choose the winner and not only will the winner receive $50k, they will also be working with F1 to help bring their idea to reality.
This seems like a pretty good idea. Sometimes the best ideas come from a variety of places so it’s good to get some outside perspectives. Surely, this won’t fix everything and Formula 1 still has to figure out some of the on-track issues like a lack of passing but despite that, we have seen three teams get three wins so far with Sebastian Vettel leading Hamilton by a single point. That’s an improvement from previous years when Mercedes was dominating.
