"The Americans are simply experts" - F1 racing more entertaining than ever, according to Nico Hulkenberg

Former F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg has claimed the sport has become more entertaining than ever following Liberty Media’s takeover in 2017. He feels that several projects initiated by Liberty have managed to bring back the “glamour” that the sport had lost in recent years.

In his blog “Hulk Report” posted on social media, the German wrote:

“The Americans (Liberty Media) are simply experts when it comes to entertainment and know exactly which levers to pull. They left no stone unturned, gave the series a new, much fresher look, overhauled the broadcasts, and created entirely new products such as F1 TV and the truly informative F1 App."

He added:

“Over the years, they regained that glamour & star factor that has always made the sport special. In addition, the right experts were brought into the management and the sporting regulations were successively revised, which ultimately led to the field moving much closer together again and promising more excitement.”

Hulkenberg feels Liberty has managed to steer the sport in the right direction over the last few years by creating more mediums for fans to engage while working hard to bring the field closer together.

He pointed out that after several rule changes initiated by the new owners, the sport witnessed one of the closest championships in its history. There were different championship winners as well, with Max Verstappen taking the driver’s title while Mercedes clinched the constructors prize. It was Mercedes' first championship win since 2008.

---

How Liberty Media rejuvenated F1

Prior to Liberty’s takeover, F1 had become increasingly monotonous to watch due to it being dominated by a few teams. By 2019, the sport was losing millions of viewers each year worldwide.

After taking over the sport, Liberty’s priority was to make the sport attractive to sponsors and fans once again. To achieve that, they set about bringing in new and younger fans to replace the lost viewers. Their social media strategy, combined with the success of the Netflix docudrama, Drive to Survive, helped them achieve this in record time.

They also negotiated a new Concorde agreement with the teams, bringing in a more equitable revenue sharing system. They got the teams to agree to a cost cap to prevent the bigger teams from dominating the sport.

Meanwhile, FOM’s technical department, led by former team boss Ross Brawn, set about tackling the sport’s racing issues, and drafting new rules that could bring the grid closer. While their first attempt in 2019 failed to yield the desired results, FOM is hoping to create a more exciting season in 2022 with the introduction of sweeping new technical regulations.