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A YouGov report from 2023 found a 70:30 split between avid male and female F1 fans, while 38 per cent were aged over 55. In contrast, the DTS viewership struck 54:46 male to female, and the most popular age ranges were 18-29 and 30-44 with 31 per cent each.
Another study by Nielsen Sports suggested 41 per cent of Formula 1 fans are now women, up from 8 per cent in 2017. The fastest growing fanbase demographic is women aged 16-24.
Other polls suggest as many as one in five Formula 1 fans came to the sport through DTS. While it’s hard to comprehend such headline-snatching, eye-popping figures can be truly measured with precision, the trend is obvious: Formula 1 is going where it has never gone before.
The drivers took the event in good spirits. Getty Images
But here’s the thing: unlike popping down to your local football or rugby team’s stadium on any given Saturday, to pay visible homage to a Formula 1 team requires a passport and deep pockets. Enter F1 75 Live – a brand new glitzy and glamorous ceremony, with all 10 teams and all 20 drivers under one roof.
Last night at the O2 Arena was likely the first time a majority of those in attendance had ever seen their icon(s) in the flesh. The seats among the gods filled up first, eager punters decked out in dashes of McLaren papaya, Ferrari red and Mercedes’s toothpaste turquoise. The floor, usually the scene of clashing #Lads colliding in mosh pits, was reserved for suits and crisp, clinking flutes.
Then it started.
Do you have any idea how hard it must be to make teenage girls scream gleefully at a Stake logo? Or to coax roars of appreciation for a snappy rebranding such as the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls Formula 1 Team. Altogether now: champions of contactless, card-free debit card payments, YOU’LL NEVER SING THAT.
And yet, Formula 1 actually pulled it off. You could almost hear the jaws of marketing executives crashing to the floor as (let’s be real) their customers greeted High Performance™ slogans, meticulously polished in buzzword nirvana, with delirium.
The teams were afforded a short slot each to show off their car’s new livery. And by livery, I mean their sponsors and paint job. They were not new cars. Red Bull, I was informed, ran with the RB19 from 2023 and didn’t have time to strip out the engine. Most others essentially presented husks in new clothes.
You may have been able to guess what colour the new Ferrari would be. Getty Images
Each ‘pitch’ consisted of hype videos laden with more clichés than an Apprentice candidate’s LinkedIn profile. There were rows of fluorescent drummers for Stake, a strip of violinists harping the James Bond theme tune for Aston Martin, and more laser bursts than the Battle of Endor for most of them, with fire jets rising up and pyro fountains cascading down to deafening soundtracks.
Drivers and team principals accompanied their cars. Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris received the loudest cheers of the night.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton, who appeared in full Ferrari red for the first time, was virtually drowned out by the cacophony of screams, while four-time – and reigning – champion Max Verstappen was on the receiving end of chastening boos.
Verstappen’s controversial last-ditch 2021 title victory over Hamilton in Abu Dhabi was the moment of moments in the DTS era, and Hamilton fans were on the offensive in Greenwich. Each time the Red Bull star appeared on screen, jeers followed.
McLaren star Lando Norris was among the stars of the show. Getty Images
The Dutchman’s boss, Christian Horner, was also greeted by great discontent as he introduced his new creation with all the dripping defiance of a staunch Millwall fan purring at The Den. No-one likes us, WE DON’T CARE.
A short segment intended to salute the unseen safety teams working on circuits around the world went awry as the FIA logo flashed up on screen, sparking arguably the loudest boos of a raucous night.
We may never know whether it was a late decision based on Horner’s hostile reception or a premeditated snub, but Verstappen and fresh Red Bull understudy Liam Lawson were the only two drivers not to speak on stage, with an abrupt cut to host Jack Whitehall donning a red suit to signal the arrival of Ferrari.
Whitehall – a genuine, naturally witty highlight of the show – wasted no time in seasoning open wounds. His opening lines focused on Verstappen’s feud with Mercedes’s George Russell. Both drivers had no choice but to smile as they beamed up on screen.
Take That performed the closing songs of F1 75 Live. Getty Images
Musical interludes from Machine Gun Kelly, country singer Kane Brown and Formula 1 theme tune composer Brian Taylor (not performing the Formula 1 theme tune) added to the surreal spectacle, before the moment which kept mums in seats throughout the two-hour extravaganza arrived. Take That wrapped up the evening with two hits, before a final money-shot of the fully assembled grid, 10 cars, 20 drivers for thousands of dizzy punters’ to update their Instagram Stories.
F1 75 Live was not for everyone. The event was an over-the-top, kaleidoscope of brand hysteria, striking a note somewhere between a venture capital pitch, an iPhone launch on steroids and the Eurovision Song Contest. It was styled as a uniquely innovative, first-of-its-kind televised ceremony to mark the opening of a sports competition as if the Olympic Games doesn’t exist. And yet for some, it will have meant everything.
It meant everything to the mid-30s couple decked out in matching retro Ferrari bomber jackets on the Underground trip home. It meant everything to the pair of girls next to them, contentedly splitting a German Doner Kebab on the Jubilee Line, impressively protecting their opposing McLaren and Ferrari jerseys from sauce-stained ruin.
Nobody is actively choosing to swerve Formula 1 this season due to F1 75 Live. And that’s what makes it such a free hit for the sport. The purists, averting their eyes from the lasers and flame jets, will continue to tune in, delve into the technicalities and pay acute attention to aerodynamics, downforce and power units.
The next generation will feast on the blossoming soap opera: the hot gossip, the dreamy characters, in-fighting, name calling, ebbing and flowing relationships throughout the paddock. F1 75 Live knew its market, pitched the event accordingly, and 4.6 million people tuned in on YouTube alone. It can only be considered a barnstorming success by any metric.
“If you stay by my side,” crooned Gary Barlow in front of a spinning globe featuring the dates and locations of F1 races in 2025. “We can rule the world.” And with more lavish marketing absurdities, Formula 1 will do precisely that.
Check out more of our Sport coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
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Publish date : 2025-02-19 07:57:00
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