F1 Fan Surveys: Comparing Results from the Autosport and GPDA Polls
Autosport recently released the results of its fan survey, conducted in conjunction with F1 Racing and Motorsport News. Earlier in July, the Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA) and Motorsport.com also published an executive summary of the results of their own Formula One fan poll.
Although the respondents to the two surveys agree on many points—probably because a lot of the same people answered both—there are also some interesting differences and surprising results. Let's take a look at those.
First, note that the GPDA survey, with its high-profile support from all the drivers on the grid, garnered significantly more responses than the Autosport poll—approximately 218,000 to 35,000.
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In the Autosport survey, almost 25 percent picked the 2000s as their favourite F1 decade despite the fact it began with five straight titles for Michael Schumacher, most of them coming in dominant fashion. That is also in spite of the fact the top reason cited for fans to watch F1 is the rivalry and competitiveness between drivers and teams. And in the GPDA survey, 89 percent of fans said F1 needs to be more competitive.
Of course, the end of the 2000s did feature three seasons in a row with the drivers' championship being decided in the final race—perhaps that is what everyone is remembering. Or maybe lots of fans just enjoyed Schumacher's dominance. He ranked second behind only Ayrton Senna in the list of respondents' favourite drivers of all time in the GPDA poll.
Speaking of favourite drivers, in the Autosport survey, nearly 20 percent of fans picked Lewis Hamilton as their favourite, just ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. Raikkonen was first in the GPDA poll, though, followed by Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button.
What happened to Hamilton? It is only a guess, as many of the demographic details haven't been revealed, but perhaps the Autosport survey, sponsored by three British magazines, had a higher percentage of respondents from the UK, while the GPDA survey was more cosmopolitan.
Meanwhile, 17-year-old rookie Max Verstappen is already the 11th-favourite driver, according to the Autosport poll, ahead of veterans such as Nico Hulkenberg, Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez.
Another surprising result from the Autosport survey is the ranking of favourite grands prix. Belgium dominated with 36 percent of the vote, which makes sense given the historical pedigree of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit and the high-quality races it still produces in its modern form.
Monaco, though, came second despite complaints every year that races there are processional and boring. Somehow, Hungary ranked seventh, ahead of the United States, Brazil and Japan. Maybe a bunch of Finns stuffed the ballot box.
Unsurprisingly, nearly half of the Autosport respondents have not attended a grand prix in the last 10 years. It is surprising, though, that the biggest reason for not attending is the cost, cited by 37.6 percent. Travel distance, something many would assume to be the top thing keeping people away, only accounted for 4.5 percent of fans.
When it comes to watching television coverage, fans can't seem to get enough F1—at least those who responded to the Autosport survey. More than 90 percent watch at least qualifying and the race, while more than 50 percent watch the practice sessions as well.
That is despite the fact that, according to the GPDA summary, more than 50 percent of respondents don't watch races live anymore. Although that could just mean fans are recording the races and watching them later, as 70 percent of Autosport respondents said they do "always" or "sometimes."
And despite worries about F1's aging fanbase, over half of the fans who answered the GPDA's survey were between 25 and 44 years old. Their average age was 37. Likewise, nearly 60 percent of Autosport's respondents were between 18 and 40, and fewer than 10 percent were 61 years of age or older.
More concerning might be the fact only 7.8 percent of the participants in Autosport's poll are women. If F1 wants to target new fans, maybe it needs a campaign specifically targeted at women.
Another surprise, given the rancour generated by the switch to hybrid V6 engines, is that nearly as many fans are in favour of the new engine formula as are against it: 42.5 percent in favour and 46.1 against, according to Autosport's poll.
Finally, almost 10 percent of Autosport's respondents are in favour of F1 becoming a spec series, with everyone using the same car and engine. If these surveys make just one positive impact on F1, it should be to ensure that anyone with that view never has any influence over the direction of the sport—because a one-make F1 series would not be F1.
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