Formula 1’s success has triggered a wave of aspirants as other sports try to match the same meteoric rise in popularity that F1 has enjoyed under owner Liberty Media.
But are those other sports too focused on following F1’s footsteps over playing to their own strengths?
That’s the hypothesis that Antonio Cacorino, CEO and founder of APEX, offered to Darren Cox and the audience at 'Formula One's Premium Playbook', an event hosted by The Race and Axios.
APEX is a sports-focused investment firm backed by more than 100 athletes including F1’s Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, and Valtteri Bottas. It also owns a minority stake in the Alpine F1 team.
Cacorino said that F1’s growth is down to a “combination of different factors that all clicked together”, including the regularly cited effect of Netflix’s Drive to Survive reality series.
“Timings were also quite important," he added. "People don't realise the fact that Drive to Survive Season 2 was being pushed by Netflix exactly when the whole world stopped and everyone was stuck at home in COVID [in early 2020]. That also helped.
“But in life, sometimes you also need certain things to click. And they understood that was in their favour. And then obviously the result is here.”
Drive to Survive spawned a documentary race since it premiered in 2019, with the likes of golf's PGA Tour (Full Swing), professional tennis (Break Point), road cycling (Tour de France: Unchained) and NASCAR (Full Speed) following suit. Yet how successful those series were at exposing those sports to new audiences has been hard to judge.
“We already see the amount of sports content that Netflix is putting out. Obviously, we're at the stage where there's too much content,” said Cacorino.
“So, it's very hard to achieve the same success. Obviously, F1 did with Drive to Survive. But I do think it's that kind of content and that kind of media play is something that a lot of the big sports need to do.
“But only once you've achieved certain status. Other sports should maybe have those kinds of strategies, but maybe kind of as a way to bring a bit more eyeballs and then monetise through sponsorships or through other alternatives.
"I don't think that should be an obsession, because it's very hard to replicate. Now there's thousands of sports trying to do it.”
‘Too big to fail’
F1’s growth during and after the global pandemic, thanks to its unique position as one of the first sports to return to competition during that time, the Drive to Survive effect, and the 2021 championship fight between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, helped it become the juggernaut it is now.
Asked on stage if he sees any risks on the horizon for F1, Cacorino said: “To be honest, I don't see many risks. I think it's too big to fail.
“It's reached, really, a level where fans are here to stay. I don't think there's any other sport challenging.
“Obviously you can get regulatory changes, a new potential owner can come in and maybe take it in a different direction. But I do think that F1 has reached a position where it's here to stay. It's this global IP that brands will want to come in.
“Fans are always going to be here consuming the sport. There's always going to be more and more different drivers and stars coming up.
“So I think there's few risks, just general macro[economic] risks that any other sector can take.
“But I would say there's nothing structural that would call for a risk. Hence the long-term vision I have that I would invest today and stay as an investor for a long time.”