Damon Hill: Corporate ethos is ruining F1

[Matt Holcomb]

"Damon Hill believes that manufacturer control of Formula 1 and the associated corporate ethos are robbing the sport of much of its public appeal.

Speaking in an interview with F1 Racing magazine, the 1996 world champion said that he has lost interest in F1 to such a degree that he didn’t watch a single race last season.

“I couldn’t tell you what the new qualifying regulations are – and, to be honest, I don’t care,” Hill said.

“I honestly haven’t sat down and watched a grand prix for years.

“I don’t think I watched a single one in 2005. I just don’t even think about watching them, to be honest.”

Hill stressed that he has not lost his respect for F1 or its practitioners, but no longer regards it as a compelling activity.

“The emotional investment I once had in F1 has gone,” he said.

“What I am saying is that for a long time I aspired to Formula 1, but now I see it as an intriguing business but a frustrating sport.”

Hill explained his ennui by saying that “the essence of the sport has been diluted” by its corporate paymasters.

“The essence of the sport is man and machine: A team of guys build a car and take it to a racetrack and watch this naturally gifted individual do his stuff with what they’ve built.

“That’s the essence of F1.

“TV audiences are now slipping, but that’s what people did watch and would still watch.

“They want to see a hero and a car, but more than that, they want to know that he’s relishing and revelling in his own abilities.

“But now it’s portrayed as a job. You know, what’s the difference between a guy who drives a Renault F1 car and a guy who designs cup-holders for Renault?

“What I am saying is that when a company or companies are running the sport, then you have to ask yourself, ‘What are their true motives, and how do those motives satisfy us, the consumers, as human beings?’”

Hill added that whereas the tobacco companies which used to be F1’s staple sponsors were looking for “individuals who broke the mould”, the car manufacturers and blue-chip corporations that now pay the bills have very different image requirements.

“Mohammed Ali was, and is, the greatest sportsman the world has ever known – but, however brilliant he was, someone like Ali would be much too outspoken for modern F1,” Hill said.

“Inevitably, everything that commercialism touches will turn that way. It’ll simply become an endeavour to satisfy its controlling commercial interests.”

These commercial imperatives are at odds with the fans’ priorities, Hill reckons – and will eventually cause the public to shop elsewhere.

“Punters can choose. They can watch the Grand Prix Masters or A1 Grand Prix,” Hill said.

“If people don’t get what they want from F1, I’m afraid they’ll go somewhere else to get it.” "