Vowles: Shorter F1 races aren’t the fix for younger fans

Williams team principal James Vowles has challenged Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali’s suggestion that shorter Grand Prix races could attract younger audiences, insisting the sport’s DNA lies in its long-form drama.

The Briton argues that cutting race lengths isn’t the answer to engaging the TikTok generation, proposing instead a shift toward modern streaming platforms to deliver tailored content while preserving the sport’s traditional race format.

For Vowles, the race distance isn’t the problem — it’s how the sport is delivered.

“There was something interesting that was put out by Formula 1 the other day, which was, should we make races shorter as a result of things, or more sprint races?

"Now, I’m on the older side, but I would say generally no,” he told reporters in Baku last time out, quoted by RaceFans.

“I think the product is what it is. In fact, what makes the product really good? Take Zandvoort: […] Alex put it the best, he said, ‘I just watched everyone around me crash’.

“It was just unpredictable what happened from start to finish, but you had to watch all of an hour and 40 [minutes] of it to get the final result out of it.”

“Not How I Want to Go Racing”

Vowles also argued that artificial attempts to shake up the spectacle have often fallen flat. He pointed to Monaco, where mandatory two-stop rules were introduced this year.

“Monaco this year, you could treat it as spectacle if you want, but pretty much we finished where we qualified, except we played games on track at the same time,” he explained.

“My opinion is [that’s] not necessarily how I want to go racing.”

Instead, he says the focus should be on how fans consume F1.

“The viewership is more what should dominate it,” he added. “My point is, it doesn’t necessarily have to be shorter, but the consumption of it moving away from fixed TV, and therefore we have to think differently about how we broadcast.”

Streaming Is the Future

Looking ahead, Vowles sees a shift away from traditional broadcasters toward streaming platforms.

“I would move more in the direction of Apple, [Amazon] Prime, et cetera,” he said. “In other words, go to a platform that is available worldwide and more in a streaming format in that way.

“And I would find a way of concatenating it to a shortened version, should you wish to, that then expands into the longer version if you need it as well.”

The challenge, however, is financial. “We have to think very carefully about how we monetise this in the right way so that we are not getting a massive loss,” Vowles cautioned.

He also admitted that F1’s current broadcast deals make an immediate transition difficult.

“Our broadcasters are on completely different contracts all over the world, on different timings,” the Williams chief noted.

“So for example, the USA’s up [for contract renewal] now, but Sky UK is not for another three years. So aligning them is actually going to be a little bit more tricky than that in terms of bringing it all together.”

Cutting Practice, Not Races

While Vowles doesn’t want shorter grands prix, he does think race weekends could be streamlined. He floated the idea – which is anything but new – of moving to a two-day format.

“I don’t think we have too many races but I would not go above where we are at the moment, because we’re asking people at home to be there for half a year,” he said.

“Half your weekends are watching Formula 1. I think that’s about the extreme end of where you can go to.

“I would change it – this is very much my opinion, I’ll put that out there – I would change to two-day weekends, Saturday and Sunday. And here’s the reason why: we can do more at that point in time.

“I know I just said 24 is the maximum but I actually wouldn’t be concerned about that fact [if we drop] Friday, which is one day.

“Do that 24 times, that’s 24 days a year. If you added another two race weekends in, you’d still [have], net, the same amount of time that you were previously.”

• Read also: Alonso slams shorter F1 races: ‘Problem is society, not the sport’

Shorter weekends, he added, would also spice up the action.

“I think the product will be better because we do a lot of practice at the moment. It’s good as an engineer – at heart, I love the fact that we get to do experimentation.

“But now if you force us [and say] you’ve got one hour before qualifying, that’s quite a different proposition. So I think you’ll get more variability, more randomness that comes out of it.”

For Vowles, the answer to F1’s future isn’t fewer laps — it’s smarter weekends and a modernised way to bring the action to fans.

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