The F1 Fan Engagement Landscape

Before I began to track the season, I realised the first step in this project had to be getting the lay of the land.

I put myself in the mindset of a brand new fan who wanted to connect with the teams, learn more, and maybe pick a favourite. I then visited each team’s website to see what they had on offer and to sign up for their fan clubs and/or newsletters.

What I found was four distinct categories:

1. The Active Fan Clubs

2. The Attempted Fan Clubs

3. The Sales Pitches

4. The ????? (parts one and two)

Based on these categories and the various ways each team fits within them, I then ranked each team on a day one Fan Engagement Championship ladder. You can find this - and my rationale for each placement - below.

The Fan Engagement Championship - Day One

• The Active Fan Clubs

  • P1 - Williams Racing

  • P2 - Aston Martin (I/AM)

  • P3 - Red Bull Racing (The Paddock)

• The Attempted Fan Clubs

  • P4 - McLaren (McLaren Plus)

  • P5 - Haas (Haas+)

• The ??? Part One

  • P6 - VisaCashapp RB

• The Sales Pitch

  • P7 - Ferrari

  • P8 - Mercedes

• The ??? Part Two

  • P9 - Alpine

  • P10 - Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber

The Active Fan Clubs

P1 - Williams Racing

I’ve written before about how much I love the fan engagement efforts of Williams Racing. They have the most easily accessible fan club to join, the best ability for international fans to participate, and the widest range of opportunities for fans to engage with their drivers.

P2 - Aston Martin (I/AM)

Aston Martin’s I/AM fan club is another great example of a clearly defined fan engagement platform. They come in P2 behind Williams because the platform can be a bit confusing at times, and it’s very heavily weighted towards British and European fans. They offer a lot of cool in-person opportunities for engagement, but it’s little use if you’re a fan on the other side of the world.

P3 - Red Bull Racing (The Paddock)

Red Bull’s The Paddock is a very well-designed fan portal with clear branding. However, points are docked here because it’s a participation-based platform with fans needing to earn points through various actions. Participation-heavy methods of fan engagement can be off-putting to fans who are low in time, or who are only just beginning their engagement with your team/brand. The high visibility of just how many points are required to meet each level can also be alienating to fans who may see it as too much of an effort to bother with.

The Attempted Fan Clubs

P4 - McLaren (McLaren Plus)

McLaren Plus is a clearly branded fan club, but it’s primarily newsletter-based and very heavily leans towards their UK fans. The primary opportunity they offer are HQ tours, but that’s little use to fans from overseas. Similarly, if you want a (non-autographed) driver card, you have to send them an envelope, which again, is very alienating to their international fans.

P5 - Haas (Haas+)

Haas+ is another newsletter-based fan club. It’s clear to join on their website, but it seems opportunities are limited to the occasional giveaway in the newsletter. Points for trying, but there’s a lot that can be done to build out a more fully fledged program.

The ??? Part One

P6 - VisaCashapp RB

I’ve split my question mark teams into two, because while I’m unsure what they’re all doing, VCARB at least have a clear newsletter sign-up CTA. At first it appears they’re trying to establish a fan club, but in practice, it lacks identity (arguably like their entire launch this year) and so far just seems to be a race-recap newsletter. Depending on what they do moving forward, they may move up into the attempted fan club slot, but for now, it’s a wait and see.

The Sales Pitch

P7 - Ferrari

The Ferrari newsletter was almost impossible to find a sign-up for, and once you do sign-up, you’re immediately sent info about their online store. There’s no fan-centered content on their website, and the only reason they scrape into P7 is because they do actually send out post-race emails, unlike those behind them. Being Ferrari doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, guys.

P8 - Mercedes

Mercedes, Mercedes, Mercedes. There’s a clear newsletter sign-up on their website, but it immediately re-directs you to their online store, and you then just get information about their merchandise. I’ve received zero information about the team or their races since joining. They’re about to lose their biggest star, and really need to up their game if they want fans to stick around.

The ??? Part Two

P9 - Alpine

I’m so confused by Alpine. There’s no link to join a newsletter on their site (at least that I could find!), however, I did receive a newsletter to my personal email address that I must have signed up to last year. I followed a link to sign up with the account created for this project, but other than a confirmation, I haven’t received any communications. They hired a Head of Fan Engagement last year, and just ran a recruitment round for a Fan Engagement Manager, but so far, it’s very unclear what’s actually happening over there.

P10 - Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber

Poor, poor Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber. Not only do they have the second worst name on the grid, they also seemingly don’t have a newsletter or any way for fans to connect with them outside of social media. Not great for a team who are struggling on track and need to encourage connections with their fans in any way that they can.