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- Tracking: Month 1 Fan Engagement Update
Tracking: Month 1 Fan Engagement Update
Who's been sharing what, one month into the F1 season
Georgia Carroll
April 04, 2024
It’s now been a month since I began tracking the fan engagement efforts of the ten Formula 1 teams.
We’re three races into the season, which means teams have had three opportunities to engage with their fans through pre-race content, weekend updates, and race recaps. So let’s see what they’ve shared.
Note: This data does not include videos shared solely to social media (i.e. Instagram Reels, TikToks, etc) because I am one person manually tracking everything. In the future I’ll try and do a post just on social media content, but at this stage I don’t have the capacity to count and analyse each one.
This data is as accurate as possible to the 1st of April 2024.
The Fan Engagement Championship - Month One
The positions moved in these rankings are based on my day-one evaluations of each team.
P1 - Williams (-)
Overview
Despite a bumpy start to the year on track, Williams have maintained a high-quality output of fan engagement.
Newsletters sent: 18
Sales-Specific newsletters: 1
Driver Videos
At the beginning of the season, Williams introduced their new series “Team Torque”, a podcast-style video featuring the drivers and special guests.
There have been three Team Torque episodes so far, two featuring both Alex and Logan, and one featuring Alex and his performance coach.
Technical comms
The Williams Warm-Up:
What: Before each Race, Williams release a video featuring Team Principal James Vowles along with other miscellaneous members of the technical team to provide a preview of the weekend ahead.
Where: Youtube, their app
The Vowles Verdict:
What: Following each race, Team Principal James Vowles records a video discussing how the race went and answering fan questions.
Where: Youtube, their app, website
Reports:
What: Written recaps of each day of a race weekend
Where: Website and race day recap shared via email
Bonus
Fan Friday:
P2 - Red Bull (+1)
Overview
Overall, a reasonably straight forward fan engagement offering, however Red Bull get bonus points for being the only team to wish me a happy birthday (even if it did feature a terrifying picture of Max Verstappen).
Newsletters sent: 11
Sales-specific newsletters: 1
Driver Videos
Red Bull have shared four driver-focused videos on their Youtube page this month, which isn’t too shabby.
Technical Comms
Driver Recaps:
What: Video recaps from Max and Checo
Where: Website, email
Reports:
What: Written recap of the race
Where: Email and website
P3 - Ferrari (+4)
Overview
During the month, I discovered Ferrari have an app. I say discovered, because despite housing almost all of their fan engagement content, it’s not actually that easy to locate. They get points for having such a comprehensive app, but I’ve docked them a position because they need to improve the ease of their fan journey experience.
Newsletters sent: 16
Sales-specific newsletters: 10
Driver Videos
The Ferrari App and Youtube feature multiple styles of videos featuring the drivers, including “Full Access” (documentary), Charles and Carlos’ Preview Guides, and challenge videos.
Technical Comms
Previews:
What: Written previews of a race weekend
Where: Website and via email
Reports:
What: Written recaps of the race
Where: Website and via email
P4 - Aston Martin (-2)
Overview
Honestly, Aston Martin get bonus points just because I love that their Team Principal newsletter is called “Mike On”.
Newsletters sent: 8
Sales-specific newsletters: 1
Driver Videos
N/A
Technical Comms
Mike On:
What: A newsletter sent each race week from Team Principal Mike Krack
Where: Email and website
BTS Content:
What: Interviews and behind-the-scenes content with their non-driver team members.
Where: Website and Youtube
Reports:
What: Written recaps of the race
Where: Website and email
P5 - McLaren (-1)
Overview
McLaren are pretty straight forward in terms of their fan engagement output so far, which makes a solidly middle of the pack ranking seem fair.
Newsletters sent: 11
Sales-specific newsletters: 4
Driver Videos
In previous years, McLaren have had a very popular video series titled “Unboxed”. However, this is not returning for 2024, allegedly because of restrictions in place for Drive to Survive.
The team does seem to be leaning into the use of Youtube shorts in its place (which one would guess is crossposted to other video-first social platforms).
Technical Comms
What: An “anonymous” contributor to the McLaren commentary feed, answering fan questions (although the hashtag on Twitter seems quite quiet of late)
Where: The McLaren app
Reports:
What: Written recaps of each day of a race weekend
Where: Website, and race-day recap sent via email
Bonus
Fan social media highlights:
P6 - Haas (-1)
Overview
There’s not much to say about Haas. Just like their on-track performance, they’re giving it their best, but there’s room to improve.
Newsletters sent: 7
Sales-specific newsletters: 0
Driver Videos
N/A
Technical Comms
Ayao’s Monthly Update
What: First newsletter from Team Principal Ayao Komatsu. I think they could follow the lead of other TP’s and publish this more frequently, but monthly is better than not at all!
Where: Email and website
Reports:
What: Written recaps of each day of a race weekend
Where: Website, and race-day recap sent via email
P7 - Visa CashApp RB (-1)
Overview
Inconsistent newsletters and limited non-social touch-points have RB still struggling to build an identity their fans can connect with in the long term.
Newsletters sent: 4
Sales-specific newsletters: 0
Driver Videos
Prior to the beginning of the season, RB teased a new video series called “The Garage”, however, a month in, nothing further has appeared.
That said, following the Australian Grand Prix, their “All Access” series of behind-the-scenes driver-focused videos has made a return.
Technical Comms
Reports:
What: Written recaps of each day of a race weekend
Where: Website (and occasionally via email, but not consistently)
P8 - Mercedes (-)
Overview
It’s not like Mercedes aren’t churning out content, but it’s hard to navigate and not shared via their newsletter, so they’re still hanging down in P8. Your fans shouldn’t have to search for your content, especially if they’ve signed up to your database.
Newsletters sent: 14
Sales-specific newsletters: 14
Driver Videos
N/A
Technical Comms
Akkodis Race Debrief:
What: Videos from James Allison and Andrew Shovlin debriefing the race and answering fan questions
Where: Youtube, social media
Reports:
What: Written recaps following quali and the race
Where: Website
Team Content:
What: Articles featuring non-driver members of the Mercedes team to highlight their roles
Where: Website
P9 - Alpine (-)
Overview
Inconsistent newsletters with no clear sign-up on the website, and written race previews but no recaps see Alpine doing as poorly in fan engagement as they are on track.
Newsletters sent: 3
Sales-specific newsletters: 0
Driver Videos
Race previews featuring the drivers doing simulator track laps.
Technical Comms
Previews:
What: Written race previews
Where: Website
P10 - Stake F1 Kick Team Sauber (-)
Overview
Poor Stake F1 Kick Team Sauber. Not only have they been trundling at the back of the grid, they’re also trundling at the back of the fan engagement pack. They’re producing good video content and writing race recaps, but they don’t give fans an opportunity to receive it directly.
N/A
Driver Videos
The best thing Sauber have going for them this year is the marketability of their drivers (and their fun colour scheme), so it’s good to see them leaning into this in video content (even if you have to go looking to find it).
Technical Comms
Previews:
What: Written previews of a race weekend
Where: Website
Reports:
What: Written recaps of each day of a race weekend
Where: Website
So there we go. One month, three races, and a whole lot of content.
I’ll be doing team-by-team deep dives into the content shared as we move throughout the season, as well as these overviews each month. Do let me know if there’s something you’d specifically like me to explore!