The new fans
With the advent of Liberty Media, the F1 fan base has grown enormously, bringing unprecedented interest to the category. As widely reported in recent months, in 2025 the 827 million fans crowned Formula 1 as the most followed sports series on the planet.
43% of the audience is now under 35, 42% are women, in short, the profile of the average fan has definitely changed in recent years.
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Ecclestone and the Rolexes to sell
Gone are the days when Bernie Ecclestone didn’t understand the usefulness of attracting younger and younger fans.
Reading some excerpts from his 2014 interview with Campaign Asia-Pacific makes it clear how much everything has changed in just over ten years: “Kids who see the Rolex brand are certainly not going to buy one, they can’t afford it. And UBS? These kids don’t deal with banks, they don’t have enough money. I think this and I don’t know why people want to conquer new generations. Because, what can you sell them? Most of these kids don’t have money. It’s better to reach 70-year-olds, who have a lot. There’s no way to try to reach these kids, because they won’t buy anything: if marketing experts target this audience, then they should advertise with Disney.”
For the record, in May 2025, a collaboration agreement between F1 and Disney was formalized, starting in 2026.
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Domenicali and today’s fans
In the long interview with The Race, it is interesting to highlight how F1 president Stefano Domenicali describes modern fans. Journalist Jonathan Noble observed: “You said F1 is made up of the best drivers in the best cars and we all fell in love with F1 because we see these cars speeding by”, and Domenicali interrupted him: “Perhaps you and I. But other people can love F1 for other reasons. Keep in mind what we are doing today. We are much more than just a race on the track or the best drivers in the world.”
Subsequently, Noble pressed him: “But what is your message to the ‘purists’? There is an impression that you are obsessed with casual fans.”
Domenicali strongly rejected this insinuation: “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I am the most ‘purist’ fan of all because I was born in Imola and have followed races since I was a child. I am the most avid fan, but one who has a neutral view on these aspects. The ‘purists’ want to see that in China there was the fastest lap in history, that is the answer.”
