As Formula One enters an area of transition and change, the Grand Prix Drivers Association stakes their claim to a seat at the table for these conversations.
Change is inevitable in sport, and that is especially the case of late in Formula One. With new owners Liberty Media coming in and looking for ways to shake up the world championship, everyone is fighting for a seat at the table to have a hand in shaping the future. The drivers in F1 have certainly staked their claim for a spot, with the Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA) reaching full capacity for perhaps the first time in history.
As reported by Motorsport.com, the GPDA now includes every driver who raced in Formula One in the 2017 season, per comments from its chairman Alexander Wurz. Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen appear to have been the last holdouts, per RACER Magazine, but have now united with their fellow Formula One drivers in order to influence the change coming to the sport.
Chairman Alex Wurz had this to say to the BBC about the GPDA, according to Racer.com:
"“F1 is entering a period of evolution, change and perhaps even a degree of turmoil. They recognize they must be united and represented to face that challenge. [The drivers want to] prevent any politics or power fights from ultimately compromising on-track performance. The drivers believe unity is fundamental for the sport’s success.”More from Formula OneFormula 1: Top Red Bull threat identified for 2024Formula 1: Why the Max Verstappen retirement obsession?Formula 1: Williams ‘mistake’ hints Logan Sargeant’s futureFormula 1 awaiting key confirmation for 2024 seasonFormula 1: The ‘championship’ Max Verstappen only leads by 3 points"
New owners Liberty Media have already begun to put their stamp on the sport, bringing more of a spectacle to each race weekend. This includes using boxing announcer Michael Buffer to announce the drivers at the United States Grand Prix, allowing tracks to take more ownership over the branding of their races, and street demos like the one seen earlier in 2017 in London. More changes are likely too, with the focus now shifting to the on-track product.
Alex Wurz remains complimentary of the changes from the new bosses, but also wants Liberty Media to remain focused on F1 as a sport, according to Motorsport.com:
"“The GPDA demands only that the sport remains the centre of attention and we want to hold everyone in the decision-making process accountable for their actions and decisions. All adjustments to the sport should only be done and conducted in the best interest of the sport and not of any one individual, and this is what unites the drivers, this sheer will to keep F1 as the pinnacle of motor racing.“We consider F1 as Sport, not show. A driver rightly so calls himself a sportsman and not showman, because its still about the most natural human aspiration – to go faster, higher, quicker. Great sport is what we love to see, if great sport is embedded in a suitably created show and race experience , that would indeed be good. If the sport sucks, everything around the sport itself is only expensive, inauthentic and semi irrelevant. We need on track competition, but not artificially created.“We can’t be naive about the situation which F1 is in, with its complicated governing rules and agreements between various key stake holders. Business decisions and political power fights have damaged the sport enough at vulnerable times over the last decade. But the GPDA has repeatedly said that the on track action needs to be better, more closely fought and authentic. As such, we are glad that Liberty and their technical research team follow the GPDA’s suggestion from more than a year ago, where we wished for a less sensitive airflow concept of aerodynamic-related rules in order to be able to race closer.”"
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What other changes do you expect to see in Formula One in the coming years from new owners Liberty Media? Will the drivers have much say about the on-track changes coming down the pipe?