F1 taking inspiration from NFL draft

Formula One chairman and Liberty Media chief Chase Carey has revealed that the sport's bosses are looking at ways to keep fans happy and engaged all year round even in the off-season between December and February, and has mentioned the NFL draft as an example of a huge event which F1 could replicate.

The current Formula One season runs from March to November, and although there are more races than usual in the calendar this year, the sport suffers from a drop in interest from fans over the winter months.

Carey is eager to keep F1 interest ticking over during the off-season, and believes they can take inspiration from the NFL draft which is an event which generates significant interest in the American Football non-playing period.

"One of the ambitions we have is to figure out how we make this sport something that engages the fans 12 months a year," said Carey at a promotional event for the Spain Grand Prix.

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"But it doesn't mean we will race [that long]: our season is not going to go 12 months.

"One example would be the NFL, which is not playing right now but they just had the NFL Draft. That is a big event. They have created events that are interesting for fans even when they are not in the season.

"So I think for us, we would like to determine – how do we create more interesting things for fans, whether it is unique competition or unique events, or things that are around the sport that continue to build interest and enable fans to engage more?"

Carey recognises that F1 will always be more popular when races are actually going on, and has no intention of extending the Grand Prix season beyond the current format as he believes it is already a hectic schedule.

"The 21 races that we have will always be the highest profile, but we think we can do other things that enable fans to connect with the sport," the Liberty chief continued.

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"We have a pretty full season – our season goes from March to the end of November so it is a long season, and we have to recognise that there is a lot of wear and tear on that season.

"But I would say we think it would be a good thing to find ways to engage fans in the sport. It may not be a competition on track, it may be other aspects of the sport, but there are some unique ideas for various forms of competition that we are engaged with and talking to various parties about."