Nine things Liberty Media messed up since taking over F1

Liberty Media's entry into Formula 1 has come with some benefits. The traditionalist, luddite approach of Bernie Ecclestone is no more and fans have access to the sport like never before thanks to increased social media engagement and improved relationships with broadcasters.

However, F1 CEO Chase Carey and Liberty Chief Executive Greg Maffei's race to secure a rapid return on their $4.6Bn investment and a drastic Americanisation of the sport has left many fans cold. Here are nine things Liberty have managed to get wrong - so far.

READ MORE: Liberty Media Q1 revenue results

1) ASSUMED TEAMS WANT A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

The NFL and NBA's draft pick structure, coupled with the financial distribution among the teams in each sport, cultivates a democratic and, in many ways, socialist structure. Share the wealth and talent and everyone benefits! Yeah, for Mercedes and, in particular, Ferrari, not so much.

They are very much aware that they are the prime draws who retain an audience all of their own, and any attempts to make the sport more competitive only impacts them in their pockets. Liberty's proposed cost cap was never going to be met with anything else other than disdain.

2) UNDERESTIMATED FERRARI AGGRESSION

In F1, Ferrari are intrinsically linked to the sport. They are the iconic brand that transcends the sport itself, that provides a mysticism and regal heritage that simply cannot be replicated.

Sergio Marchionne, Ferrari chairman, knows this better than Liberty, too, and has set about undermining any of Liberty's attempts to rebalance the situation. He said earlier this month: "I think we need to continue to work with Liberty, with the commercial rights holders and with the FIA to try and bring about a sensible equilibrium.

"If we can't, as I said before, we'll just pull out."

It's a battle Liberty will not win.

3) SAID STUPID THINGS

Maffei's task as the Chief Executive is to, of course, paint a picture of team harmony, commercial attraction and overall positivity over everything Liberty propose, and while that is difficult when there are so many things being proposed, he should at least learn his audience before speaking so broadly.

Referring to the proposed Miami GP in 2019, he said: “In city races are fun. In city races are exciting.

"Miami is absolutely the right kind of venue and the right kind of city. International, a great story around the sea and sand. So there will be a lot of good stuff. A hell of a party. Formula 1 is about selling glamour and parties.”

F1 may well be about selling glamour and parties. But why say it? It totally undermines the sport itself which, after all, is why people will ultimately tune in.

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4) THE AZERBAIJAN GP

The first opinion Maffei made about the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was that it "does nothing to build the long-term brand and health of the business”. It has since been put under threat of being replaced in the calendar by the feted Miami street race.

Ironic, then, that Baku has been, by some distance, the most thrilling, intense, downright dramatic race of the season so far, fulfilling every criteria Liberty would want from a GP. Oh, as they say, dear.

5) F1 TV

The idea behind F1 TV is not a bad one. Launching it when the product appears to have been unfit for purpose most definitely was.

Everything from the timing of the announcement, to the market restrictions, to the actual launch itself is increasingly baffling. Launching an on-demand TV service once the season has already begun, in four languages but with only social media accounts and access for just one of those languages is even stranger, and then for it to break at the beginning of the most high-profile race of the season in Monaco....yeah. Twitter was filled with angry users demanding refunds and cancelling subscriptions. They will hope they can iron out these issues sooner rather than later.

Could this not have waited until 2019?

6) GRID GIRLS

Whatever your stance is on the Grid Girls argument, the manner in which it was communicated and executed was an unmitigated botch. Tackling this issue when the drivers, teams, and most importantly the girls themselves weren't properly consulted was wrong, while the backdrop of some more than questionable venue choices and their associated human rights records doesn't exactly suggest the moral high ground is being taken.

Remember Maffei's "glamour and parties" comment, which at face value sits in total opposition to this decision. The fact that Monaco defied their regulations makes even more of a mockery of the initiative, best intentions aside.

7) ALLOWING A DRIVER REVOLT

It is one thing to allow drivers the freedom to express their opinion on the authority above them, but it is quite another when they openly undermine and criticise, at quite regular intervals, the changes you are looking to implement.

Virtually every driver on the grid, and a whole host of former drivers, have been brutal in their assessment of one thing or another. The halo, the grid girls, the calendar, the engine cap, it's all been fair game, and the Monaco Grand Prix took it to a new level. Virtually every press conference brutalised the race as a spectacle, while Fernando Alonso openly promoted another discipline ahead of the one he was racing in. No-one at Liberty seems all that fussed at attempting to redress this imbalance and get the drivers onside.

8) USA, #1

Liberty Media have enjoyed unquestionable success in the USA and that's where they live. They know what that market wants and how it has grown in core sports such as NBA and NFL. It makes sense to apply those particular trends to a business which they need to grow rapidly.

But the NBA and NFL are predominantly enjoyed in a single market, whereas F1 has been an international phenomenon, with all cultural baggage that brings, for decades. Some will likely be put off by the brash Americanisation of their sport and at the moment there's little to suggest that territorial nuance will be applied. We shall see, but with Las Vegas and New York on the list to be added, it seems likely that's where they see their commercial base of growth.

9) TOO MUCH, TOO SOON, TOO FAST

Liberty Media see opportunity in F1 wherever they look. In fact, they see so much opportunity that they can't move quick enough to exact the changes they wish to make. Some are much more important than others, but they appear relentless in their 2021 vision and executing the entirety of their overhaul prior to that date.

Some things should take longer than that and they should step back and take stock. It is leading to half-baked ideas.

What else have Liberty Media got wrong since entering F1? Let us know on Twitter @GPFansGlobal...