Should the official F1 website be taking sides in the driver market?
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I came across this article on the F1 website today about a particular driver, though I imagine my response would be the same regardless of who it’s about.
It makes the case that the driver doesn’t deserve to be left out of F1 next year. Ordinarily not something I would take issue with in a publication, but I feel the fact this comes from the official mouthpiece of the sport makes it different.
Is it right for the official F1 website to publish comment pieces saying a particular driver should get a seat? Should they be neutral? Does it give the impression that driver is favoured over their rivals?
Interested to hear what you think.
Article clearly calls out that it’s an opinion piece. Byline too. Provides the website a face. Content has the opportunity to be more organic, rather than being restricted. I work with a lot of sports brands, and they all want to play safe and sound drab. Taking a route like this indemnifies them. Nothing wrong what they are doing. Motorsport.com on the other hand… Don’t know which article is propaganda and which is editorial.
Whilst I agree with the content of the article, I find it very strange seeing one driver being singled out by the official website. If they gave writers a regular column to give their personal views it would be understandable, but this, unless I’m mistaken, seems to be a standalone article rather than part of something ongoing.
This shouldn’t be posted on the official website. They can praise a driver for his achievements and reckon that he will be lost if leaving the sport but this article goes one step further and cross the line in my opinion.
In the other hand, we know that dominant figures of the sport tend to be involved in such discussion in the paddock. But, if they are honest (ahem), they should conduct those discussion as individual and not as representative of FIA or whoever they are working for.
One could also argue that they are promoting their ladder system with such article. Vandoorne is the perfect product having done his classes with brio (such as Leclerc) and should be in F1 according to the logic of the ladder… With that argument, the article is still over the line to me, but really not by much. They really need to have someone such as Vandoorne sticking a bit longer in F1 given his records, to prove the ladder system and fight against paid drivers.
No they should not. An opinion piece is fine at an magazine point but an official site should report facts only.
Personally, I have no problem with such opinion articles on F1’s official website (more have appeared since then).
A couple of years ago I visited that website only when I was really bored and wanted to read some press releases. It was pretty useless as results, race reports and quotes could be found on a lot of other websites, such as F1F/RF, which also provided analysis, comments, gossip, etc. While fans sometimes rightly blame media for spreading unfounded rumours or trying to grab attention with click-bait headlines, it is also true that not many would want to read only plain quotes or emotionless race reviews. F1 is well aware of that and is simply trying to make the website more attractive.
They are obviously in a delicate situation. For instance, it is unlikely that Will Buxton will ever post articles that criticise Vietnam Grand Prix deal or argue that F1’s ticket prices are ridiculously high. They generally cannot afford being negative. They must be very careful when pointing the finger at someone or defending them. It is really challenging for them to make content that would be attractive yet not offensive or contradictory to their business strategy. That is why I applaud their efforts.
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