When I was sat, earlier on today watching the World Rally Championship season preview on Dave, seeing all the drivers having discussions with their fans, and signing caps etc, it got me thinking about how, in some respects, rallying is so much better than Formula 1.
In Formula 1, everything is so corporate, with the McLaren drivers playing around with their strategically placed Vodafone mobiles, and Felipe Massa wearing a watch the size of his face. Even Red Bull Racing and their sister team Toro Rosso, who many people argue to be the least corporate teams in F1 can still be seen waving a Red Bull water bottle in full glare of the camera. The drivers seem false and you don’t know what a driver really thinks – is he saying that because he really believes it, or is it because he doesn’t want to upset Mobil 1?
However in rallying the drivers have a lot less sponsorship work to do. In fact the only sponsorship work most of the WRC drivers have to do is wear overalls and drive a car with the brand’s name and logo on.
And the fans; WRC encourage and embrace fan footage, and even use it in their TV programs! This is in stark contrast to Bernie and his mob, who take Formula 1 footage off the web the minute it is posted up there, as well as displaying a ‘do not redistribute or face imminent death’ screen before you can actually click onto the proper video section of their website, and saying that you are not allowed to bring a camera to a Grand Prix with a total focal strength of greater than 300mm!
In the WRC the fans are so much closer to the drivers. I’m not suggesting that the F1 fans should be allowed to stand at the end of the Abu Dhabi straight before running to the side of the track as the cars pass through, or push drivers out of the gravel trap like they can do on rally stages, but I believe that the fans should have a better relationship with the drivers.
Petter Solberg chatting with fans in the service park at Rally Norway
You can see WRC drivers like Petter Solberg having discussions with the fans and signing autographs in the service park, just minutes before getting into the car and driving the rally stage. There is very little of this type of opportunity to get up close and personal with the drivers in Formula 1.
The last thing which WRC can teach F1 is in regards to the politics side of things. 2007 F1 World Champ Kimi Raikkonen who has made the switch to rallying, said on his move: “In F1, politics gets in the way of the exciting side of things. The atmosphere in rallying is much nicer and there’s a lot less politics involved. It’s much more about how the driver performs.” And he is exactly right. There is no messing around with rules, everyone is on a level playing field and in agreement in that the only thing that matters is that the drivers get out there, and drive as fast as they can.
Jack Sargeant is the editor-in-chief and designer of An F1 Blog. Follow him on 
I adore this post, great to see arguments for a bit more sould in F1.
I agree F1 is too corporate with everything, the drivers are generally (not all) PR machines, a lot of liveries are dull and cluttered by sponsors, there are hideous Santander trophies and sometimes the F1 world can seem a bit sterile. It’s such a rich world that it brings with it a lot of restraints. More big cash than passion.
However, as much as I dislike the corporate side I quite like how F1 can seem a bit far removed from the real world as it means it is puire escapism. It’s bonkers and that’s how it should be.
I find the politics interesting and as long as they don’t interfere with the quality of the racing then I don’t mind (sadly politics and racing can overlap).
I do think the drivers maybe should be a bit closer to fans. F1 fans can show the same love of the sport as rally ones; Monza is known for it’s bubbling enthusiasm for the sport!
Top post Jack, definately your best yet. I love opinion posts and this one is great for trying to show that F1 can show a little more soul like it’s younger brother Rally
Fantastically well written and put together mate! It’s like I’m reading from Mr Noble himself!
I agree entirely. WRC is so much more close up and personal. Its funny that without crash barriers and fans being a foot away from the cars you rarely get an accident involving a fan. And F1 has layers and layers of fencing…
But F1 drivers do seem to be much more robot like, Kimi Raikkonen for example, he looked bored of it all.. now he’s moved to WRC, will he change?
Though driver salary plays a lot…. Drivers are paid £5million average from sponsors alone, on top of that another £6/7million from the team…. so they have to do more than just drive for the sponsors to be happy.
With WRC the drivers are paid about 10-20% of what F1 drivers get. You see more of the car than you do of the person.
Very good article!
Agree with Cubejam, only with a lot more passion and flair than Mr Noble
-I didn’t even mind the Massa criticism!
Both are the top of their field but rally has always been more down to earth; the cars are cheaper so it isn’t as insane as F1. It’s the cost and investment what drives these things and sponsors are important for F1s survival so I think rally naturally has a better deal. It results in F1 willingly sacrificing a bit of soul. There has to be a limit and I think things have gone to far to the point where listening to your favourite drivers can just be boring as it’s all so polished.
The nice thing is the comparison of what usually is two very separate worlds. Things can be learned from both sides. Very possibly my new post of the year-maybe I’ll know tomorrow morning
Wow, didn’t expect to be compared to the Noble! The Massa criticism is justified – LOOK AT HIS WATCH!!!!:
It is justified but still it;s Massa. Leave the boy alone
*jokes* His watches are huge and sunglasses too.
To be honest, I’m not convinced that rallying is THAT much better than F1 in the areas you highlight: the “corporate” nature of the sport, fan interaction and politics.
Probably F1 is more corporate on the whole than rallying, but F1 is contested by thirteen (we hope) full-time, completely professional outfits. The World Rally Championship has fewer full-time entrants and a greater diversity of the organisation and quality of teams. F1 teams are chasing sponsor deals in the region of millions of dollars; in that sense it pays to be corporate and respectable. And again, with the TV fees commanded by FOM it’s no wonder the broadcasters don’t want fan footage cluttering up the Internet. Fan interaction I’ll give you; rally drivers do seem to be better than their F1 counterparts but FOTA are actively working on this.
On politics, I think the main difference between rallying and F1 is that F1′s dirty laundry gets aired out in the open far more than it does in rallying, due to the global popularity of F1 and the fact that you have scores of full-time journalists making a living on F1 alone. Rallying has been affected by its own internal disputes on regulations and so forth, but coverage of that is largely confined to the specialist press; open your average edition of Motorsport News and you’ll see that it’s not all sweetness and light in rallying either.
Great post, I agree that F1 should connect more with the fans and be less corporate. It will be interesting to see how well Kimi Raikkonen does in Rallying. He seems happier doing Rallying, probably because he doesn’t have to do as many corporate events as he would in F1.
Andy, I agree entirely and let’s face it with races such as Valencia, the politics makes up some of entertainment factor of F1.
Some good points well made Andy.
However, I don’t see why FOM don’t let fans put highlights videos and amateur footage on the internet. I can see why FOM wouldn’t like live streams but I don’t understand their problem with vids after the event.
I agree with you on the politics side of things though. It could well be that F1 is much more in the spotlight than the WRC that we don’t see their politics so much, but even if you look closer, as Raikkonen says, politics gets in the way of racing much less than in F1.
I do agree that F1 drivers should connect more with the fans,& one other thing is that the price of race ticket needs to be less.
fantastic post,I agree in rallying far more freedom no silly politics and not be run by a dictator this is why kimi left f1 its a more relaxed enviornment,no politics teams get on well and the fans get to meet there heroes,since kimi has left f1 he has been a lot more relaxed and has been smiling a lot,f1 is losing touch with the fans in my opinion