F1 Experiences is your official full-service travel provider, which enables you to experience the world of Formula 1 like never before. We spoke to Keith Bruce, President, International of QuintEvents, the organizer company behind F1 Experiences. As head of the business unit, Keith’s principal task is to ensure F1 Experiences provides the best entertainment package for all Formula 1 fans worldwide.
As the leader of F1 Experiences, what does experience stand for in your view?
That’s a good question! If you look at the dictionary definition of experience, it’s probably not far off from what we want to deliver, which is the ability for a fan to do more than watch. We want them to participate, immerse, ask questions and interact actively. If someone is new to the sport, it’s a great way to be educated, and even if you have followed F1 for a longer time, you can always learn new things about it. Experiences for us take on that kind of meaning, and it’s not about being static. It’s all about being active.
Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with sitting on the grandstands for three days, but for our customers, that’s not something they want to do. They’d like to actively participate in F1, learn more, see more, and do more. These experiences help define fan ability. They strengthen fans’ bond with Formula 1 through the immersive experience. This is our fourth year of existence, and we suffered a pretty disastrous 2020 because we couldn’t do any experiences at all, and it compromised even the first half of 2021.
At the moment, the demand for these experiences is more significant than ever as fans have been kept away from the sport for a more extended period, and they have the appetite to go to the event and spend a little more money to experience Formula 1 besides watching it.
The third driving factor is that the sport is exciting again for the core fan. Let’s admit it; the core fan was a bit disinterested in the last couple of years just because we had the same result at every race. We had a thrilling final race in 2021, and we haven’t seen such a dramatic end to a season for a long time. I think the core fan is now re-engaged with all our changes this year.
Actually, we’ve never been sold out so early in the season for some races. Circuits are full, promoters are happy, and people are returning to the sport significantly – it’s great for all parties.
Are you working on new experiences to add to your product?
Of course! When the restrictions because of COVID-19 were still in place, and the number of people in areas like the paddock and the pitlane was limited, we created a new product called Live On The Grid. It takes place on Thursday evening, and we combined a pitlane walk with the ability to bring this experience onto the grid because the grid was the one area that could still allow a visit for fans. Actually, it migrated to a new entertainment program every Thursday.
Usually, we have Bernd Maylander, the driver of Safety Car, joining us with media personalities from Sky Sports to showcase the broadcast and a Formula 1 driver to talk about the race weekend. It’s an entertaining platform that takes two or three hours on a Thursday evening. Covid made us rethink our possibilities on and off the grid, in and around the paddock and the pitlane.
We try to create various fan experiences and hospitality to give the fans and corporate groups a new perspective year by year and motivate them to return for more.
Do you think that the sport is at its peak now?
To be honest, I wouldn’t like to make such a statement because it would suggest that it can’t go any further. I’m always hesitant to say that we’ve peaked, and I don’t think we’ve peaked at F1 Experiences. I believe we have a strong foundation for double or triple growth. When you look at how many new fans we have, almost none of them have yet gone to an F1 race.
The opportunity for us is pretty vast, and that’s the same with F1 – Liberty has a lot of energy to share with the sport. We’re thrilled, but we still have a couple of mountains to climb. We’re never satisfied; we know we can continually improve the experience for the fans.
What would you suggest to someone hesitant between a grandstand ticket and an F1 Experiences package?
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It depends on how you want to spend your money and your time at a Formula 1 race. There is always a correlation between money, time and value. Our customers are generally active, mobile people who travel a lot and don’t have much time, so they want to maximize their time when doing something. People between the ages of 25 and 40 are usually impatient and want to get to the point now. They want to see things now and don’t want to wait. If you get the most value and time benefit from the money you spend, then F1 Experiences is an inevitable option.
The other reason is that we have eight to ten different products in our portfolio. We have something for you if you have eight hundred dollars to spend for a three-day weekend. Suppose you have $5,000 to spend, the same. If you go to our website, we have a financial slider on the top, and you can set how much money you want to spend and can almost customize the options you want to buy.
We give fans many different ways to look at the products and packages to decide which is the best match for them.
Don’t miss the opportunity at #ExperienceF1!
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