That F1 is changing (or perhaps has already changed) from a pure sporting event into a form of entertainment is an unavoidable phenomenon that has also been observed with the Olympics, soccer and other sporting events. This has enabled F1 to become home to drivers who command the highest annual salaries in the world of professional sports. At the same time, the amount of money paid for television broadcasting rights and offered by large sponsors is enough to boggle the mind. Peripheral businesses like public relations, reporting and publishing have also been established. There is no doubt a significant number of people in the business who have been happily benefitting since the sport caught the attention of the American public.

Still, is F1 really to be considered “entertainment” in the same sense as the movie industry? To be sure, F1 drivers are like actors, and team managers are like movie directors. People also buy tickets to go see it, so it’s probably no exaggeration to call it entertainment or even show business. Looking at the movie industry, Hollywood has come to wield tremendous influence and is a force to be reckoned with even to this day. On the other hand, there is also the European movie industry (or should I say the industry outside of Hollywood), which ridicules the extreme commercialism of Hollywood and criticizes the artistic quality of its movies. Just as Europeans in the movie industry take advantage of Hollywood, it is likely that the European F1 will stubbornly maintain its own position one step away from its American counterpart while at the same time playing on its success.

There are two underlying reasons for this. First, Europeans are proud that their sport is different in both history and class from the motor sports of major automobile producers like the United States and Japan. Second, those countries have, at least up until now, been unable to imitate production of F1 cars. Despite the fanfare, which gets more extravagant with each passing year, European engineers see F1 as but a venue to pit their skills against those of their peers. Their focus is on shaving that extra hundredth of a second off the time using the latest technology. They have a purely child-like desire to compete and make cars that run faster than anyone else’s, so to them, box office proceeds and broadcast rights have no meaning at all. This is another example of the difference between countries that make things to sell and those that focus on quality.