Future Challenges for F1 and NASCAR

Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of businessus wars ad free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app It's march twenty seventeen in Melbourne, Australia, and the final preparations are underway for the opening race of the Formula One season The buz of a busy garage floats through the open windows of a sleek hospitality sweite. Outside, mechanics in silver uniforms move around a Mercedes Formula One car with military precision. Inside, two men sit across from each other at a small table, the tone quieter, but just as intense. A few months ago, US entertainment giant Liberty Media bought Formula One for more than four billion dollars. Now, it wants to usher in a new era for the sport Seaan Braches is the Liberty executive charged with making it happen But he can't do it alone. He needs the race teams to buy in as well Today, he's here to sell his vision to one of Formula One's most powerful figures, the famously competitive Mercedes team principal, Toda Wolf Bratches leans forward The product on track is phenomenal. But the fan experience, we think it can be bigger Wolf's expression tightens How? Brches gestures towards the garage outside. Well, for starters, fans never see this. The paddock, the garages. Why not let people experience it? Absolutely not. Well, that's a clear answer. You see that car? Every millimeter of it is intellectual property. If rival engineers enter our garage, they can photograph it Copy something, steal our ideas. We cannot allow that. Okay, fair concern. But what if fans don't roam the paddock? What if they're guided through? Guided? Yeah, maybe in golf carts. Golf carts? Yeah. Fans ride through the paddock, a quick loop, no stopping, no wandering into restricted areas. We'll keep them moving the whole time. Mbe a few carts linked together like a little train Sean, you're describing something that belongs on a Hollywood studio lot. Come on, is that a bad thing? Of course it is. This is the pinnacle of motorsport, the greatest competition in the world, not entertainment. Outside, mechanics step back as the Mercedes fires up. Raches glances out the window Then back at Wolf. and he smiles because the Mercedes boss is dead serious. But he's also completely wrong Formula O has always been more than a sport. It's a high tech, high speed spectacle that oozes drama. For decades, most of that drama has stayed hidden behind closed doors. But Liberty Media is out to change that They want to bring Formula One into the modern entertainment era. But not everyone in the sport. is ready for the show. With a Spark Cash plus card from Capital One, you earn unlimited two percent cash back on every purchase. and you get big purchasing power. So your business can spend more and earn more I'm Leon Nafok What happens when only fans becomes more than just a side hustle Only fantasy is an in depth look at the world's newest professionals how the rules of human intimacy are being rewritten on Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or binge all episodes of Only Fantasy, add free, only on Audible. omeom Audible Originals. I'm David Brown and this is Business Wars In the last episode, NASCAR and Formula One were both facing identity crises, as the twentieth century gave way to the twenty first Backed by banks and private investors, Formula One Supremo Bernie Eccleston. transformed this the sport into a global big money spectacle He struck lucrative TV and sponsorship deals and brought races to wealthy new markets across the Middle East and Asia. But Liberty media has since taken control It's already forced Ecclston out. Now It's ready to launch a fresh push into the previously indifferent U. S. market And NASCAR is watching all of this with growing unease For decades, it dominated American motorsports. But its owners, the France family, are facing a twin threat Formula One's new ambitions and an aging fan base at home. For years, the two championships coe existed NASCAR ruled the US. Formula one, the rest of the world balance is starting to shift And now They're on a collision course This is episode three man of Liberty By the late twenty ten s NASCAR finds itself in increasingly uncomfortable territory Its television ratings are sliding Track attendance is shrinking, and the sports leadership is struggling to answer a difficult question How do you grow beyond an aging core audience without alienating the fans who have sustained NASCAR for generations The problem isn't new. Back in two thousand four, NASCAR's CEO Brian France tried to shake things up by introducing the Chase for the Cup, a ten race shootout to decide the championship The change added late season drama and gave TV ratings a bump But the boost didn't last. ten years later. with few fresh ideas circulating France returns to the same playbook He relaunches the chase With a new twist The lowest scoring drivers are eliminated as the chase progresses, raising the stakes in every race. reaction is mixed Some fans embrace the added drama Others complain that the format cheapens the value of the full season allowing a driver who has dominated for months to lose the championship with a single bad race And for newcomers to the sport The shifting rules and elimination rounds can be hard to follow. At the same time NASCAR tries to broaden its appeal. It shines the spotlight on drivers who graduate from drive for Diversity, a program aimed at supporting talented drivers from underrepresented backgrounds But the initiative sparks backlash among some fans who see it as politics intruding into the sport drivers from the program like Daniel Suarez and Bubba Wallace find themselves having to justify their place on the grid And there's little evidence, at least at first that a more diverse driver pool translates into a more diverse audience But while NASCAR tinkers with its product Formula one is planning a complete overhaul Ahead of the twenty seventeen season, F one's new owner Liberty Media commissions a global brand study The results are sobering Formula One has millions of loyal and passionate fans, but outsiders see the sport as distant, complicated, even intimidating It's too technical, too obsessed with engine specs, tire compounds and aerodynamic minutia to many F one fandom is dominated by middle aged men debating gear ratios and fuel strategies That image is reinforced by the company Formula One keeps Race weeekends are saturated with luxury brands promoting watches, champagne, private jets, and financial services Proucts that most fans can only dream of affording For Liberty Media, the brand stududy's message is clear. Formula one needs to open up Under Bernie Accleston, the sport had been tightly controlled. Access to television footage was restricted drivers, teams and broadcasters were warned against sharing clips online That approach might have worked in the analog era But it's a disaster in the digital age. So Formula One rips up its playbook Instead of limiting content, it floods the internet with it Official social media accounts offer fans a look behind the scenes Teams and drivers are encouraged to interact directly with fans And there are no more cease and desist letters every time Lewis Hamilton posts race footage on Instagram The goal is simple Make Formula One visible again And social media is just the beginning It's twenty seventeen at Formula One's Broadcast Center. just outside London, England. Inside a dark screening room, media consultant David Hill lowers himself into a chair Beside him. Sport's top TV producers are already in their seats waiting for the giant flat screen to flicker into life At the front, Formula One's lead producer stands beside a DVD player remote in hand Hill folds his arms So, this is your best one? Yes, it is one of our favorites. Good. Let's see what Formula One looks like on TV Hill is a veteran of sports broadcasting with more than three decades of experience, producing NFL and NASCAR coverage for Fox. He's just been hired by Liberty Media to improve Formula One's TV ratings. and today, he's here to take a hard look at how the sport appears to viewers at home. The race begins. twentyw cars sit on the starting grid The lights go out and the pack launches forward in a blur of color. Cars dive into the first corner, jostling for position. The broadcast cuts rapidly between battles across the field. An onboard camera shakes violently as a driver bounces over a curb Kill leans forward, trying to follow the action Wait, wait a minute, who's leading? That's Mercedes. Well which one is Mercedes? before the junior exec can answer, the broadcast exec cuts away to a man in a blue team shirt, headset on staring at a wall of monitors Almost immediately, the feed jumps back to the cars. ill frowns. Who is that? Christian Horner Who? He's the team principal of Red Bull Red Bow? Yes. What is Red Bull? Isn't that an energy drink producer stares at him, clearly surprised. It's one of the teams. It's owned by the Energy drrink compomany. Okay, but how would anyone watching know that O screen. The race continues, the commentators excitedly narrating the action. Hill watches for a moment longer before turning back to the producer. There's so much happening. Yeah, that's Formula onene, all right. Yeah, but you never explain any of it The audience understands. your current audience does, but I thought you wanted new fans Hill presses his lips together. The problem's worse than he thought If Formula One wants to grow its audience, viewers first have to understand what they're watching Within hours of the underwhelming screening, Hill begins sketching out a plan to revolutionize the way Formula One is broadcast in time for the twenty eighteen season. He increases the number of cameras covering each race. But instead of leaving them fixed around the circuit He sends many of them into the pit lane and garages, capturing the tension behind the scenes The focus begins to shift from cars of characters, drivers, team principals, and pit crews are no longer background figures They're part of the story Hill also adds more on screen graphics to explain who's leading, who's chasing, and what strategies the teams are using Heling new viewers follow the complex tactics unfolding at two hundred miles per hour And he turns up the in car microphones during the opening laps So audiences get drawn in by the roar of the engines and the crackle of team radios. But before any of that can reach viewers There's one last problem to overcome in the market that Formula One most wants to crrag, No one can watch it For the past four years, NBC has broadcast F one in the U. S But the network decides not to renew the deal beyond the end of twenty seventeen and few other networks are interested That leaves Formula onene. withithout a home in the U. S So The new leadership approaches ESPN and proposes an unusual deal The Sports Network can broadcast every Formula One Grand Prix live in the United States Free You heard me right? The world's most prestigious motorsport is giving itself away in the world's most lucrative media market. At first glance, it looks like a terrible business decision Broadcasters in other countries pay millions to show Formula One But Formula One has been here before. Back in the early eighties, Bernie Eccleston sold European TV rights for a pittence because exposure mattered more than revenue Liberty Media They're taking the same approach in the U. S. You might call it the Facebook play. Bill the audience first worry about monetizing it later. The ESPN deal keeps Formula O on American screens The revamp broadcast attracts some new viewers, but Not many Compared to the previous year on NBC, SPN's first year of Formula One coverage goes up by just three percent F short of what Liberty media had hoped for Still, there's no sense of panic. Be one major piece of Liberty's media strategy hasn't launched yet It's about to open the hood on Formula One and give fans something they've never had before. Unprecedented backstage access Whether you're exploring your current fascinations or discovering new ones, Audawell has all the stories that'll introduce you to your most fascinating self. Tap into a whole new world of heated conversations with a saucy romantasy series. beccome your friend group's sci fi expert on the latest blockbuster book to screen adaptation Or find unexpected reveals through the exclusive episodes of a viral true crime podcast. However you choose to listen, Audible keeps you fascinated so you can be just as fascinating. All in one easy app with plans now starting at five pounds ninety nine cents, you'll get access to over nine hundred thousand audioobooks and podcasts, including trending bestestsellers, the hottest new releases, and exclusive podcasts you won't find anywhere else Sign up now to become a member and get any audiobook every month plus exclusive podcasts plans now start at five pounds ninety nine Be fascinated, be fascinating Whether you're exploring your current fascinations or discovering new ones, Audible has all the stories that'll introduce you to your most fascinating self. Tap into a whole new world of heated conversations with a Sucy romantasy series. Become your friend group's sci fi expert on the latest blockbuster book to sccreen adaptation Or find unexpected reveals through the exclusive episodes of a viral true crime podcast. However you choose to listen, Audible keeps you fascinated so you can be just as fascinating. All in one easy app, with plans now starting at eight do ninety nine cents, you'll get access to over one million audio books and podcasts, including trending bestsellers Hottest new releases and exclusive podcasts you won't find anywhere else. Sign up now to become a member and get any audio book every month plus exclusive podcasts. Plans now start at eightll ninety nine cents. Be fascinated, be fascinating It's april twenty ninth, twenty eighteen, the dayay of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix Two blue and red Formula One cars rocket down the long main street in the city of Baku One is driven by Red Bull veteran Daniel Ricardo, the other by his young teammate, Max Verstopa. Ricardo tucks into Verstopppin's slipstream, the turbulent air pulling him forward at nearly two hundred miles per hour. Ricardo darts right, searching for a gap. Verstaopin blocks. Ricardo faints left. Verstopppin moves again, but at this speed, even the smallest miscalculation has enormous consequences Ricardo slams in the back of Verstafin's car. Carbon fiber explodes across the track. The two red bull cars spin helplessly down the runoff area their race over in a cloud of smoke and shredded bodywork For Red Bull, it's a catastrophe Two teammates have taken each other out for a small TV cruise station nearby It's the kind of moment They've been waiting for Within seconds, a camera operator, sound technician and producer are sprinting toward the Redvill garage. They want to capture the team's reaction, the raw unfiltered aftermath Inside the garage, engineers stare at their monitors in disbelief. Team Principal Christian Horner curses as he rewatches one of the most embarrassing moments in the team's history And the cameras keep rolling You know, there's a quiet shift happening here. One that many businesses miss. Control is being traded for connection Back in the Bernie Ecleston days, Formula One treated access as something to guard against, restrict, monetize But Liberty Media sees that scarcity isn't always an asset. Tention is a real currency. By letting the cameras come in, they're not weakening the brand. They're deepening it. customers feel like insiders, their investment is emotional And that's far more valuable Even as they film, the crew know they've captured something special Because this footage isn't for the live broadcast It's for a completely new kind of F one show. Almost a year later, just days before the start of the twenty nineteen Formula One season That series drops on Netflix It's called Drive to survive promises to pull back the curtain on the most exclusive sport in the world. The concept isn't groundbreaking. Sports documentaries have been around for years A drive to survive offers something unique Unlike most sports, a Graac Prix weekend brings every competitor together, all ten teams, all twenty drivers, every strategist and decision maker. That gives the film crew access to the entire F one ecosystem. Not everyone is thrilled about the idea The top two teams, Mercedes and Ferrari, refused to participate, worried that allowing cameras in their garages could be a distraction But they are absence actually helps the show With Mercedes and Ferrari missing, the spotlight falls on smaller teams with bigger personalities Australian driver Daniel Ricardo quickly becomes a fan favorite His laid back humor and megawatts smile light up the screen as he wrestles with a career changing decision whether to stay in Red Bull, leave for a rival team. Meanwhile, Gunter Steiner, the boss of American owned teeam Has, emerges as an unlikely star thanks to his brutally honest and frequently profanity lzed assessments of his struggling team. The combination of high speed racing and behind the scenes human drama, proves irresistible Drive to survive comomes a surprise hit And then, in february twenty twenty, just as the COVID pandemic begins to spread The second season arrives And with people stuck at home, more people discover the show. Both men and women are drawn in by the mix of high wire action and juicy interpersonal drama Drive to sururvive catches fire Formula One suddenly faces an unexpected problem Millions of new fans are discovering the sport just as its races are being shut down Few sports are less suited to a global pandemic than Formula One In a normal here teams circle the globe multiple times. Thousands of mechanics, engineers and support staff travel with them Tons of specialized equipment is shipped around the world carefully choreographed logistical ballet But if Formula onene stops racing It risks losing the momentum created by Dve to survive So Liberty media makes a bold decision After delaying the start of the season for four months F one returns to action as soon as circumstances allow. working with governments and health officials Formula onene creates a strict sporting bubble. Teams follow rigorous COVID testing regimes. personersnel are divided into isolated groups, and the calendar is rebuilt almost from scratch instead of a globe spanning tour Races are clustered together to minimize travel Several countries host two races on back to back weekends It's an enormous gamble. The twenty twenty season ultimately delivers seventeen races. That's five fewer than originally planned but enough to keep the championship alive And with millions of people stuck at home looking for something new Formula One's audience begins to surge And it finally makes a breakthrough in the United States Viewership there almost doubles between twenty eighteen and twenty twenty one. Live attendance at the United States Gromp freak climbs at a similar rate and with interest rising Formula One announces its return to Las Vegas The larger audience soon translates into revenue In twenty twenty two, Formula One renews its TV deal with ESPN Just a few years earlier, ESPN got the rights for free This time. pays an estimated ninety million dollars per year for them. Sure. This is a big leap forward for Formula onene But NASCAR's television rights are worth around ten times that typical NASCA race still attracts about three times the viewers of a Formula One Grand Prix in the U.S It's the trend that matters Formula onene is accelerating NASCAR Well, It's coasty and its executives are starting to glance in the rear view mirror. little more often. With Formula One coming up fast, NASCAR's bosses don't think they can wait years for a full reinvention They want faster results So, they borrow from Formula One's playbook First They change where NASCAR races. For decades, the organization has invested heavily in building or buying rac trracks It now controls dozens of speedways across the US, many located in rural areas that once formed the heartland of stock car racing Maintaining those facilities is expensive and many are located far from the cities and younger audiences that NASCAR hopes to attract So NASCAR looks to reduce its reliance on far flung tracks. and experiment more. The boldest example arrives in twenty twenty three, when NASCAR stages a street race through downtown Chicago's Grant Park where its stock cars thunder past skyscrapers and along the edge of Lake Michigan For a sport traditionally associated with oval tracks carved into farmland? This is a dramatic shift At the same time, NASCAR deploys camera crews to capture behind the scenes footage of the championship chase Now rebranded as the playoffs for its own documentary series, NASCAR Full spepeed Premieres on Netflix in january twenty twenty four Like drive to survive, NASCAR full speed leans into personalities as much as racing NASCAR champion Ryan Blaney allows cameras into his personal life away from the track Denny Hamlin embraces his reputation as NASCAR's villain happily playing the role of the driver fans love to hate. Buba Wallace speaks candidly about the pressures of competing at the highest level The stories are there But the impact isn't. The first season of full speed draws about three point four million viewers, roughly a third of drive to survive Here's the thing Execution matters, but timing often matters more NASCAR didn't get the strategy wrong. It just got there late This is the risk of reacting instead of leading, you end up solving yesterday's problem Following a competitor can feel safe, even smart, but it usually means you'll finish in second place The real advantage comes from moving early before a trend hardens into expectations Right now. what NASCAR really needs is a path of its own Formula One is setting the pace. There are people you're told to trust laawyers, teachers, especially doctors But what happens when you put your life in someone's hands and they betray you? The hit podcast Doror Death is back And this season is unlike any other. doctor Death, the cowboy, is the story of a charming neurosurgeon who rode into western towns selling a persona of confidence and care He wore cowboy boots in the operating room and became sought after by patients He promised to heal them Instead, he left a trail of broken bodies This season is about a doctor who was never truly held accountable for the patients whose lives he ruined A story of greed, betrayal, and a fight for justice that will leave you questioning who to trust Listen to Dr. Death, the cowboy, wherever you get your podcasts. or binge the entire series right now, only with Audible. I'm Leon Nefak, best known as the co creator of Slowburn and Fiasco I had of course heard of O fans, but always with a distant and quiet skepticism. A silent judgment, you might say Who is actually using this platform? U I am Hi, I'm Oly Fans creator and comedian, Gracie Canan. I work from home now, I'm on Oly Fans and In case you guys don't know what Oie fans is, ask your husband. My journalistic curiosity got the best of me when I found out that my own sister had started an only Fans account I'm not a sister, just to clarify. turns out, a lot of what I thought I knew about onlynly Fans was wrong. I felt like I wasted three point five years for something that wasn't real What happens when connection comes with a price tag? Listen to Only Fantasy wherever you get your podcasts, or binge all episodes of Only Fantasy ad free right now, only on Audible. Start your Audible subscription in the Audible app or on Apple podcasts It's may fourth, twenty twenty five at the Miami International Autodrome The Florida sun hangs high above the circuit Palm trees sway behind the grandstands. More than one hundred thousand Formula One fans fill the temporary circuit built around the H Rock Stadium, the home of the Miami Dlphins In a few hours, the Miami Grand Prix will begin But first, it's time for an F one tradition. The Driver's Parade. Usually the drivers climb into the back of an open top truck and wave to the crowd while taking a lap of the circuit. But today, they're doing things a little differently Parked on the grid are ten Formula O cars, one for each team. Except these aren't high tech racing machines. They're made entirely of Lego. Each car is a two seater. One driver sits up pront the other driver in the back teammates have been told to take a slow lap, wave to the fans, and let people take photos, giving Lego a spectacular marketing opportunity One by one, the F one drivers climb into cars made of toy bricks. The electric engines hum to life. The first car sets off. The others follow nose to tail, rolling slowly down the straight. T ultra comppetitive drivers in novelty race cars, each one egged on by a teammate in the back You know what's coming next, right First, the Mercedes car edges closer to the Red Rick Ferrari at the front. Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc drifts across the track, closing the door and forcing Mercedes to back off crowd roars, then the Williams car tries to take advantage of the duel at the front. It dives forward and bumps in the back of the Mercedes. The front wing of the Williams car explodes, scattering hundreds of tiny bricks across the asphalt. Behind them, the Alpine and McLaren cars collide as they swerve to avoid the debris. In the chaos, the Williams car darts toward the inside, but Mercedes driver George Russell reacts instantly. He swerves to shut the gas, the two vehicle' lock wheels sliding together across the track, and crash straight into the wall By the time the lap ends, the drivers are doubled over with laughter The parade has turned into a farce, but no one is complaining, especially not Lego, or Formula One's social media team, because this moment's already going viral The Miami Grand Prix may be new But it's already challenging Monaco as the sport's most glamorous showcase. It's not just drawing corporate sponsors like LeGo, it's also attracting A listters like Serena Williams, Elon Musk, David Beckham, even President Donald Trump. That same energy was felt at the Las Vegas Grandfrix, which debuted in twenty twenty three with all the spectacle you'd expect from the stp. In one headline grabbing moment, Beyonce was given a high speed taste of the action, riding shotgun in a Ferrari road car driven by seven time world champion Louis Hamilton Even the more established Grand Frix in Austin, Texas also combines racing with concerts, celebrity appearances and festival like energy I've been there to the Grand Prix in Austin, and what struck me is what Formula One is selling. It's not just a race. destination There's serious foMo around this thing B layering music, celebrities and spectacle around the core event They've turned a niche sport into something that really competes with festivals, not just other races. That reframes the whole game You don't have to be a F one super fan to want to be there They haven't changed the core of what's on offer either It's still an F one race And it's a reminder that growth offtten comes from rethinking the container Not reinventing what's inside By summer twenty twenty five, Formula One is even breaking through in Hollywood Brad Pitt stars in F one, a blockbuster movie filmed with the full cooperation of the sport becomes a box office hid and earns a best picture nomination at the Oscars Formula one is on a high. Every viral clip, every PR spectacle, every celebrity endorsement, amplifies its reach and as its audience grows So does the pressure on NASCAR to reverse its decline. becauseus while formula one thrives NASCAR is headed in the opposite direction In twenty twenty five, its ratings are down fourteen percent from the previous year It still leads Formula One in U.S. viewership That margin is shrinking fast It's February twenty five. Thousands of race fans have gathered for the Daytona five hundred, one of the biggest events in the calendar But inside NASCAR headquarters in Daytona Beach The committee is meeting to consider what they can do to improve next year's schedule at the head of the table Steve Phelps taps a pen against his laptop The screen casting a pale glow across his face He's just been appointed the sport's first ever commissioner and his mandate is simple. Stop the rot Around him, a handful of executives shift in their chairs, waiting for him to speak The screen flickers on as a video call connects Phelps leans in Okay, Mark you with us The image sharpens to reveal former NASCA driver Mark Martin, sitting at his kitchen table in Arkansas. Yeah, I'm here.ve been waiting for this conversation for a little while. hels gives a tight knod. Yeah, that's why we brought you in. We're reviewing the point system again. We want some honest feedback here. Yeah, you're gonna get it too A few of the execs around the table exchange glances. Well, you know, we've tried a lot And none of it's stuck, either. you know it, I know it. Fans definitely know it. OkayK, well then tell us what you're hearing. I've been at tracks all summer, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, sitting in the stands talking to folks who followed this sport longer than some of us have worked in it. And they feel left behind The room goes quiet. They don't understand the championship anymore. And worse, they don't trust it. You got a system where a guy can dominate a whole season and still lose the title. Hell, that ain't racing. That's a game show. Well, the idea is to create drama. All it does is create confusion So, what do you propose? These fans I've been talking to, they're the backbone. Always have been. They go to the local tracks every Saturday night. You know how those track champions get crowned Yeah, whoever gets the most points? Exactly. Most points over thirty, forty races, no resets, no eliminations. You earn it over time. That's what people understand. That's what they believe in. You built the chase for the cup to make things exciting, right? But then you kept tweaking it. Every change pulled you further away from what the fans want All right, so what are you saying? We scrap it? No, I'm saying you go back to basics. Make every race and every lap matter. No more gimmicks. Let the best driver over the whole year win the championship. simimple Well, that's a big step, Mike. Yeah, it is But you're at a point where small steps ain't fixing it In the final race of the twenty twenty five season, Kyle Larson edges out Denny Hamlin to win his second NASCAR cup But even as the celebrations unfold, the conversation is already moving on to next season. In the garages, on talk shows and across fan forums, word is that Larson is going to be the last champion under the current system NASCAR is preparing for a major change In january twenty twenty six, the announcement finally comes After months of speculation, NASCAR confirms the playoffs are gone. It's returning to the original Chase for the Cup format. tenen Rays shootout to decide the champion No eliminations, no gimmicks Just a straight bite to the finish This isn't just a tweak. It's an attempt to reconnect with a fan base that's drifting away. Mark Martin is among those announcing this change at a press conference in North Carolina And I just feel to the to the race fans all the race fans, but especially the classic fans who say to me, I don't watch anymore I say, we need you Come on back It's both an invitation and an acknowledgement. NASCAR knows it has work to do to win back trust For the first time in years, it's returning to its roots and asking fans Come along too AsSCAR isn't the only series heading into a reset in twenty twenty six at Fmula one A new era is about to begin For the first time in a generation, the Sort is overhauling its technical regulations. At the center is a deeper reliance on hybrid power.