Tech Draft: F1 public deserve free media access to FIA TD

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The FIA’s technical guidelines have always been shrouded in secrecy, but we at GrandPrix247 have always debated whether the media and the public deserve to have free access to them.

Formula 1 is a sport that attracts the attention of the masses because of the drivers, the team principles, the experts, and of course the noise, the speed and the gladiator fights on the track.

However, F1 is also a unique sport as it is very technical and as it grows in popularity around the world there is growing interest in its technical aspects.

The F1 public wants to understand how F1 is run and why

The patrons of the sport, the fans, don’t just want to understand what an F1 car is and how it works, they also want to understand what the rules are, how those rules are administered; and when these rules are changed or revised from time to time, they want to know why.

From time to time very complicated rules may need to be clarified, and so over the years the sport’s governing body, the FIA, has issued Technical Guidelines (TDs) aimed at clarifying the ambiguity, and even to correct certain rules with amendments.

It is important to remember, however, that the intent of a TD was only to respond to a query submitted by a team or official and was never a means of introducing a new rule.

There is a whole other process to follow which involves ratification by the FIA ​​World Motor Sport Council for this to happen.

It is no longer acceptable for access to TDs to be exclusive

Historically, F1 has been regulated in a very closed way, and little attention has been paid to the general public understanding of the rationale for governance, and that has also been the case with TDs, and they haven’t traditionally been distributed only between the teams and the FIA.

Nevertheless, the sport’s regulators’ inner sanctum has also been something of an exclusive club, and if you’re there, for whatever reason, you’re there.

Over the years there have been many instances where bigger mainstream media and coincidentally more cash laden media miraculously had a copy of a contemporary TD in their hot little hands and the have used to deliver content to their readers or viewers. that no one else could. An exclusivity, if you will, giving this medium an unfair advantage.

Doesn’t sound beneficial, inclusive, accessible or transparent, does it? For us at GrandPrix247 this is detrimental.

It’s time to stand firm on TD access for the media

As many of you may know, in 2021 we addressed the FIA ​​with an open letter published on GrandPrix247, lobbying the FIA ​​regarding the lack of public access and transparency related to Formula TDs 1, which we were quite happy with when finally they informed us that all F1 TDs would consequently be published on the FIA ​​website in the future.

At recent Grands Prix, TDs have again been brought to the forefront of topical F1 discussions, as TD039 was released by the FIA ​​on the Thursday of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend with the intention of begin the process of solving the problem of damaging violent vertical oscillations. the health and safety of drivers.

For us at GrandPrix247 it was a frustrating time because although we thought we would have free access to the TD as we were advised – to better help us provide you, the readers, with more complete information on the subject – we were satisfied with the same old roadblocks and realized that once again access for us was barred.

Yet at the same time, history was repeating itself as several other major media players ran openly pushing their joy at having a copy of the TD in their possession.

In recent weeks we have been following this case with the FIA ​​and have been advised that the person responsible for making the decision to grant free media access to TDs has since left the organisation, and that the case should be followed up. with a result promised for July 8.

Media access to TDs is in the best interest of the sport

In the meantime, it is important that the FIA ​​identifies and recognizes the importance of free media access to TDs as, as noted above, the popularity of the sport is growing across the world, as is the need for awareness and understanding public. how the sport is run, and why.

The modern F1 consumer expects accessibility, transparency and equality, and if that doesn’t happen they will soon switch off and find something else to follow.

The ball is now in the FIA’s court to do the right thing for the sport.

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