>>14064578>I like this takeIt's something that racing has had to deal with for a long time. The main problem is the fans are core viewers (they'll basically always watch) and the rubberneckers are marginal viewers (they'll watch in proportion to the risk of crashes). So adding some crash risk will always increase your numbers: if you want big number, have big crash risk. NASCAR kneeled to the numbers, accepted rubberneckers as fans, and as a result they have a despised regulatory committee that is constantly ordering teams to add or remove spoilers, restrictors, etc., in order to tune the race for tight bunches with risky overtakes likely to cause big pileups.
F1 did NOT kneel to the numbers; all footage of F1 races are shot by their own in-house media company and sold to broadcasters, which gives them absolute power to enforce rules like "do not show any footage of a crash until the driver is confirmed safe".
There's lots of lesson to be taken, but the main one I picked up is "fuck rubberneckers, never let them feel welcome, never let anyone get away with calling them 'fans', because if you let them get any foothold they will put a frightening amount of effort into killing drivers for their own entertainment".