Motormouth: F1 doesn’t help automakers sell more cars to the mass market

Mass-market brands racing in Formula 1 benefit from the exposure, but it doesn’t do much for their new car sales in the real world; away from the glitz, glamour, power and money of F1.

Sales of motorsport-themed merchandise, however, might be boosted in the countries on the race calendar whenever the F1 circus comes to town, including Singapore in September.

F1 fans - from the hardcore enthusiast (who loves everything about the pinnacle of motorsports) to the casual spectator (who is more interested in the entertainment sideshows) - might drink more Red Bull than usual, but most of them don’t wish to be too much in the red when driving a car of their own. 

Of course, supercar financing is never an issue for the super-rich F1 fans who can afford the street-legal Ferraris, McLarens, Aston Martins and AMGs which are somehow connected to the respective eponymous F1 teams. 

For the merely-rich F1 fans, they can buy Alpine coupes or the Mercedes-Benz models costing either side of half a million dollars.

As for the F1 fans who need to earn their keep and have been living in HDB flats, the F1-related vehicular best they realistically aspire to are entry-level Mercs, hot Honda Type Rs and speedy Renault Sport cars. 

These average consumers don't buy cars based on the manufacturer’s motorsport activities, or lack thereof. They don't really care one way or another.

What these ordinary people want is a lot more prosaic than the passion of motor racing and involves technical specifications which are far more down-to-earth than the sky-high horsepower and extreme engineering of the raciest race cars. 

They just want their rides to be within their budget, well-equipped for the price, practical, reliable, and reasonably sellable a few years down the road.  

Formula 1 is not a factor in their purchase decision, unless the automaker starts charging more for its everyday road cars to subsidise its expensive F1 race cars and highly-paid F1 drivers.

If this happens, the potential car buyers would probably walk away from the showroom and patronise the next-best car brand in their opinion, saving some money with “Formula None”.

Race on Sunday, sell on Monday, but not always successfully.

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