GPDA Global Fan Survey 2015

[Bobby Doorknobs]

You probably all heard the news that the Grand Prix Drivers Association was putting out a survey to find out what we the fans think of modern F1. Well, they launched it. Here it is for anyone who has yet to take it: http://gpda.motorsport.com/

[AdrianSutil]

Heads up people, clear at least 30 minutes of your day to complete this. Its long!

I've done it, but didn't get to what I think are the important bits until near the end. Mainly cost-cutting and customer cars. A lot of this survey is about general stuff to do with how you spend your time watching F1, social media and how you enjoy the 'sport'.

I'd say 90% of this survey has no bearing on what 'real' F1 fans want to talk about sadly and I think this 'survey' is just a promotional tool for 'wannabe' fans and similar donkeys

[Dj_bereta]

This survey is poorly translated to other languages (at least in my home language). It was difficult to understand some questions.

I appreciate GPDA action in trying to listen the fans, but with Bernie in charge, I doubt something useful will be done.

[Aguaman]

Heads up people, clear at least 30 minutes of your day to complete this. Its long!

I've done it, but didn't get to what I think are the important bits until near the end. Mainly cost-cutting and customer cars. A lot of this survey is about general stuff to do with how you spend your time watching F1, social media and how you enjoy the 'sport'.

I'd say 90% of this survey has no bearing on what 'real' F1 fans want to talk about sadly and I think this 'survey' is just a promotional tool for 'wannabe' fans and similar donkeys

There's nothing wrong with wannabe fans. They'll watch F1.

[Salamander]

Heads up people, clear at least 30 minutes of your day to complete this. Its long!

I've done it, but didn't get to what I think are the important bits until near the end. Mainly cost-cutting and customer cars. A lot of this survey is about general stuff to do with how you spend your time watching F1, social media and how you enjoy the 'sport'.

I'd say 90% of this survey has no bearing on what 'real' F1 fans want to talk about sadly and I think this 'survey' is just a promotional tool for 'wannabe' fans and similar donkeys

There's nothing wrong with wannabe fans. They'll watch F1.

Indeed. And F1 cannot exist without them. As much as their ignorance can be annoying, they are ultimately the difference between F1 and the WEC.

[CoopsII]

Stupid idea. You only need to browse these lovely pages for a short time to see that most of the ideas to improve F1 as devised by F1 fans would be to take the regulations back to the Goode Olde Days of (insert favourite decade here). I'm the same but deep down I know it's unproductive. Rather than ask F1 fans who watch F1 what they'd like why not ask people who don't watch F1 anymore (or never did) what it would take to entice them back. And at the risk of sounding like a broken record (scratched CD, corrupted MP3, as applicable to your age range) I would have thought one of the first comments would be "I'm not paying £363 for it".

But they don't want to hear that.

[DanielPT]

This survey is poorly translated to other languages (at least in my home language). It was difficult to understand some questions.

I appreciate GPDA action in trying to listen the fans, but with Bernie in charge, I doubt something useful will be done.

This survey seems to be automatically translated. And it's really very poor. I know drivers have other things to do, but this is so unprofessional that it almost stopped me from replying.

It also seems to be slow as hell to load. Still waiting for the next survey step...


EDIT: I've finally finished the survey. I feel that it was too much a referendum on gimmicks and stuff like that. It could have been more into the future of the sport. Some questions were awkward too lacking some rather obvious answers like the one about tarmac run-off areas. And finally, at the end, yes, sponsors are important, okay? Maybe they can be reassured about it now...

Also, I might have been the only one who placed Pastor Maldonado as one of its favorite drivers. That should irk the GPDA. What can I say? The bloke is entertaining and was still the one to win a race for Williams for a decade now. I cannot forget that!

[AndreaModa]

Tried doing it last night. Website was overloaded to hell with too many people trying to do it, so I finally got it to work at about half past midnight.

It's long, and a lot of the questions don't allow you the freedom to answer in the way you want. There's another one by Haymarket Media (Autosport/F1 Racing/Motorsport News publisher) which is shorter and easier to navigate if you fancy doing that instead.

Neither will have any real bearing on the sport though unfortunately. We all know that.

[Aguaman]

This survey is poorly translated to other languages (at least in my home language). It was difficult to understand some questions.

I appreciate GPDA action in trying to listen the fans, but with Bernie in charge, I doubt something useful will be done.

Also, I might have been the only one who placed Pastor Maldonado as one of its favorite drivers. That should irk the GPDA. What can I say? The bloke is entertaining and was still the one to win a race for Williams for a decade now. I cannot forget that!

I had the same.

1. Maldonado
2. Ericsson
3. Kyvat

[IceG]

So I spend 20 minutes of my time helping them develop their business...

And on the last page they decide I must provide contact details. I entered nonsense just to finish. Will my efforts be discarded? If they want stuff like that, it should come up front or have a warning. Sheesh.

Interesting biases in the questions. I come across (no doubt) as a tech-resistent old fuddy-duddy which is just not correct; I just don't want "celebs" tweeting me in some vaguely irrelevant product/F1 cross-over manufactured by a marketing department.

I was able to continue watching F1 via my Sky (non-sports) subscription but, had they demanded more money I woudl have walked away, just as I did when MotoGP went to BT Sport in the UK. The question just did not reflect that option/outcome.

Any survey which allows the participants to detect the underlying questions being researched (like this one blatently did) is a bad survey.

[Nessafox]

For the question 'what sponsors do you associate with F1' (or something like that) one of my anwers was Andrea Moda. I suggest the whole forum does the same.

[DemocalypseNow]

The survey seems a tad rushed. It's not particularly well designed for a survey of this type. I'm not talking about the questions being asked, I'm talking about the implementation! The way in which the questions have to be answered. It feels like it wasn't tested. You don't give a sliding scale where the highest number means "I don't care". This is a poor survey design principle.

Anyway, that's probably low on the general population's list of gripes with this thing. I think the gesture from the GPDA is giving the right kind of feeling, but it isn't really going to be useful. Typically with a survey of this length I would expect to be getting remunerated for my time (as is common with web-based surveys these days). The complaint isn't that I am not being remunerated, the complaint is that F1 cares so little what its consumer base wants, fringe groups like the GPDA - which have no real influence over the direction of the sport - are the only ones commissioning surveys. And the consumers are so overjoyed to be asked their opinion for once, they're willing to give it out for free. It's a sad state of affairs to be in.

There is not enough incentive to complete this survey. The intention behind it is nice, but will amount to little in the end. Bernie does not care what you think. Bernie does not think you are worth his time unless your salary is well into six figures per annum. The only customer feedback he wants, he will get face to face with his high-end clientèle in the Paddock Club. Bernie has positioned the Formula 1 brand in a very specific sector of the market (a sociodemographic group so wealthy they don't even exist on the NRS social grade scale), and likely has no intention of shifting away from that.

I wonder sometimes what I got myself into. A one-way, abusive relationship, metaphorically speaking. One where I am constantly degraded, yet still come back for more. What am I doing? Apparently I can't help myself. None of us can. Maybe we're all clamouring at the aspirational nature of the general feeling around the sport, hoping one day to be on the other side of the metaphorical fence.

Until we have climbed to the other side of that fence, our feelings about F1 are irrelevant.

[FMecha]

The survey seems a tad rushed. It's not particularly well designed for a survey of this type. I'm not talking about the questions being asked, I'm talking about the implementation! The way in which the questions have to be answered. It feels like it wasn't tested. You don't give a sliding scale where the highest number means "I don't care". This is a poor survey design principle.

There is a question about ticket pricing. As I can only watch F1 through a screen (TV or streaming), I hit the wall at that part. You're right that there should be a way for us to say "don't care".

[Dj_bereta]

This survey is poorly translated to other languages (at least in my home language). It was difficult to understand some questions.

I appreciate GPDA action in trying to listen the fans, but with Bernie in charge, I doubt something useful will be done.

Also, I might have been the only one who placed Pastor Maldonado as one of its favorite drivers. That should irk the GPDA. What can I say? The bloke is entertaining and was still the one to win a race for Williams for a decade now. I cannot forget that!

I had the same.

1. Maldonado
2. Ericsson
3. Kyvat

Me too. I voted for Pastor as my favourite driver.

[CoopsII]

I wonder sometimes what I got myself into. A one-way, abusive relationship, metaphorically speaking. One where I am constantly degraded, yet still come back for more. What am I doing? Apparently I can't help myself. None of us can.

Holey buckets, Biscuit, you're onto something; it's Stockholm Syndrome! Bernie has brought us down to this....

[UncreativeUsername37]

The general things have been covered, so here are a few specific questions I had a problem with....

HWNSNBM, do you need THREE questions about my piracy? And then "You said you watch Formula One Grand Prix races on TV.". I'm pretty sure that no, I didn't... that's why you had the piracy questions....

Also what does "In your opinion who are the 3 Greatest F1 Drivers of all time (select up to 3)?" have to do with the future of F1.

"Stimulates intrigue" is so vague I had to pick no opinion. Isn't that what all of the questions are about?

The "Do you like THIS gimmick?" pages were a bit annoying.

[dr-baker]

I completed about 70 to 80 % of it then I had an error page. It said I could use the back button to take me back to the survey. It took me back to the beginning. Grrr.

Name five sponsors? I put Andrea Moda (as prompted by an earlier post here), MTV, MasterCard and Pennzoil, plus one other. Maybe when I go back to attempt it again, I'll put Shannon? Or Qadbak? Or even Black Death cigarettes!

[leywso]

I like the question, 'Have you heard of the GPDA?' Seems a bit of an obvious one given who the survey is on behalf of!

[leywso]

On the subject of sponsors, when my then-girlfriend first introduced me to Jagermeister on a night out, my first response was, "ooh, they sponsored Eurobrun in 1989 you know..." It wasn't met with much excitement.

[tommykl]

I like to imagine that Alex Wurz personally wrote the whole survey and the code behind it. Then again, he probably had cronies do it for him. I heard slave labour is still legal on Socotra...

[UncreativeUsername37]

On the subject of sponsors, when my then-girlfriend first introduced me to Jagermeister on a night out, my first response was, "ooh, they sponsored Eurobrun in 1989 you know..." It wasn't met with much excitement.

And that's what the "then" came from, right?

[Nessafox]

On the subject of sponsors, when my then-girlfriend first introduced me to Jagermeister on a night out, my first response was, "ooh, they sponsored Eurobrun in 1989 you know..." It wasn't met with much excitement.

And that's what the "then" came from, right?

She was probably thinking 'oh boy, you seriously haven't heared about Hans-Joachim Stucks Marches in the seventies?'

[leywso]

And that's what the "then" came from, right?

She's now my wife! This moment was obviously the clincher

[AndreaModa]

On the subject of sponsors, when my then-girlfriend first introduced me to Jagermeister on a night out, my first response was, "ooh, they sponsored Eurobrun in 1989 you know..." It wasn't met with much excitement.

Brilliant!

I put Marlboro in one of the five sponsors, with a winky face after it for a bit of casual trolling.

[FullMetalJack]

For the question 'what sponsors do you associate with F1' (or something like that) one of my anwers was Andrea Moda. I suggest the whole forum does the same.

Benson & Hedges
Buzzin Hornets
Bitten Heroes
Be On Edge
Bitten & Hisses

[Backmarker]

Name five sponsors? I put Andrea Moda (as prompted by an earlier post here), MTV, MasterCard and Pennzoil, plus one other. Maybe when I go back to attempt it again, I'll put Shannon? Or Qadbak? Or even Black Death cigarettes!

I managed to think of Philip Morris International.

[Waris]

Okay, who voted for refueling?

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Okay, who voted for refueling?

Not me.

[novitopoli]

Name five sponsors? I put Andrea Moda (as prompted by an earlier post here), MTV, MasterCard and Pennzoil, plus one other. Maybe when I go back to attempt it again, I'll put Shannon? Or Qadbak? Or even Black Death cigarettes!

I managed to think of Philip Morris International.

I'm not sure whether the question only refers to current sponsors or also includes former ones. If it's the second case, shame on me for not having read the "Andrea Moda" suggestion here!

By the way, the first five, if not the first ten brands I thought of in association with Formula 1 were cigarette brands... (And I don't even smoke!)

[Nessafox]

Name five sponsors? I put Andrea Moda (as prompted by an earlier post here), MTV, MasterCard and Pennzoil, plus one other. Maybe when I go back to attempt it again, I'll put Shannon? Or Qadbak? Or even Black Death cigarettes!

I managed to think of Philip Morris International.

I'm not sure whether the question only refers to current sponsors or also includes former ones. If it's the second case, shame on me for not having read the "Andrea Moda" suggestion here!

By the way, the first five, if not the first ten brands I thought of in association with Formula 1 were cigarette brands... (And I don't even smoke!)

Oh it refers to current ones actually. Just want to send a message that 'we don't care about Prost or Senna, we care about Perry McCarthy!'. At least, one of them will slightly frown their eyebrows.

If we really wanted to troll, we would answer Alex Würz at ever possible occasion, though.

[dinizintheoven]

I had a brainwave last night. As I was filling in my scoresheet for the Monaco Grand Prix, I noticed that the irritating "the animals went in two by two" formation that we've been so used to on the starting grids over the last ten years or more has spread to the championship standings. Two Mercs at the front, then two Ferraris, then two Williams, then two Red Bulls; never has the pecking order of the cars been so strict.

I'm not sure it's even possible to get F1 out of this rut. We want "the show" with competitive racing, what we really need is... Formula E, actually, intended to be a lower-cost series that Virgin and Super Aguri flocked to and have been competitive in. But for those who can't stomach the change to electric racing, what we need is an equally cheap "stock block" series. What we need is Formula 5000 - or at least a modernised version of it.

So, you can build your own chassis if you must, but there are bound to be spare cars kicking around out there. Let's say you can buy any F1 chassis that finished outside the top eight at any time in the last ten years - so, anything from the 2010s Legendary Back Three (including last year's Marussia!), Super Aguri, the two Williams disasters in 2011 and 2013, various Force Indias and Toro Rossos, a Midland, Spyker or the last Jordan... that sort of thing. The Honda RA107 would also be allowed as it finished ninth before McLaren's disqualification (though the Super Aguri SA07 would be a better choice). Possibly, if there's a shortage of chassis available, second-tier series could be added in - the three GP2 cars, A1 Grand Prix (and hence Auto GP), Super Formula and the Japanese series, Superleague Formula, Formula Renault 3.5, and so on.

The current F1 teams' most vociferous complaint (bar Mercedes) is the extreme cost of the new engines; Formula 5000's answer was "buy a 5-litre Chevy V8 off the shelf, bung it in the chassis and off you go." This series' "stock block" will be an almost-certainly-turbocharged 2-litre engine that can be found in the performance models of the average family hatchback (Ford Focus ST, Volkswagen Golf GTI, Honda Civic Type-R and so on). The cost will be in the thousands rather than the millions, and the strategy will be which allowable engine to pick, how to fit it to a chassis designed to take F1 engines, and how far to tune it - extract as much power from the engine as you dare. Do you do what Mitsubishi did as they increased the FQ-300 up to 330, 360 and 400 with ever-larger turbos that had a progressively narrower power band that was utterly useless outside it, or do you cram in a small supercharger for the bottom end, a larger supercharger, a turbocharger then that runs out of puff and then the massive turbo for the top end... and if so, will it all fit in the engine bay? And will any of the manufacturers start making GTI hybrids to throw electric power into the mix as well? It's a completely free choice as long as the engine comes straight off the shelf.

It'll need refinement - many of you will be thinking "hey, doesn't that sound a bit like the BOSS series?" but the rules in that are so wide open that some of the mismatches are ridiculous. There's the potential here for running the same chassis with required tweaks even longer than Lotus ran the 72 for, there will never be a shortage of engines or replacement parts, and none of them will have to be shipped at short notice from the team's central HQ when there'll be a dealer just round the corner from any circuit you happen to mention.

As for the drivers: I'm sure Jacques Villeneuve will be willing to have a shot at it!

[Wallio]

Okay, who voted for refueling?

Um.... (slowly raises hand). I didn't think they'd actually do it.

[FullMetalJack]

Guess which former World Champion is giving their opinion on the Global Fan Survey.

Hint, it's Jacques Villeneuve

[dr-baker]

Autosport/F1 Racing/Motorsport Network are doing another of their Global Fan Surveys: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.ph ... fan-survey

When they asked for your three favourite teams, MANOR MARUSSIA WAS AN OPTION!!! Had to be done, didn't it!

[watka]

Let's see if Kimi is the most popular driver once again! He's got a chance seeing that Rio Haryarto's not on the list!

[mario]

Autosport/F1 Racing/Motorsport Network are doing another of their Global Fan Surveys: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.ph ... fan-survey

When they asked for your three favourite teams, MANOR MARUSSIA WAS AN OPTION!!! Had to be done, didn't it!

Just so you guys are aware though, they will ask you for an e-mail address at the end of the survey.

[CoopsII]

Was there any evidence that suggestions made on this thing were implemented or is this just a charade of appeasement?

[Wallio]

Just did the new one. I like that they ask about both bringing back refueling and a tyre war. I also like that all the teams are listed on "favorite team" question, as most surveys of this type have like 3 listed then "other.

Most of all I loved the "words you associate with F1" bit. That could provide some neat data.

[Aislabie]

Just did the new one. I like that they ask about both bringing back refueling and a tyre war. I also like that all the teams are listed on "favorite team" question, as most surveys of this type have like 3 listed then "other.

Not all the teams. I wanted to tick Caterham.

#neverforget

[DemocalypseNow]

Just so you guys are aware though, they will ask you for an e-mail address at the end of the survey.

Not sure what you're getting at there. Nielsen are a reputable company.