PANAJI
Football runs deep in Goa. It's a sport adored by almost everyone. Heading to restaurants on the weekend and enjoying meals whilst watching the English Premier League on big screens or TV sets is a pretty common sight.
However, a new sport has begun to make inroads and has Goans flocking over to witness what has been deemed to be the pinnacle of motor racing. F1 Goa Fan Club, run by Kshitij Gaur and co, have been screening races across various locations such as Royal Enfield Garage Cafe (Arpora), Petisco (Panaji), Bar 51 (Altinho) and Smita's Lake (Siridao), for over a year.
"We held our first screening on December 12, 2021, the Abu Dhabi GP at Bar 51, it was supported by Red Bull and about 150 people turned up," said Kshitij. The 22-year-old along with Nikhil Falari launched the fan club in 2020. He was taken aback by the reception as he expected only 15-20 people to show up.
Much of Formula One's newfound success can be attributed to American owner Liberty Media's marketing strategies and Netflix's docu-series Drive To Survive (DTS). The corporation's decision to tap into the younger demographic across the world has begun to pay huge dividends. Since then, fan clubs have mushroomed in the Coastal State while older supporters groups pre-dating Liberty Media's acquisition have seen their headcounts swell.
Speaking behind the motivation for creating F1 Goa Fan Club, Kshitij said, "We wanted to build a community for F1 fans so that we could talk and discuss about the sport since nothing like that was happening in Goa and it was only the football community that did it. For us, it was to bring like-minded people together and have a good time."
"When we started out as a WhatsApp group we initially had 15-20 people. The number has now grown to 75 and it’s a super active group, especially on race weekends," the Scuderia Ferrari fan added.
"We have people analysing the cars, predicting race results, and sharing memes. We also have an Instagram page where we post screening details and other updates, it has 230+ followers," he continued, commenting on the group and reach. "We have seen new faces at quite a few screenings. Some of them were fans for a long time and the rest were post-DTS fans. People would bring their friends who haven’t watched F1 before and they have a great time at the screening and turn up for the other screenings too. Also noticed people asking for screening details and venues on the Instagram page, so yeah it feels like people are interested in the sport and attending screenings," he said speaking on the growing interest in the motorsport.
Formula One's growth could hit a potential roadblock as for the first time since the 1990s, the motorsport will not be broadcasted on Indian televisions. Until last year, Star held the broadcasting rights for F1 in the country and fans could tune in to either Hotstar or Star Sports to watch the races. However, according to Formula 1's Director of Media Rights and Content Creation, Ian Holmes, F1 has been unable to find a suitable broadcaster this year due to a difference in the valuation of rights.
Fans can watch the races and more on F1 TV Pro for now but for Rs 399 a month or Rs 2,999 annually. This is a significant hike compared to Hotstar's Rs 899 a year package which gave access to other sports, TV series and movies as well.
Kshitij expressed concern over the broadcasting issue that has got many Goan fans worried. "It is disappointing that F1 hasn’t given broadcasting rights to anyone in India, it will be harder to watch the race and could potentially affect the viewership," he said, adding that some of his team members have bought the subscription and will share the account among themselves as most people do for Netflix.
Automotive journalist Samuel Pereira claimed that F1 have made a mistake by broadcasting the races on an exclusive app. "While younger people can stream it or find links, it's the older audience who are missing out. It not being there on TV has eliminated the casual viewer," he said.
Although the subscription may be a little expensive for the Indian market and hamper the sport's growth, it has provided ardent fans with a lot of perks. "I find the prices extremely competitive for the kind of content provided by F1TV. Especially, if you have Multiviewer For F1, it becomes so much better! And also the archives! Wow! I mean, who needs Netflix and all when you can watch full races from the 80s onwards!" said Yash Gosalia, who heads the group Motorsports.
Meanwhile, for fans that want to watch the race but haven't subscribed to F1TV, F1 Goa Fan Club has provided them with a lifeline and has invited them to witness the Sakhir Grand Prix experience. "For those who don’t want to get the subscription, they can watch the race at our screenings free of cost," said Kshitij Gaur.
One fan has bypassed the trouble of having to watch the race on TV by flying to Bahrain for the opening race of the season. "The atmosphere is amazing. This is the first race so there are a lot of expectations, excitement and eagerness to see what all the teams have done during the off-season and who is going to challenge Red Bull," shared Joel Leitao who hails from Chicalim.
Formula 1 is not only limited to its on-track events but offers a host of activities for the fans too. "There are a lot of events such as Sim Racing and Pit-Stop challenges which I plan on taking part in. The concerts are a little late but I will definitely watch DJ snake and maybe Craig David," he said. "I’m most excited to see the cars on track and maybe get a chance to meet some of the drivers and hopefully get their autographs," the long-time Mercedes fan said and is rooting for Lewis Hamilton to win.
