Why isn’t Formula 1 that popular in Australia?

If you’re reading this, it’s likely that you are fan of F1. Maybe you’ve just come back to the sport after many years away (I’ve been there), or perhaps you are new to the sport. Either way, at this stage of Lakeside Drive's life, our audience tends to be fans - and that’s great!

However, one of the reasons I pushed to hard to start a Formula 1 commentary podcast and have kept at it with the help of the lads, is because I really believe the community of F1 fans in Australia is one of the best in the world! The problem is, we tend to be one or two fans in a family or friends group, with everyone else not seeing the point of “cars going around in circles”.

I fell out of love with the sport a few years ago. Like many people, I was tired of the LH44 domination and the new regulations with the turbo-hybrids killed some of my passion. I genuinely stopped thinking about it, reading about it and seeking content about it. Mainly, because it was content out of the UK, all focused on the glory of Lewis. Now that’s fine, I get it - he’s a great driver and has done amazing things in a McLaren and the Mercedes works team, but down under, I felt disconnected.

I came back to the sport in 2017 to be frustrated at seeing Daniel’s hurdles at Red Bull. As an Aussie, it was hard not to! So, when rumours emerged of his departure from Red Bull Racing in 2018, I thought it a great opportunity for the love of F1 to be re-born in Australia. A whole bunch of new beginnings, all at once!

As we know, however, not even 100m into his first lap with Renault and he found a little service road off the main straight and removed his own front wing, but that aside, Australian’s, on the whole, were excited for his next move.

We set out in 2019 with the goal to bring more people to this favourite sport of ours and to be an Australian point of view that wasn’t just comedy, or too serious, or just a carbon copy of what could be found overseas. If you’ve listened for a while, you’ll know that it’s mainly me trying to wrangle Tommy T and Campy to stay on point - and I love it! 

We’re far from a “normal” team when it comes to commentary about the sport, although it’s been great to receive such positive feedback from the launch of our third season.

To be honest, it’s not an easy process! Lot’s of work goes into the show and what you see on the screen is what we put together. But, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Lakeside Drive is honestly here to value add to your F1 experience - especially seeing as we can’t travel to races any time soon. But what we also hope for, is you to be able to point people who know nothing about F1 to our show and for them to understand a little about our passion for it. As we know, passion can be contagious!

So let’s hope by the end of the 2021 Season, the Australian fan base continues to grow and we can pack the stands at Albert Park in November.