mousepad-d2 Chapter 68 Propaganda
Chapter 68 Propaganda
Tanger was blowing his hair, Leclerc was rinsing himself, and Piastrelli was saying goodbye.
After briefly saying goodbye to everyone in the shop, Piastrelli left Pascal's barbershop.
Pascal shook his head: "Look at this damn F1, it's made my kids so awkward! Spoon, don't ruin your relationship with your good friends."
The older generation had a clear understanding of the relationship between the three young men, Tang Che, Zhou Guanyu, and Piastrelli—Zhou Guanyu and Piastrelli were only slightly awkward, but it didn't prevent them from chatting when they met; as for Tang Che and Piastrelli... Piastrelli probably already regarded Tang Che as his destined demon king and didn't want to say a word to him.
Leclerc, who had been there for a while, still didn't understand anything: "Mom, what are you talking about?"
Pascal: "It doesn't matter if you don't understand. With your personality, you probably won't get into any serious arguments with anyone."
Leclerc shrugged, seemingly puzzled.
Tang Che dried his hair and said goodbye, leaving Pascal's barbershop with Zhou Guanyu.
Zhou Guanyu: "Where to?"
Tang Che: "Go home and run the simulator."
Zhou Guanyu: "No wonder you left right after getting your hair done, you were itching to drive, weren't you?"
Tang Che imitated that player's signature move.
Zhou Guanyu: "Together."
Tang Che: "Your apartment or mine?"
Because they often went to each other's apartments to run simulators or play games, Tang Che and Zhou Guanyu each paid out of their own pockets to set up a simulator and a gaming workstation in each other's homes, so they could set them up whenever they came over.
Zhou Guanyu: "My car is still parked downstairs at your apartment building."
Let's go! Tang Apartment!
When Tang Che and Zhou Guanyu returned to Tang's apartment, Tang Jingqing was leisurely sitting on the sofa in the living room watching TV, clearly having been back for quite some time.
The TV was showing the latest season of DTS (Drive to Survive), specifically the scene from the 21 season in Abu Dhabi where Tangche single-handedly defended Hamilton.
The two race cars sped along, and David Croft's voice was high-pitched and passionate, making for an exciting and thrilling experience.
But none of the three people in the living room got fired up.
Tang Che personally fought the battle, and Tang Jingqing watched Tang Che fight the battle on the spot. The battle had already been fought then, but now watching the replay doesn't ignite the same fervor.
This season of DTS was released in March 2022. Zhou Guanyu had already watched it more than once and was no longer sensitive to it.
Zhou Guanyu: "Is Aunt Jingqing only just starting to watch DTS?"
"No, I was just bored, so I dug out some of Archer's highlights to watch again," Tang Jingqing said. "Netflix's production quality is indeed high; the Americans have really figured out sports marketing."
The "Americans" Tang Jingqing was referring to were the current owners of F1 – Liberty Media.
F1 before and after being acquired by Liberty Media were completely different.
2017年1月23日，美国自由媒体集团正式完成对 F1的全资收购，这场估值 80亿美元的交易终结了伯尼・埃克莱斯顿长达36年的独裁统治。
Prior to this, F1 had long been in a closed system where Bernie Ecclestone held absolute power. All decision-making power in business, racing, and media was concentrated in Ecclestone's hands, leaving teams, tracks, and sponsors with almost no say. The entire operation of the series revolved around a small number of pay-TV providers and the European elite.
During Bernie Ecclestone's era, F1 was positioned as a high-end niche sport, with its core revenue heavily reliant on television broadcasting rights, track hosting fees, and sponsorships from a few top luxury and automotive brands. Television rights once accounted for 70% of the total revenue.
This singular B2B business model completely rejects digital communication. The official stance is not only to strictly limit the dissemination of free content, but also to prohibit teams and drivers from posting any behind-the-scenes content from the paddock on social media. This resulted in a nearly 40% drop in the number of F1 viewers worldwide between 2008 and 2016, with the US market almost completely lost.
By 2016, the average age of F1 viewers had climbed to 44, with women accounting for only 8% of global viewers and the 18-24 age group making up less than 15%. The commercial value of the event stagnated, and many small and medium-sized teams were on the verge of bankruptcy due to a lack of funds.
After Liberty Media took over, it immediately carried out a comprehensive strategic restructuring of F1, changing its positioning from a "pure motorsport company" to a "top global entertainment IP and media content company," and put forward the slogan "F1 for Everyone." The core goal is to break down barriers between different groups and attract young viewers, female viewers, and users from emerging markets such as North America and Asia.
The most crucial breakthrough in this transformation lies in the complete reshaping of content production and dissemination methods.
In 2019, the documentary "Drive to Survive," a collaboration between F1 and Netflix, was officially launched, presenting the personal stories of drivers, the internal power struggles within teams, and the tense conflicts of the races in a reality show format.
这部纪录片迅速成为全球爆款，在超过50个国家进入Netflix观看量前十，直接带动F1观众结构发生了根本性变化——平均观众年龄从44岁降至32岁，女性观众占比从8%飙升至41%，其中 70%的新观众年龄在35岁以下，美国市场的电视观众数量在2019至2021年间增长了 41%。
At the same time, Liberty Media completely lifted its ban on digital content, allowing teams and drivers to freely operate social media accounts, publish short videos, live streams, and behind-the-scenes footage. In 2018, it launched its own streaming platform, F1 TV Pro, offering exclusive content such as driver radio and real-time data tracking. To date, the total number of F1's global social media followers continues to rise, with platforms like TikTok and Instagram gradually becoming core channels for F1 to reach younger audiences.
In terms of business model, Liberty Media has promoted the diversification of its revenue structure. In addition to traditional media copyright and event revenue, it has vigorously developed IP licensing, digital products and mass consumer sponsorships, which has significantly lowered the barriers to cooperation and attracted a large number of non-traditional industry brands such as FMCG, technology and mobile games to enter the market.
To address the long-standing issue of disparity in team revenue, Formula 1 officially implemented its first-ever budget cap in 2021, setting an annual operating limit of $1.45 million for each team related to car performance, and adjusting the prize money distribution mechanism to favor smaller teams.
In terms of event planning, Liberty Media has accelerated its global expansion, adding highly commercially valuable regional events in Miami, Las Vegas, and Qatar, with a focus on the North American and Middle Eastern markets.
In addition, Liberty Media has completely changed the positioning of drivers, transforming them from simple racing athletes into personal IPs that combine the attributes of sports stars, fashion icons, and internet celebrities, encouraging drivers to participate in entertainment activities, brand endorsements, and social media operations.
In terms of management model, Liberty Media abolished autocratic decision-making and established a consultation mechanism that includes representatives from teams, tracks, and sponsors, thereby increasing the transparency of operations and the participation of all parties.
In conclusion, from the Bernie Ecclestone era to the era of free media, F1's transformation is essentially a successful transition from an elite sport to a mass entertainment IP, and also a transformation from the old European model to the American model.
"Oh right, you guys deliberately didn't participate in Netflix's off-site recording, right?" Zhou Guanyu asked.
DTS does more than just edit race footage; it also includes a lot of footage outside of the races, such as following the drivers throughout the race week and their post-race monologues in the dark room.
Tang Jingqing nodded: "We definitely won't participate. Who knows how an American production team that's used to using malicious editing to force dramatic conflict would portray a Chinese driver?"
DTS is known for using dramatic editing techniques to create dramatic conflicts that deviate from reality—in the first season, Verstappen and Ricardo were portrayed as mortal enemies, but in reality, their relationship wasn't nearly that bad; in the second season, Ocon and Perez were portrayed as arch-enemies, but in reality, they weren't a tragic couple; in the third season, Norris and Sainz were also portrayed as mortal enemies, but in reality, their relationship was quite close, and there were even rumors of them being overly intimate…
This led to DTS being unpopular with many teams and drivers. Verstappen, who was portrayed as a stupid and evil villain by DTS, was furious and enraged. In the fourth season, which was the new season in 22, he directly withdrew from DTS's off-track recording and only allowed DTS to use his race footage.
"That's true," Zhou Guanyu said. "But even if you don't participate in off-site recordings, you can't escape DTS's malicious editing. Look at Verstappen this season, he was still maliciously edited."
Even though Verstappen has completely withdrawn from DTS's off-field recordings, DTS still edited Verstappen into the main villain in this season, which focuses on the championship battle between Verstappen and Hamilton, while Hamilton was edited into the lone hero who fights against Verstappen.
Verstappen's villainous image even implicated Tontatta. Although DTS did not intentionally portray Tontatta, the mere fact that Tontatta played support for Verstappen automatically made him a villain in the eyes of some viewers.
However, Tancher's villainous image did not resonate as deeply as Verstappen's, and most viewers were simply amazed by Tancher's sudden emergence.
"We knew they would edit the footage maliciously, which is why we couldn't give them more editing material," Tang Jingqing said.
Teams and drivers are largely helpless against DTS's malicious editing, because it involves huge commercial interests.
Not to mention that the huge copyright fees paid by Netflix will go into F1's total revenue pool and be converted into team bonuses to a certain extent, the exposure that DTS brings to the teams will greatly enhance the commercial value of the teams and drivers!
In short, we've already given him so much money, so let him make up whatever he wants. He can't just throw away his money for his reputation!
Of course, many drivers don't want to be fabricated, such as Toncher and Verstappen, but drivers have to take care of the team's interests, so they can only withdraw from DTS's off-track recording and still let DTS use the race footage.
"I feel like Archer might have already secured his place as the villain on DTS next season," Zhou Guanyu said. "If Archer takes Perez's spot, DTS will definitely emphasize the rivalry between Archer and Perez, and they will absolutely portray Archer as the villain."
Tang Che made that player's signature move: "So what if I'm a villain? The world misjudged me yesterday, misjudged me today, and maybe misjudged me tomorrow, but I am still me, and I'm never afraid of being misjudged!"
Zhou Guanyu couldn't hold back: "It's too strong! No need for extra salt!"
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The time off is always too short, and then it's time to go back to work.
Tang Che and Tang Jingqing flew directly to the team headquarters.
This time, the work at headquarters was not routine. In addition to training and research and development, the team also arranged some publicity work for Tang Che.
For example, shoot a few fun videos similar to baking griddles.
In case you don't know what "Grill the Grid" means: "Grill the Grid" is a series of fun Q&A videos produced by F1, usually filmed on media day before a race.
This season, we've already filmed two episodes of "roasting grids" (a type of racing game). One episode was filmed during the media day before the Miami Grand Prix, showing the drivers' height ranking, and the other episode was filmed before the Monaco Grand Prix, showing how to guess the track from Turn 1.
Tang Che was involved in the filming, but it was rather unremarkable. If the content were written into a novel, readers would probably call it filler.
The Alfa Romeo team is prepared to make the video footage shot by Toncher just as uninteresting.
But taking photos for the team is different from taking photos for F1 officials.
When filming for F1 officials, Townter has no choice but to cooperate once he chooses to participate; he has no power to modify the script. When filming for teams, Townter can discuss things with the team's press officer.
Tanger: "Since I had a steering wheel malfunction in Monaco, let's connect it to some dramatic moments in F1 history related to steering wheels."
Press officer: "Kimi?"
Tang Che nodded.
The press officer became interested: "How would you like to collaborate?"
Tang Che's lips curled into a slanted hook.
That afternoon, the Alfa Romeo team's official account posted a mysterious short video:
As Alfa Romeo's engineers were pushing the No. 49 car out of the garage, Toncher yelled in the radio, "Get my gloves and steering wheel! Gloves! Mark, gloves! Steering wheel! Gloves and steering wheel, yeah!"
An engineer handed Tang Che a pair of gloves.
As Tang Che put on his gloves, he yelled into the TR, "Hey! Hey! Steering wheel! Somebody tell him to give it to me! Come on! Move!"
Another engineer handed the steering wheel to Tang Che.
Instead of installing the steering wheel directly, Tang Che asked in the TR, "Are you certain this steering wheel is undamaged?"
Finally, someone responded in TR: "It's guaranteed fully intact! If there's any damage, heads will roll."
The video quickly caused a sensation in the F1 community, with fans bursting into laughter and tagging the official account "Wofaguan" (a popular Chinese online forum).
I'm absolutely furious, my anger is burning, and I'm bursting with rage: How dare you?! (crossed out)
I was just kidding. I'm not ashamed of it and gladly forwarded it.
This repost was quite significant, with some media outlets interpreting it directly as a signal that Townche was about to transfer to Ferrari.
Rumors circulated that Tangche would replace Sainz's spot next season.
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Bonus Chapter: F1 Meme Guide - Love Guru
After the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix, when asked by reporters if he found the result unacceptable, Tontatta gave the following answer:
"You don't need to say that the championship you didn't win should have been yours; that's meaningless, even if it might have been yours in the past. It's like pursuing someone; if you didn't win them over, you didn't win them over. No matter how much you claim that you could have been together, that person could never be with you."
The content about love in this passage resonated with many car enthusiasts, and many even said that Tang Che's words had enlightened them.
Tang Che is therefore jokingly called a "love guru" by car enthusiasts.