1) Is F1 missing a trick?
No other sport has lifted its bonnet more over the past few years to reveal – and build revenue streams around – its inner workings, but reading up on the heavy-handed security measures to keep fans and journalists from glimpsing any action during this week’s first ‘shakedown’ test of the all-new 2026 cars in Barcelona feels like a misstep. Yes, the teams are keen to conduct their early business behind closed doors, as they get to grips with the sweeping technical rule changes, but limiting access and coverage of the test ahead of one of the most anticipated seasons in years feels like trying to put the genie back in the bottle, after several years of blanket live coverage (hours and hours of live testing is, by most measures, not great TV, but it does draw an audience, so much so that F1 has sold title sponsorship of the two upcoming test weeks in Bahrain to Aramco). F1 cars shouldn’t be bulletproof; showing or reporting on them breaking down every so often isn’t a show of the sport’s weakness, it’s a chance to tell a story of the teams’ remarkable ability to solve problems – at pace. This week, that chance is being missed.
2) How many applications are too many applications?
Stat of the week from Graeme Lowdon, team principal of the brand-new Cadillac F1 team, which has advertised 595 positions over the last few months and has received (and acknowledged) 143,265 applications – well done that HR team, led by Chief People Officer Zoe Mills.
3) What are four things I need to know about Saudi Arabia this week to sound clued up in my morning meeting?
a) Reports, led by good work from the Financial Times, at the weekend suggest that the brakes are being applied to the vast mega-city Neom project, in particular suggestions that the centrepiece project, The Line, will be redesigned amid concerns over delays and cost. An adapted plan now appears to involve focusing on using at least some of the vast expanse of land as a hub for data centres, to court the interest of the various AI giants.
b) As the Neom project is adapted and scaled back, the 2029 Asian Winter Games, due to be staged at the planned Trojena resort within Neom, has become a casualty. The Games, which to state the obvious would have taken place entirely on artificial snow, have been postponed indefinitely.
c) The Kingdom’s new property laws, opening up the ways in which foreign individuals and businesses can acquire real estate in Saudi Arabia, are worth examining for anyone in the industry planning to open an office or move for work.
d) A Bloomberg report says PIF and the Ministry of Investment is encouraging wealthy Saudi families to help contribute and collaborate on projects ‘and partner more readily with foreigners eyeing investments in Saudi Arabia’.
4) Did we miss the obvious candidate?
Back in July, when Andy Anson announced he’d be leaving his role as CEO of the British Olympic Association we mused about the challenge facing his successor – leading British athletes to upcoming Games in the USA, France and Australia, potential involvement in any future British bid for the 2040 Olympics but also the not insignificant challenge of selling the Olympic dream in a crowded market and overseeing a host of national governing bodies, big and small, under sizeable pressure to build profile and find new streams of revenue – and we wondered if there’d be any takers. There were of course: CEO of the BOA is one of the prize jobs in all of British sport, and perhaps we missed the obvious candidate. On Monday, Jon Dutton, CEO of British Cycling, was named as Anson’s full-time replacement, bringing to an end a widely credited stint in cycling, where he’s married continued medal success with a restructuring and the recent formation of the British Cycling Ventures commercial arm, setting up the NGB for potential third party investment. He’ll begin at the BOA midway through the year – and for anyone keen to understand a bit more about how he approaches his work, the podcast we recorded with him in early 2024 gives a good guide. And with Dutton moving on, there’s an opening now at British Cycling to run what, under Dutton’s stewardship, has evolved into perhaps the most forward-thinking of British Olympic sports.
5) What’s getting the pulses racing at the AO?
It’s a tale as old as time (an unspecified period of time, just in case we don’t own those rights) that has bubbled up in the heat of Melbourne this week. Several top players at the Australian Open have been instructed to remove their Whoop wearables, drawing the ire of Whoop itself and opening up a discussion about who precisely owns that data - the player generating it, the device collecting it, or the tournament where the data is being produced. Perhaps the real answer is whoever can find a way to commercialise it first and fastest. A group of players, including Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka, use the devices week-to-week on tour to monitor their own personal performance for later review. The ATP and WTA allow an approved set of wearables during their tournaments; the Grand Slams – for the moment at least – do not. The Australian Open would reportedly be open to a rule change, but requires collective agreement for a change with the other three Slams. The Whoop view: ‘Blocking access to personal health data does not protect sport.’
6) What’s your Heated Rivalry?
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman claims to have binge-watched the whole series of the HBO Max hockey romance in one night, and he has reason to be taking it seriously if SeatGeek are to be believed. Even accounting for some savvy PR seizing of the moment, data showing that NHL ticket sales spiked by 24% in the week the season finale was first broadcast in December, with average ticket prices also rising by 36%, an indication of demand, seems too coincidental to ignore. A curious case of the casual fan needle genuinely being moved. File this one alongside Ted Lasso and The Queen’s Gambit, as examples of sports industry serendipity (and maybe contrast it with the swathe of in-house dramas and documentaries sanctioned and signed off by teams and leagues, which bear the official stamp but more often than not fail to make a genuine punch in popular culture).
7) Do you believe in the power of horse?
My astrologer tells me it’s the year of the Fire Horse (a dynamic, energetic, and opportunity-filled year for movement, career growth, and breaking new ground, though it brings intense energy, requiring focused action for positive results, with potential for both great progress and volatility - so a bit of a mixed bag, all in all). I can imagine several of those words making it into the pitchdeck for Equine Network, in which CVC’s Global Sport Group has acquired a controlling interest – James Mortimer has some comprehensive analysis of the rationale here, but, top-line, Tom Winsor, Equine Network’s founder has built a $2.5 billion horse-based enterprise, including a host of competitions. Other horse news: Former FEI chief Ralph Strauss has joined Abu Dhabi’s Al Khail Square, a new lifestyle, sport and community resort within Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club, as Chief Commercial Officer.
