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I'm a massive fan of George Lucas as a person. I grew up with the Star Wars prequels, and I like that, despite being a gazillionaire, he's still rocking the same flannels he always has.
The legendary filmmaker — fresh off a great cameo in the movie "Minions and Monsters" — is a big racing fan, and is often seen at Formula 1 races.
He also binned a Scion during the old Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race at Long Beach in one of my favorite videos ever.
So he knows racing — hell, he invented podracing — but F1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali revealed a wild bit of advice he got from the man who somehow invented both Darth Vader and Jar-Jar Binks: no one is interested in how F1 cars are driven.
I don't think that's true, but let's hear him out.
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The series has faced a lot of flak for its current cars that rely more heavily on battery power and have effectively changed how drivers have to drive. Certain iconic corners are no longer taken flat out, and the need to recharge batteries has led to people calling the racing artificial.
It has also led to claims that F1 should offer more info about the batteries and their state of charge for fans to follow along.
"I think that the truth is exactly the other way around, because no one is interested in how you drive your car," Domenicali said, per Motorsport. "The people are interested in whether you are overtaking or not. That's the vast majority of people."
He noted that while some people are interested in this sort of thing, casual fans aren't.
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Then he delivered one of the greatest name drops I've ever read.
"I had an interesting discussion with George Lucas in Hungary, and he was giving me an incredible view on how the new fans are watching F1," Domenicali said. "And I think that he gave us an incredible clearance to see how we can really simplify things because the new fans are not understanding the truth, what is behind the scenes."
I think new fans appreciate the sport more once they get a firmer grasp on the behind-the-scenes stuff, but it's interesting Lucas made this point because it sounds to me like he's saying what's most important is providing an entertaining product.
He knows quite a bit about that. Hell, he just opened a massive museum devoted to the medium of storytelling.
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And, if you think about it, every race is one big story, and it makes sense that F1 would want that at the forefront for newer fans.
But, if you're already in the door, there's always room to nerd out on the strategies and tech and science behind the sport, just like if you're a fan of a movie, you can geek out on the plot devices and the structure and even what pen or script software the person who wrote it used.
It's an interesting thing to think about... and even more fun because it seems to have sprung from the flannel-shirted mind of one George Lucas.
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