Chasing perfection: Interview with Mexican GP's Rodrigo Sanchez

Mexico broke a 23-year Formula 1 drought when it returned to Mexico City last year. A fast track, a huge turnout and great organization helped the event to become an immediate favorite among fans and in the paddock. That's the dream outcome for any new or returning event, but it also means that expectations have been set sky-high for this year's race. RACER.com spoke to Mexican Grand Prix director of marketing Rodrigo Sanchez about what was learned from 2015, and how 2016 can be even better.

Q: Niki Lauda said that last year's Mexican Grand Prix was the best event he had ever seen, and should be a benchmark for other events. Obviously that must have been very gratifying, but how did you assess the event?

RODRIGO SANCHEZ: For us, it's just a huge compliment to see how years of effort and planning came out. Hearing all of these comments was just astonishing, and very refreshing, in a way. All this effort and all of this work that we did wasn't in vain. So it's a good thing.

And it obviously sets a benchmark for this year, so we have taken that into account. We started planning for this year's Grand Prix on the Monday after the 2015 race, so we have been well into the process of planning, and now we are moving into the execution phase. We're planning on hosting a great event and a huge F1ESTA that can only be seen in Mexico. We're looking forward to receiving the world again in Mexico, and showing the world what Mexico is capable of doing.

Q: What did you learn from the first year?

RS: The main thing we took from it was, how important people's passion is to an event. We've seen many events throughout the world championship where the levels of energy and the levels of passion that the fans carry definitely set the event up for a different mood. We had the drivers saying that they could hear people cheering as they went through the baseball stadium, which they thought was really impressive. And that is very much a learning point for us when we are trying to plan and organize an event so that the fans are happy and comfortable and in the right setting for them to show that huge passion that they have for Formula 1. That's what makes the event a success.

Q: You had a huge crowd last year. Many of those people might have gone along because it was the first Mexican Grand Prix for many years, and they were curious and wanted to have a new experience. So how do you keep those people coming back year after year?

RS: There are different ways. One of them is, through our marketing efforts, to try to keep educating people about Formula 1; keep educating people about what all the different types of stuff they can see within a Formula 1 race. In a sense it's a motorsport event, but the truth is that there are just so many legs to the event, where a fan can come and experience the event in their own personal way.

A lot of what we've done from last year to this year was creating our four 'experience profiles'. Basically, we created these four profiles so that we can categorize each of our grandstands under a specific category. And the categories are descriptive of the basic experience that someone would have in each of these grandstands. Our four different profiles are Speed Lovers, Euphoric Fans, True Racers, and VIP Party Racers.

The thing we've encountered is, if you've never been to the Mexican Grand Prix, and you call a friend who has been to the race before, you're looking to find out where the best seat is. That's what everyone tends to ask – what's the best area, where are the best seats, which is the best grandstand. But it's actually very subjective, because you may have different criteria for what you think the best seat is to your friend's. We found out that these mouth-to-mouth recommendations don't really work, because it's really a personal decision; a personal choice.

So what we did is, we categorized each of our grandstands with these names and descriptions so that people can really understand the type of experience that is associated with each of the products, and therefore they can make a more appropriate choice when selecting their seats.

So for example, Speed Lovers: we have two areas on the track where the cars are really maxing out on speed. Some people are really looking forward to seeing these cars at their top speeds, so we have certain grandstands located around the circuit that are perfect for watching this. Hence, those 'Speed Lovers' grandstand tickets are ideal for people who love true speed and excitement.

On the other hand, the VIP Party Racers section is for fans of the social scene. They'll have a unique view of the main straight and pits - the most exclusive areas to fully enjoy the F1ESTA. This category is more for the people who are looking forward to a nice social environment, enjoying a drink, networking, meeting new people, being amongst celebrities.

We're trying to clearly identify the different experience that people would get in each of our grandstands so that people can choose what fits for them.

Q: What sort of reaction to the experience profiles have you seen from fans?

RS: It's funny, because in social media we immediately started to see people commenting when they bought tickets, saying, 'I got my tickets, I'm a Speed Lover'. So people are starting to identify themselves with their profile. I think that's a good indicator, and it has helped people to understand the layout of the track, and the different grandstands, and the different types of experience.

Communication is essential to setting expectations. When people go to something and have an expectation, and the experience matches that expectation, it tends to go well. But if they were expecting something and we deliver something different, that's where there might be issues. So this is the start of building a stronger foundation and having people return to the event year after year.

Q: Do you have any information about the economic impact of last year's race?

RS: Yes. After the 2015 event, we did a whole economic impact report showing the aftermath of Formula 1 on Mexico. And our finding was actually really good. The total economic impact was around USD $800 million for the first event. We created over 13500 jobs in the region, and they generated $82.6 million in salaries that we contributed. In lodgings, we had an increase of $19 million in hotel nights over the same weekend the previous year, and a positive tourist activity of $14.5 million, not counting the hotel nights or tickets for the event. So, $14.5 million that was spent that week in the city in bars, shops, restaurants, all that stuff. The event received more than 11,000 media clippings published around the world, and the total attendance was 336,174 people for the three days.

Q: Do you know how many came from the U.S.?

RS: We're still trying to break the data up into different regions, but the U.S. is our biggest market outside of Mexico. A lot of people in the U.S. travel to Mexico on a purely tourist basis. Mexico has some of the most amazing beaches in the world; it has a lot of great tourist destinations. So for Americans looking to watch Formula 1, it's a great argument to say, 'hey, I can go to Mexico City for a couple of days, watch the race, and then go and spend the next week in Cancun'. That definitely works in our favor and it's something we're trying to promote – there is so much going on outside of the race. We have a campaign with the tourism board of Mexico that is, 'Go beyond the race'. The concept is you can come, watch the race, and then there is so much stuff outside the race that you can do in Mexico from a tourist standpoint.

We're four months from the race, and we want to invite our neighbors from the U.S. to come and experience the Mexican Grand Prix. We know how to put on a good F1ESTA.

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