Latest F1 news in brief

Will F1 try to steal Long Beach back from IndyCar?

Brown envisions more USA races
Ferrari monitoring Formula E – not ruling out involvement
Alex Zanardi calls today's F1 'boring'
Mosley: Liberty should have kept Ecclestone on

Brown envisions more USA races
McLaren executive director Zak Brown says Formula 1 will not "become an American sport overnight", but insists the US needs to host more grands prix.

Brown is convinced that there's ample opportunity for F1 to expand in North America, especially now that Liberty Media is bringing its local knowledge to the table.

He cautioned, however, that the sport needs to look elsewhere as well.

"We need another US race," Brown told Motorsport.com. "Austin has done an outstanding job, it's great that Haas is there, and it will certainly be great to get a front-line American driver in time.

"And it's going to be beneficial that Liberty knows the US market place so well.

"But I think there's a balance. No one thinks this is going to become an American sport overnight. It is just one territory, but a really important one that I think as much room for growth as any territory in the world.

"It loves motorsports and it loves sports, whereas some of these new territories we're going into, we're having to develop sports.

"We just need to get the American public more exposed to our sport, and no doubt they'll fall in love with it, just like pretty much every market that we go to," he added.

McLaren recently announced the hiring of marketing executive Ben Priest, who has specific responsibility for finding new partners for the Woking team in the Americas.

"We are a global championship," Brown added. "And while we continue to go to new and emerging markets, which is great, at the end of the day North America is the wealthiest and largest sports market.

"We've got so much room for growth there. So while we should continue to expand and look at new and exciting territories, we've got to become bigger in North America.

"There are so many people there, there's so much television, and there's so much economics there. It's such a great sports market. I think F1 can be huge there over time."

Ferrari monitoring Formula E – not ruling out involvement

Sergio Marchionne recognizes that silent racing is not exciting

Sergio Marchionne says he is attentive to Formula E's development although the Ferrari CEO is ruling any involvement in the near future.
The burgeoning International FIA series launched in 2014 is slowly but surely attracting manufacture interest.

Renault is officially involved with Alain Prost and Jean-Paul Driot's eDams outfit, while Jaguar also entered the fray this season.

Audi and BMW are scheduled to send electrified works efforts next season and Mercedes has secured an option to take part in 2020.

Ferrari's Marchionne is therefore keeping an eye on the series but has yet to be convinced by its relevancy.

"The Formula E arrangement now, as much as I think it's tough to make technology relevant on the track, is still substantially short to what I would expect to have," he said on a conference call with investors.

"I mean the fact that you have to change cars during the race is unhelpful simply because of the duration of the battery charges.

"And I think we need to find a better way of expressing the interest in electrification and Formula E. Having said this, we continue to look at it.

"And I think I've not given up on the idea of potentially one day entering — if the parameters are such that Ferrari can effectively make a difference. If it cannot make a difference then it should not take part."

Alex Zanardi calls today's F1 'boring'

Alex Zanardi

Formula 1 must loosen the reins on drivers if it wants to improve its on-track product.

That's the view of former driver Alex Zanardi, who said restrictive rules and over-zealous stewards are damaging the sport.

"Formula 1 today? A bit too boring," the 50-year-old Italian paralympic champion told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "Now it is stewards who have delusions of being the stars.

"Everyone remembers me for the (Indy-car) pass I made on the limit at the corkscrew at Laguna Seca in 1996," said Zanardi. "But today, such a move would be impossible (in F1). It would be immediately punished by the race director."

"The rules have changed and so have the cars," he added. "In the '90s, the tires and the power really put on display the ability of the drivers."
In contrast, he says that while today there are "many talented performers" in Formula 1, "those of my generation were real artists of the steering wheel."

"But today they are punished so severely for overtaking or driving even vaguely riskily," said Zanardi. "(It's) making the drivers afraid of penalties and having the will to risk something.

"The show suffers as a result," he added.

Mosley: Liberty should have kept Ecclestone on

Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley

Former FIA president Max Mosley says Liberty Media may regret not retaining Bernie Ecclestone as the sport's CEO, adding that for "someone new to come in without all the personal relationships may be difficult".

Ecclestone was axed as F1 boss two weeks ago after Liberty completed its takeover of the sport with new F1 Chairman Chase Carey adding the role of Chief Executive Officer. Ecclestone, who has since confirmed he will attend some F1 races this season, now becomes 'Chairman Emeritus', although what that role will entail is currently unknown.

"I think it may be quite difficult (for Liberty Media)," Mosley told ITV News at F1's annual Zoom charity auction on Friday. "I think what he (Ecclestone) was brilliant at was dealing with the promoters and the organisers and the whole structure of the championship. For somebody new to come in without all the personal relationships it may be difficult.

"If it had been me I'd have kept him on doing the things that he's demonstrably very good at and concentrated my efforts on doing the things that up to now have not been done, like interactive television, virtual reality, social media, the internet and all the rest of it.

"All of that's been slightly neglected in Formula 1 and that's the sort of thing that Liberty will probably be very good at."

Meanwhile, Mosley added that Ecclestone's biggest legacy will be Formula One itself and the way he turned it into such a global sport, ranked up there with the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics.

"In a way Formula 1 is his legacy. People tend to forget that probably the potential in the World Rally Championship is, and always has been, greater than Formula 1. Arguably also long distance racing like Le Mans. But Bernie came into Formula 1, and it was big when he came in, and he's made it so much bigger," Mosley continued.

"When I was FIA president I kept thinking why can't we have another Bernie to do the rallies, to do the long distance and there just wasn't one. All of those different aspects of the sport could be built into just as big a business as Formula 1." crash.net