Latest F1 news in brief – Tuesday (Update)
02/07/17
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Unless they bring back screaming engines, F1 cannot be repopularized Liberty needs to 'repopulate' F1 – Ferrari
- 8,000 entries in Hamilton competition
- Kubica wants chance to drive F1 car again
- Stroll sure of progress with 'mentor' Massa
- BMW Says Return To Formula 1 Does Not 'Tally' With Long-Term Strategy
- Steiner: F1 could learn from NASCAR
- Mosley urges new owners to ax Ferrari bonus New
Liberty needs to 'repopulate' F1 – Ferrari
Ferrari chief Sergio Marchionne says new Formula 1 owner Liberty Media needs to "repopulate" the sport, and hopes the company sets out a clear plan for the future.
Liberty Media acquired Formula 1 last month, with Chase Carey, Ross Brawn and Sean Bratches installed as the new management triumvirate, in place of Bernie Ecclestone.
Marchionne believes Liberty needs to focus its attention on the entertainment side of the sport in order to attract fans, adding that Ferrari is willing to assist the process.
"What I do expect, to be honest, is the sport itself to do better in 2017," Marchionne commented during a Ferrari conference call.
"That'll be a great basis for us to continue our commitment to Formula 1 and to set the basis for a post-2020 world.
"I would expect Liberty and Chase, in particular, will have a very clear understanding of the fact the entertainment side of this needs to come back to play.
"We cannot keep committing to a sport that has decreasing audiences for a variety of reasons.
"We need to 'repopulate' the sport and make it more accessible, so that's work that needs to be done.
"We will do our part as the Scuderia to make sure that happens, but that work needs to get under way in earnest now."
Commercial chief Bratches recently set out a four-point plan to improve branding, digital aspects, partner relations and event experience.
8,000 entries in Hamilton competition
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| Lewis Hamilton |
Lewis Hamilton received over 8,000 entries in the competition to design his helmet for the upcoming Formula 1 season, the three-time World Champion has revealed.
Hamilton launched the competition just under a fortnight ago, asking fans to "evolve" his largely white design, which replaced his yellow scheme from the 2014 season.
"Wow, over 8,000… Thanks for Liberty needs to 'repopularize' F1 – Ferrari!! Some really great entries in there," wrote Hamilton on his Instagram account.
"As the competition's now closed I'm going to be looking through to see the design that I'd like to pick. There's quite a few entries to go through, so this might take some time.
"[I hope] to announce the winner in the next few days."
A full-size replica helmet will be presented to the winner.
Kubica wants chance to drive F1 car again
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| Robert Kubica in 2010 at Suzuka |
Robert Kubica says that he feels ready to drive a Formula 1 car again, six years on from a severe rallying accident which curtailed his career in the top echelon.
Kubica competed in Formula 1 between 2006 and 2010 but suffered serious arm injuries in a crash at the Ronde di Andora in 2011, while contracted to Renault.
With an F1 comeback ruled out, the Pole initially returned to action in rallying, taking the WRC2 title in 2013, though made several circuit racing appearances last year.
Kubica, now 32, has also driven in Formula 1 simulators since his crash, including Mercedes' set-up, and was offered a full test run, which he turned down at the time.
"Three years ago they offered me the chance to test a Formula 1 car, but at that moment I didn't have the confidence to do well," Kubica explained to Motorsport.com.
"I know that often some chances only come one time, but I always wanted to be sure about my condition and what I can do. If I was not sure, I always said to myself – forget it.
"My physical condition is not a common one, and few people have experienced similar circumstances. Everyone reacts in a different way, and that can be a very personal thing."
Asked if he would now accept an offer from a team to test F1 machinery, Kubica responded: "Yes. Today I would answer differently – I would like to try a Formula 1 car [again].
"It has been a while, so I would have to prove myself – but I think I could do it well.
"I would like to relive the thrill of the Formula 1 experience. I have tried many simulators, and I am convinced that I would drive at 80 per cent of the F1 tracks – but not all of them."
Kubica made clear, however, that a full F1 return would be a "totally different" challenge.
"In my last three seasons of Formula 1, I managed to achieve a remarkable performance level – a level I think I lack a little bit of now," added Kubica, who claimed a race win at BMW Sauber.
"In 2010 with Renault, I think I did nothing wrong – and to get to that level of performance you have to work hard for so many years. In rallying I missed this as everything was done too quickly."
Kubica is preparing to make a full-time racing return in 2017, tackling the World Endurance Championship's LMP1 class with ByKolles, including the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Stroll sure of progress with 'mentor' Massa
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| Lance Stroll |
Williams rookie Lance Stroll is confident that he will enjoy a positive relationship with team-mate and "mentor" Felipe Massa in Formula 1 this season.
Stroll joined Williams at the start of 2016 as its development driver and competed in European Formula 3, cruising to the title, before securing a Formula 1 race seat for 2017.
Stroll was set to partner Valtteri Bottas this year but Nico Rosberg's retirement opened a vacancy at Mercedes, which was ultimately filled by the Finn.
Massa was drafted from his short-lived Formula 1 retirement to partner Stroll this year, and the Canadian youngster reckons the pair will develop a strong relationship.
"I'm really looking forward to Felipe being a mentor," said Stroll, 18.
"For me, of course, we're competitors and we want to beat each other, but at the same time I think he has a lot of respect as a driver, he's well-respected throughout the paddock.
"He's a nice guy, a team player, and that's really all you ask for being at a team.
"You want someone that's a team player and will help the team go forward and not create a problem on both sides of the garage.
"It's really important to have two drivers that want to push the team in the right direction rather than fight.
"It's good to have that competitiveness in the team and the urge to want to beat the driver next to you, but at the same time we'll respect each other and [we] want the best for the team."
BMW Says Return To Formula 1 Does Not 'Tally' With Long-Term Strategy
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| 2009 BMW powered Sauber F1 car |
BMW has "no plans to return to Formula 1 as such a move does not tally with its long-term strategy," according to Lawrence Barretto of MOTORSPORT.
The German manufacturer last raced in F1 from '00 until the end of '09, "when it pulled out against the backdrop of the worldwide financial crisis."
With Liberty Media taking over as F1's new owner, "there is a feeling a boost in the championship's popularity could entice more manufacturers."
BMW said, "When we decided to pull out of Formula 1 in 2009 it was a long-term strategic decision of the company. We wanted to put some of the F1 resources into the research and development of alternative powertrain solutions — and so BMW did. … We are watching the developments in the world of motorsport, but currently we have no plans to re-enter Formula 1."
BMW currently runs programs in the DTM and GT racing, "which will include a return to Le Mans in the GTE category" in '18.
It is "also a technical partner to the Andretti team in Formula E, and is evaluating a full-entry in the electric-vehicle series" for the '18-19 season. MOTORSPORT
Steiner: F1 could learn from NASCAR
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| Anti-American driver Guenther Steiner |
Formula 1 is the global standard in motorsports, but Guenther Steiner believes it could learn from NASCAR when it comes to cutting costs.
The Italian is the current team principal of Haas F1, but he has also spent time in charge of the Red Bull Racing NASCAR Cup Series squad, so he has witnessed the spending strategies of both entities.
He believes F1 under the leadership of Liberty Media could take a suggestion or two from NASCAR moving forward. The FIA imposes a two-week summer break where teams are not permitted to work on their cars, but that’s more for health and sanity than anything else.
"I think the cost saving has not really worked in F1 because they keep on going up and up," Steiner said last week during a press event at the team shop in Huntersville, North Carolina. "I think the two-week summer shutdown was a little more for the people, but it was more of a sweetener when they increased the races. They said when they went from I think it was 16 to 18 races, ‘we need to impose a break,’ otherwise people will never get off and people will just not want to do that job anymore, or they’ll ask for too much money to do it."
That said, Steiner would be open to the idea of NASCAR teams receiving similar sanction-imposed breaks. This is especially true in the aftermath of Carl Edwards retiring last month and citing the grind of the NASCAR schedule.
Even Denny Hamlin has been a proponent of giving teams and drivers more time off.
"I don’t think NASCAR can learn a lot of cost capping from F1 because, at the moment, we’re not good at it, so they shouldn't," Steiner said. "I think it could be the opposite, that F1 could learn from NASCAR.
"But I think with the shutdown, to have something similar in NASCAR would be possible with the schedule they’ve got, and I think where NASCAR is very clever is how they arrange travel. They’re away from home as little as possible. It’s also easier because you’re running in one nation; you’re not running all around the world. You’re not having 16-hour flights to go to somewhere. It helps a little bit there, but the two-week holiday, I think the NASCAR guys wouldn’t mind having them." AutoWeek
Mosley urges new owners to ax Ferrari bonus
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| Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley |
Max Mosley has urged Liberty Media to cut Ferrari's automatic $100 million bonus "immediately" as it is "very unfair" to the rest of the teams.
Having control of the sport earlier this year, Liberty chief executive Greg Maffei warned Ferrari, Formula 1's oldest team, that they could lose the $100 million that they are paid annually just for turning up.
"If you're Ferrari, you have enormous sponsorship revenue that goes directly to you," Maffei told Forbes. "That's going to be impacted more positively by great races.
"So thinking about balancing the team payments, so they're a little more balanced and creates more fairness, has to be weighed, in Ferrari's mind, I would expect, by the fact that creating a great platform helps our sponsorship revenue, too, so there's give-and-take."
This is a sentiment that former FIA president Mosley agrees with.
The Brit, a staunch advocate for budget caps, likened Ferrari's heritage bonus to the Scuderia being permitted to run a bigger engine than the rest of the field.
Mosley told Sky Sports F1 of the threat to cut Ferrari's bonus payment: "If it would me, I'd do it immediately.
"The thing is Ferrari are always going to get more sponsorship than the other teams, so to give them the same money from the money you have control of, which is the FOM [Formula One Management] money, it's completely fair and then they get extra money because they are famous and because they have sponsorship.
"But the fundamental problem is if you've got three times as much money as me you may as well have a bigger engine, you've got a huge advantage. That plays out in inequality between the cars and the drivers.
"So I'd rather see something where everybody had the same money to spend and the cleverest engineer would make the best car and the best driver would drive better than the other drivers.
"But you're never going to make it work where you've got two or three teams with far more money than the rest. Apart from anything else, it's very unfair." PlanetF1