Luca di Montezemolo has reiterated his comments that Formula 1 must try and focus its attention on what the public want, and he believes changing the way F1 is run is the way to achieve that.
The Ferrari president, whilst a close ally of Bernie Ecclestone, has often criticised the way the 83-year-old runs the business and is pushing for change when Ecclestone finally retires or is removed.
“I am tired [of going] to races in nowhere where there is no public,” said the Italian. “What kind of relationship do we have with the public?
“For some years we have talked about new technology, and what we can do to improve the show, but there is no question the young boys love cars and F1 less.
“One of the reasons, but not the only one, is that the races are becoming too complicated to follow. We have to work with the media, television, radio, written press and the internet to find out what is the right way.”
Ecclestone ensures the sports commercial rights are tightly controlled, with video footage often swiftly removed from sites such as YouTube. That’s unlike other sports which often encourage users to upload footage or run their own channel.
Di Montezemolo believes Ecclestone’s approach is too conservative and says the sport needs to be run by a group, rather than a single person.
“While Bernie is here, Bernie knows. He is intelligent, but sometimes he is too conservative. But he is Bernie, and I will never accept that instead of Bernie we find one man, Luca di Montezemolo, or someone else.
“I think after Bernie, who is unique, it is necessary to approach a different governance for the sport. Bernie is Bernie, with a lot of pluses and even some minuses as all of us.
“We have to create a group of governance where you have a CEO and then one in charge of motor racing, but motor racing does not mean rules, it means a lot of different voices.”
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