Former McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh fears Formula 1 could “crash and burn” due to the current situation, before finally recovering.
The Briton was ousted from McLaren by chairman Ron Dennis in January 2014 when the team hit a tough spell which saw it suffer one of its worst season in the sport.
When asked about McLaren’s current predicament, which sees the team having scored just four points as it struggles with new engine partner Honda, as well as the overall state of the sport, Whitmarsh said he feared it would collapse if it doesn’t diversify.
“I love Formula 1 and I love McLaren. I was there 25 years. I am saddened by it,” Whitmarsh told Reuters.
“I am staying away as much as I can, and try not to comment on it, but I’m saddened by what’s happening in the sport,” the 57-year-old, who now heads up Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup team, added.
“I think it [F1] will crash and burn before it gets turned around, in my view. It will [recover] eventually but I’m sad to see it go through the process it’s going through.”
Whitmarsh says it’s not unusual for F1 to go through phases, but do to so successfully it must adapt.
“If you look at the cycle…you had the sport as it was 30 years ago, then the tobacco era which was the big growth spurt and the automotive era when we had at one time seven of the nine largest automotive companies.
“Then that went away with the economic crisis and it’s diversified but in order to diversify it also has to recognise, which it’s struggling with, that it has to be doing it at a slightly different level.”
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