23/01/2015
NEWS STORY
New Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene wants the sport to put on more of a show... and that includes the sound.
Considering the Maranello outfit has had more changes of team principal in the last year than your average bottom of the table football team, one might have thought that new boy Maurizio Arrivabene would be taking a low profile approach, or simply concentrating on the (not so minor) task of turning the team's fortunes around.
Instead however, he is following in the footsteps of former company president, Luca di Montezemolo, in calling for a radical rethink in terms of how the sport sells itself to fans. Then again, with his background in marketing, courtesy of his time with (Marlboro manufacturer) Philip Morris, and his long association with the sport, perhaps he is someone the powers-that-be should be listening to.
"Formula One needs to be more spectacular," he told the team website, reacting to similar comments made by Niki Lauda. "I believe that the risk he evokes of the sport losing fans is something that has unfortunately already happened.
"By 2017, I too would like to see cars that win over the fans, with cars that they can get closer to and that are aesthetically more appealing, maybe even producing a noise that gets your hair standing on end, like that produced by a heavy metal band. That was what it was like back in the day when Niki was racing and I was an enthusiastic fan, clutching my general admission ticket.
"However, I don't think a simple evolution is enough in this case," he admitted. "Instead, a real revolution is called for, with significant and radical changes. By that I mean more power, higher speeds, not necessarily involving the use of more fuel, but definitely applying a cost reduction to those components that are of little interest to the general public.
"Being closer to the people actually involves taking F1 to the people, possibly holding the Thursday driver press conferences and team presentations of a Grand Prix weekend, outside the circuit in a public area. That way, the cities that host the races could provide the arena for a presentation of the drivers and cars, in a properly managed event.
"I have long felt that the real competition to F1 today, in the sense of it being a show, comes from a variety of forms of entertainment, not least from the internet, including racing video games. It is up to us to provide something better and to download a new format for Formula 1 as soon as possible. How likely are we to do it? I know it wouldn't be the usual way of going about things, but a global survey on the internet and via the TV companies would give us a real idea of what people want. In fact, even in this area of sport as entertainment, we should follow the trend of demand driving what's on offer."
Discuss.
Chris Balfe