15/07/2011
NEWS STORY
McLaren boss and FOTA chairman Martin Whitmarsh, believes F1 is at a crossroads and needs to fully grasp the digital age as it moves forward.
Whilst Bernie Ecclestone has taken the sport forward in leaps and bounds since the early 70 when he began his rise to prominence, the F1 supremo is a self-confessed dinosaur when it comes to the new technology of the digital age. Consequently, the sport lags behind its rivals much to the frustration of those involved and the fans. Ironic really when one considers that F1 is meant to be at the cutting edge of technology.
Speaking to the official F1 website, Whitmarsh has warned that the sport must do more... but unfortunately, for the fans, it will come at a price.
"Formula One is a world sport and it is data-rich," he said, "and in this digital arena we can populate this digital environment with much more data and information than tennis, soccer or any other sport, so I think it is a huge opportunity that we have.
"Sure there will still be people watching terrestrial television," he continued, "but for the generation below us that's not good enough any more. They want more information and they want to interact. They want to have communities going - and that's the challenge: to find ways to monetize this as Bernie has done with television. He made sure that the revenues for the sport were very high. You can't hold new developments back, so we need to bring in expertise that probably doesn't exist in Formula One today."
The reference to terrestrial television causes one to reflect on the speculation linking F1 to a buyout by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. The big four teams have made no secret of the fact that they have discussed the possibility.
"What became clear is that the teams want to work together," he said. "It's the first time in 60 years that the teams are working better together. Historically, the teams have fought each other, they fought with the FIA and FOM, so it was kind of a battlefield. What we are trying now is to collaborate in a manner that promotes partnership. There are new suitors, whatever, but we think we are better off working with the partners that we have.
"Bernie knows the sport and has done many great things for the sport, CVC are the owners, so we have got to be respectful," he continued. "But that doesn't mean that we always have to agree and doesn't mean that we will agree all the time, but I think it is better to find good and constructive ways of working together, rather than saying, 'Oh, here is someone new, whom we don't know, who wants to buy the sport so let's rush off in that direction'. In my view that would be the wrong thing to do. We all have flaws and weaknesses, but if we can work together that would be the best option.
"This is a fantastic sport. There are only two global sports: soccer and Formula One. And of course we can do better and we always should be open to embrace new technologies, opportunities and new challenges, but we are better off doing this with people we know - probably - than suddenly saying we must go off in a different direction."
Of course, News Corporation has been in the news recently, and not for its rumoured interest in F1. Asked if the ongoing phone hacking row which has embroiled the Murdoch empire might disqualify it, Whitmarsh replied: "Well, there are a number of issues with News Corp. There is a lot of concern over pay per view, which has been historically the Sky model and that is probably not suitable for Formula One.
"Yes, they've got a lot of challenges at the moment in the UK," he continued, a masterpiece of understatement, "but nevertheless we all know that News International and News Corp will be alive and powerful in the media in 12 months' time. They will move on, but there will be casualties, as they've closed down a newspaper, which none of us would have believed two weeks ago.
"It's a dynamic time. But News Corp is a 20 billion or whatever turnover news corporation, so I am sure they will remain a big player. But I don't think that Formula One needs to rush into their arms. I think we should be open-minded looking at what is in the best interests of the sport in the long term. There will always be controversies in and outside our sport so we have to be balanced and look at how we can promote, develop and sustain our sport."
Of course, it's the age old question, despite Ecclestone's increasing similarity to Montgomery Burns, the fact is the F1 supremo won't be around forever. So what happens when he goes to collect to pass for the great Paddock Club in the sky. No pun intended.
"Ha, there is a fear. Bernie is an enormously influential and powerful figure in the sport and I hope we will wake up for many years to come and Bernie is still there.
"I think that there is always danger in change, so the more we must work together. The sport has to change because none of us will be here in 20 years' time - or not most of us - so I think we owe it to the sport that we find a positive and good way to move forward.
"Media is much more complex these days," he continued. "If you take the young generation, they don't just watch television - they probably have the TV on, then they have probably something different running on their iPad or on their phone or laptop. We grew up with television and for a moment thought that email was cool - but kids don't email anymore. They are definitely on a much more advanced level than that. The power of these new media outlets is enormous, but how do you monetize that? Bernie's great trick has been monetizing the media exposure of Formula One and we all have to be grateful for how he commercially developed the sport, but today as I said it's a much more complex media environment. With fourth generation telecommunication systems, full television will be on phones soon and the phone can then Bluetooth to a monitor. So the question is how are you going to control that and how are you going to monetize it?"
Asked what he feels are the cornerstones for the sport as it moves forward, Whitmarsh put his McLaren hat back on.
"Firstly, McLaren through FOTA do a lot to try and sustain the sport. Ferrari and ourselves, I am sure, will be here in five years' time - even in 20 years' time - whilst probably other teams won't. Since McLaren started in Formula One 107 teams have failed, so we are very much aware that the teams have to survive.
"The sport has to be sustainable," he continued, "as Ferrari and ourselves can't just race each other - we need all these other teams so sustainability is an important issue. We had the tobacco era, then the automotive era, who were natural investors, and now we don't have enough of them. We have Renault half in, we've got Mercedes and Ferrari, but actually we need to create an environment of governance, of regulations, of stability and entertainment which convinces the Hondas, Toyotas and BMWs that it was wrong to pull out and I believe that in time we will get them back and probably can add the Volkswagen/Audis, the Hyundai's, whatever.
"We need to create an environment that pulls them in. We need to make sure that we maintain the show. In previous years the complaint was always that the show was no good, but I believe that in the last two years we've responded responsibly, and actually we have had some incredible races. I think now we have a great show - and that's good so we can tick the box there. Now we have to make sure that we are relevant and maybe the new V6 engines do that. We have to work together as there is a real threat to our business model, which is this whole new world of how people use entertainment and we have to be responsive to that and not to wait until our 'mark' is dying. We have to go out there and make it ours. I don't know personally how you are going to do that, but that's the challenge."