Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes Liberty media must not “mess” with Formula 1, and urges any potential changes to be carefully analysed before being implemented.
Liberty Media announced on Monday that it had acquired Formula 1, installing Chase Carey as CEO, with Ross Brawn and Sean Bratches appointed managing directors of the sporting and commercial side respectively.
Brawn and Bratches have already laid out early plans for the sport’s future, but Wolff has warned that the corporation should not rush into any changes without them being properly assessed.
“I think we need to acknowledge that Formula 1 is a technical sport, so it will always polarise,” Wolff said during an interview published on Mercedes’ website.
“There are people who will say that they hate it and others will say that they love it. That is okay.
“But one thing is for sure – we shouldn’t make it a beta test. We shouldn’t mess with our loyal fans and our audiences by implementing rules and regulations that we haven’t assessed properly.
“We should use data in a scientific approach and see what works in other sports and other entertainment platforms, then combine that with the great strengths and assets of Formula 1.”
Wolff also reiterated that Formula 1 audiences are still “pretty strong,” considering the changing nature of the entertainment landscape.
“Considering that we as a team have been doing pretty well during the last seasons, audiences have developed in a very positive way,” he said.
“The last couple of races we had record-breaking audiences in some markets in terms of TV spectators. There has been a lot of talk about F1 not doing well.
“Actually, we have been doing pretty well considering that the market has changed tremendously. I doubt that younger generations switch on a traditional TV at two o’clock on a Sunday afternoon.
“They expect to watch it on a mobile device or via social media. Nevertheless, our audiences are pretty strong.
“We mustn’t talk the sport down, as it is not broken. There are ways to optimise it and there are areas which are blind spots in which we haven’t done a lot of work – for example the digital environment and social media. But we need to understand them.”
