Whitmarsh Lobbies for More F1 Spectacle

McLaren's soon-to-be-team-principal Martin Whitmarsh has already started to take his upcoming job seriously. The Englishman revealed that he is very pleased with the direction on which things are going in Formula 1 – thanks to FOTA, of course – but insisted that the sport needs to be more spectacular in order to attract more fans in the near future.

While admitting the last two seasons have certainly brought some excitement into the sport, Whitmarsh argued that the teams have plenty of work ahead of them in order to improve F1's popularity. However, the changes brought to the racing format or anything like that would have to be introduced gradually, to avoid confusion within the fans.

“There has been a lot achieved so far, but we've now got to look at how we can improve the spectacle of the sport, and make sure that we are making the decisions in a considered way and make sure we are basing it on research. I think everyone's got a very open mind about the future. I don't think we should rush into a whole range of changes because it is something new to report.” said Whitmarsh.

“There are a number of different surveys that have been interesting, but the teams themselves are funding market research looking at race format, qualifying format, what's important, and what are the cardinal points of Formula One that we need to make sure we retain.”

“The reality is in the last two seasons we had a very exiting climax but I think fundamentally F1 is a fantastic sport and a great spectacle and we've got to make sure we make it better for the fans that watch it,” added Whitmarsh, who will be taking over as McLaren team principal from Ron Dennis as early as March 1st.

There were a number of proposals in terms of racing formats to be discussed by the FOTA last December including money prizes for practice session winners, reverse grid, the introduction of a new medal system (proposal issued by Bernie Ecclestone) or point awards for pole winners.