Montezemolo calls for changes following drop in ticket sales

“No more boring grand prix and polemics,” Luca di Montezemolo stated at this weeks Frankfurt motorshow.   


I’d be interested to hear all his ideas for achieving this. It is natural in racing that there will always be a lacklustre race or two during a season. It is unavoidable. It would be impossible to prevent it without making Formula One more corrupt than it is currently looking. 


Rules that allow for racing would be a start. The current rules have money saving in mind and unfortunately this prevents a lot of racing. Teams and drivers are conscious of conserving their engines and tyres, rather than focussing on full throttle racing. I think teams should be responsible for their own budgets, and if they want to spend on new engines for each race then let them. I don’t see why the FIA should dictate this to them. 


“We need the possibility for top teams to field a third car for famous or young drivers. The future of F1 won’t be about small teams who don’t raise enthusiasm,” Luca went on to say .  


I don’t think F1 would have a future if it adopted these ideas. The top teams running three cars? Talk about greedy and unfair. All teams start somewhere, and this years small teams could be the big teams of the future. I think fans should be encouraged to support smaller teams. Force India suddenly progressing has been great to watch, why should these teams be pushed out the way so the big boys can have three cars each? 
I don’t think it would increase the excitement either. Can you imagine if the podium was a McLaren or Ferrari 1-2-3? How about a situation where all three drivers in the same team are fighting for the title? Hardly nail biting. The smaller teams just wouldn’t survive, as three cars at Ferrari and McLaren would mean they would get all the constructors points, and take up the majority of the top ten in the drivers title race. The smaller teams would then get hardly any revenue at the end of the championship.  


I do agree with Montezemolo on the testing ban, the Ferrari president stated, “We must think of testing. We are the only sport than doesn’t train.” 


I feel quite strongly about this. Testing brings the sport to the fans a bit more. Many circuits allow fans to watch testing sessions, at a much cheaper price than watching a grand prix. It gives the opportunity to see your favourite drivers testing and sometimes gives the chance to get an autograph. It makes the sport much more accessible. Not only this, it gives us something to talk about in between races, keeping Formula One in the press for the correct reasons!   


Luca called for these changes to the sport following the 16% drop in ticket sales at last weekends Monza Grand Prix.  Even if some of these changes are implemented, I think it will be a while before fans trust Formula One again and before ticket sales increase. Following the Renault ’crashgate’ many fans will be questioning every win and wondering if it was genuine, or the result of a pre-determined plan.