Renault boss Flavio Briatore thinks the Formula 1 world championship, which moves this weekend to Belgium, is “distorted” by the absence of a homogeneous set of rules.
His dream is to see the top category of motor sport put on a better show — with racing above politics.
“Some had the [energy recovery and boost system] KERS, others didn’t. Some had the diffuser and others didn’t. That is why this championship is a bit chaotic, distorted by all these things,” Briatore said in an interview.
While the Renault Formula 1 team is putting on a lackluster performance for the third season in a row, Brawn GP is making the most of the initial advantage it got from the controversial diffuser.
With seven wins in 11 races, its drivers — Britain’s Jenson Button and Brazil’s Rubens Barrichello — are in a position to fight for the title among themselves.
Wearing jeans, a Renault corporative shirt and his trademark blue sunglasses, as well as a bright, white watch and modern Puma shoes, there was no mistaking Briatore, 59, at the European Grand Prix in Valencia. He has been one of the most recognizable personalities in Formula 1 for more than 20 years.
A marketing guru, Briatore goes beyond sport and his fame reaches out into the realms of finance, social life and show business, and that is precisely what he wants for Formula 1, in which he is one of the candidates to succeed supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
Briatore is not an engineer and he is fighting with technicians to have the “great circus” of Formula 1 move away from diffusers, clutches and aerodynamics and to get, instead, more talk of drivers, lifestyles, celebrities and other forms of excitement on the track.
“We have to make [Formula 1] more enticing, with more show, to think of the client, that is, the spectators. We have to improve everything, to plan differently, to get television and spectators more interested, to be more energetic, more vital,” he said. “We have to talk about sport and not about politics. We have to have three or four drivers fighting for the world championship.”
In order to achieve that, people within the paddock have to move away from internal debates.
“People do not understand. They want to watch the races, the drivers, the stars, the cars that overtake each other. Like motorbikes, which have spectacular races. In Formula 1 things are more about what we say than about what we do,” Briatore said.
In this context, he lashed out at the technical innovations of the current season.
“Engineers had worked it out, so they said, and as usual nothing happened. We have spent a lot of money to know the opinion of these geniuses and the result is the same as before,” he said. “That is why this championship is a bit chaotic, distorted by all these things.”
He thinks that Formula 1 has to target a broader audience.
“We all have a car or two and I think that the target must be from age 10 to 70. Boys, girls, men, women,” Briatore said. “There is a bit of everything in Formula 1 — danger, speed, stars, lifestyle. It is a show and it holds many things that make Formula 1 something really special.”
He believes that Formula 1 should “commercially seek out countries that hold more opportunities” for its sponsors and notably return to the US.
State-of-the-art technology sometimes looks like a liability at a time of crisis, but Briatore wants to be clear about the approach.
“It’s not about saving, but about being more efficient, about having a racing team and not an advanced technology firm,” he said. “We have to hold exciting races, to change qualification, races, which are a bit long. We are preparing an important package for the future. We cannot go on as we are now, we have to improve.”
Like many others within Formula 1, he was disappointed that plans for record world champion Michael Schumacher’s return from retirement did not work out.
“His return was the only positive thing about this year,” Briatore said. “It would have been fantastic, he has been very positive for Formula 1.”
As for the future of Renault driver Fernando Alonso, who is rumored to be moving to Ferrari, Briatore would not give further details.
“For two years people have kept asking me what is going to happen tomorrow,” he said. “When we have a concrete decision, soon, we will announce it. We work very well with Ferrari, we have a very good relationship ... It is an important team that you have to respect, they have done a lot, but I try to beat them.”
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