The start of the 2017 Formula One season is just 11 days away now with the first race of the season set in Melbourne. Liberty Media, the new owners of Formula One, are looking to expand the sport, particularly in the United States, and Red Bull Racing driver Daniel Ricciardo has urged them to take the sport to more "cool locations" with Las Vegas the top of his list.
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The Red Bull Racing driver was recently asked in an interview what advice he would give to the new owners, and he said the sport needed to look at different ways to make the sport entertaining to the fans.
"Have fun — embrace this unique sport that we've got. Bernie was great and now we've got a completely new approach and mindset. I'm excited for it, I think do what you can to keep drawing in the fans and make it entertaining and promote the excitement of the sport, promote that it is the fastest show in the world. Let's keep going to cool locations as well. If you want to do a race in (Las) Vegas, be my guest" Herald Sun quoted him as saying.
While Ricciardo has some really good advice to give out to the new owners on how to improve the sport, Liberty Media have ideas of their own and are set to adopt a "very aggressive approach" as they look set to try new things in Formula One this season.
After years under the management of Bernie Ecclestone, Liberty Media took over the sport in a bid to make it more interesting and more accessible through various platforms, including smart phones and smart TVs. Sean Bratches, who is in charge of the commercial side of Formula One said they are not afraid to try new things this season.
"There will be a point in the season...where we start to effectuate change. We are going to be very aggressive. We are going to try new things, all in the spirit of better serving Formula One fans" he told Reuters.
Meanwhile, Ross Brawn who is the head of sporting matters, said they are open to a number of changes in the sport from "a more intelligent design of car" to the engines.
"In the five-year program we've got to identify what sort of engine we want in the future, because that's the sort of timescale it takes, and list the things that are important."
