Formula One is not in great shape and needs to become faster and more stimulating for drivers and fans, says former driver Mark Webber.
The Australian, who on Sunday came second in the Le Mans 24 Hours race, said in Spielberg ahead of this weekends Austrian Grand Prix that F1 is disappointing, and that heavy changes need to be made.
The championship and Formula One itself is not in great shape. I think were disappointed with it as F1 fans. I am as a past driver and still very much a current observer of it and an educated eye. We all talk; all the drivers talk and were disappointed where they have gone with the cars, the lap times.
Its just not stimulating for the drivers and this is rubbing off, the fans can see this. You know, over the course of the last five or six years, theyve got many, many, many things wrong to try and make the sport better and it became too artificial. There wasnt as many consequences for mistakes, things like this.
And all of a sudden people are starting to see through that and theres a lot of questions to be answered and they need to act fast on getting the fans engaged again through. They want them to be gladiators again, said Webber, who won nine F1 races.
He said F1 does not compare well with the best of sports like MotoGP and soccer.
MotoGP, my God, you know, not many people can do that and thats why people like to go and see. Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, this is what people love to switch a TV on for. Weve got a big chance here to keep Formula One like that, but its not like that at the moment, because theyve dulled it down, theyve made it very, very straight bat, said the current World Endurance Championship driver.
The 38 year old suggested that F1 could learn from the endurance events and it needs to make heavy changes.
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