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F1 told to embrace the internet

Nick Fry reckons F1 should do more to interact with fans © Getty Images

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Mercedes GP CEO Nick Fry has joined the call for Formula One to embrace new media and the internet, saying the sport has been too slow to wake up to its potential.

The topic has been a major talking point at the motorsport business forum in Monaco with Gerard Lopez, whose investment company is currently bidding on the Renault F1 team, saying the current emphasis on TV broadcasting alone is outdated. Fry reiterated Lopez's remarks when he took to the forum's stage, saying F1 had itself to blame for missing out on the internet's potential.

"I think the accusation that we have been a bit slow on new media is correct - we could have done a lot more," Fry said. "But I think you might find that FOM [Formula One Management] have things they are working on at the moment that will hopefully see the light of day during the course of next year which will hopefully at least partially address that. It is slow yes, but the point is not lost and I think things are happening.

"It is a bit old fashioned to think that by giving people more over the internet they will consume less somewhere else. In fact, with younger consumers and fans are actually doing both - they are not reducing their consumption of one because you are giving them more in another area. They are doing both maybe at the same time."

He insisted a move towards new media would benefit all of F1's stakeholders, which he believed were now in a position to work together.

"We are all in the same boat," he said. "I think the business model that we all have now is very similar. We have to grow F1, if we grow F1 it is good for FOM, it is good for television companies, good for people in the business, good for the teams. That is very important because in the past, we probably didn't have that aligned objective. That is something that has changed quite dramatically over the last 18 months."

"The reality of life is that we have to up our game, because our competitors have upped their game. Cricket has gone from something that was as dull as ditchwater to something that is competition for F1. It is not the main competition, but it is example of how people have raised their game."

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