Jun.5 (GMM) Alex Wurz has added his concerns to the current governance of formula one.
Wurz, a former Benetton and Williams driver, is today the president of the F1 drivers’ union GPDA.
In Monaco, the body launched a wide-ranging online fan survey, amid apparent dwindling global interest in the sport and complaints from F1 drivers that the cars are too slow and not challenging enough.
Mark Webber, for instance, has told Racer magazine he has no regrets about switching from F1 to Le Mans.
“(In) 2005, 2006, 2007, formula one was on its own,” said the Australian, “but in the last few years, obviously, the two series have never been closer.
“I said to Paul Hembery from Pirelli ‘We’re qualified to fly F18s but we’re flying for Lufthansa’,” Webber added.
F1 has announced its intention to make dramatic changes for 2017, but a new tyre war has already been ruled out and now the return of refuelling is being voted down by the teams.
So now Wurz, representing the drivers, has hit out at the sport’s current system of governance, under which individual teams have a big say.
“The participants are ambitious and want to win at all costs,” he told the Austrian news agency APA. “Each flexes its muscles and the only thing that that is clear is that there can be no consensus.
And “why should the participants decide the rules?” Wurz wondered. “It would be like Lance Armstrong wanting a time trial every day of the Tour de France, but Marco Pantani wanting a summit finish.
“On balance,” he added, “formula one is a great product. It’s just about carefully adjusting the business model, and this requires leadership.”