Pirelli: Hembery wants changes in Formula 1

The director of Pirelli, Paul Hambery, has a very clear vision of what Formula 1 should look like today: « We have a sport that is largely dominated by technology. I would like to see the drivers at the forefront, and that’s what people want to see as well. »

Ferrari’s success in Malaysia does not change the fact that Formula 1 is going through a significant crisis, with notably fewer and fewer viewers. In addition to that, sponsors have less interest in the discipline, leading to an overall disastrous financial situation, as the discipline arrives in China this weekend for its next Grand Prix: « I would like to see drivers become heroes. Fans want heroes, an iconic person to follow. They want to know that when Driver X is winning, it’s because he made the difference. When people are sitting in a bar watching Lewis Hamilton win a race, they think it’s a great victory. But they also think that five other drivers in a Mercedes could have done the same job, and that’s a shame. » specifies the Briton.

Hembery wants to see the drivers more accessible since he attended a Nascar event in Las Vegas: « The garages at the back of the pits have glass windows, so fans can look into the garages, they also have a window that opens at the back of the garages, and the stars were able to sign autographs. At this event, there were 100,000 people, now people can’t say that more people go to see Formula 1. »

According to him, Formula 1 should take inspiration from Nascar and he reflects on the decision to have only one helmet design per season: « In Nascar, the driver is king, even the back-of-the-grid driver is a superstar with a multimillion-dollar contract. I would like to see our drivers in this mindset. A Formula 1 driver should be an international superstar like David Beckham can be. We have drivers who don’t understand why they can’t change their helmet for every race anymore; they complain about it. Everyone knows that a helmet can make a driver iconic, just like the helmets of Graham Hill and Ayrton Senna. It’s part of their identity because fans can’t see them without their favorite helmet. So it’s a very good thing to have them register a unique helmet design for the season. »

Paul Hembery would like a complete redesign of race weekends in order to gain more exposure and attractiveness. He proposes several ideas on this topic: « I think Friday evening qualifying would be a good idea because you can actually gain something extra, and promoters would have something to sell that day. On Saturday, there could be a sprint race, which would be an additional selling point ».

For all these reasons, Pirelli’s strongman calls for change: « It is not up to us to tell people what should change and how it should change, but change is necessary. We are eager to understand what will happen in 2017 when we establish a new contract. We would like to see what changes will be made. We are in the entertainment industry. Some people are upset by this idea, but if we don’t retain people, sponsors won’t come, and so on. »