Formula 1 is in peril according to Martin Whitmarsh

From the height of his twenty-five years of experience with McLaren Racing, and after regaining his freedom by leaving the world of Formula 1 last year, Martin Whitmarsh observes the discipline with more distance and freedom of speech. Asked by the agency Reuters, the former right-hand man of Ron Dennis shared his opinion on the difficulties of F1: “I love Formula 1 and I love McLaren. I was part of it for 25 years. I’m sad to see what’s happening. I stay as far away from the sport as possible, and I try not to comment on it, but I’m saddened by its current evolution,” he stated.

His remarks are at the very least alarmist: « I think that [F1] will crash and burn before taking a new direction, in my opinion. It will eventually happen, but I am sad to see this process at work. »

The current employee of Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR), an America’s Cup team, provided an overview of the economic evolution of Formula 1: « If you look at the cycles… Thirty years ago, you had the sport as it was… then came the era of tobacco companies, which was the biggest growth surge, followed by the era of car manufacturers where we had seven of the nine largest car manufacturers at the same time. Then the economic crisis swept all of that away, and F1 diversified, but to diversify as well as to gain more recognition – and F1 is struggling with that at the moment – you need to take a slightly different approach. And you also need to be fairer in terms of distribution. »

Martin Whitmarsh is now investing in the world of sailing, where he seems to be quite comfortable: “I am very happy to be involved in it,” he confided. In the Formula 1 world, Adrian Newey, the star engineer of Red Bull, has never hidden his attraction to the America’s Cup. “I think that as other sports are suffering at the moment, it’s a tremendous opportunity for the America’s Cup to establish itself and really grow,” concluded Martin Whitmarsh, who clearly does not regret leaving F1 or McLaren.