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LinkedInF1’s potential is far from being reached, says Lewis Hamilton
Formula One’s global potential is far from being reached, says Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
The British driver said he hopes F1’s new bosses, Liberty Media, will be able for make the sport more appealing to the masses, much like football.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Hamilton said: The potential of Formula 1 has not been reached in terms of global success, it’s far from [reaching] it to be honest.
“I’m hoping with everyone’s help these guys will be able to squeeze out that extra bit to take it to the masses. I don’t know if it’ll ever be as big as football, but closer to those guys.”
Last week F1 boss Ross Brawn said he would like for F1 to stage a non-championship race to experiment with new formats, which Hamilton says is a ‘great’ idea as it shows the new bosses are ‘coming up with new ideas’.
Speaking about having a new format in F1, Hamilton commented: “That doesn’t sound like a terrible idea. A new format is definitely needed for Formula 1. Thursday to Sunday has been the same for the last 11 years.”
He added: “With the way the cars are, which makes it difficult to overtake and people complain you can’t overtake, you need to come up with something unique and different races.
“Look at Monaco, you can’t overtake there so maybe we should do something different to spice it up – maybe a sprint race. Monaco should be different from the others.”
Following his difficult relationship with last year’s team mate, Nico Rosberg, to whom he lost the Championship to, Hamilton is feeling positive about his new Mercedes team mate, Valtteri Bottas, describing the relationship as the best he has had with any team mate before due to his focus to do with the track.
Speaking to the official F1 website, Hamilton said: “What I so far like about working with Valtteri is that it is all to do with the track – what we do on the circuit – and not outside. There are no games – there is complete transparency. I like that.”
He continues: “I feel we already have a better working relationship than I ever had with any team mate I had before. He wants to do the best thing that he can in his first year with the team – and with me being here for quite a while now, I want to deliver and make sure that I give as much information so that he will learn. And we do our talking on the track!”
