A brave new dawn for F1 under Liberty Media

Chase Carey, Chairman of Liberty Media

The Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the last race of the calendar, marks a full season since Liberty Media's acquisition of Formula One.

The post-Bernie Ecclestone era has been a brave new dawn with the new owners of the sport making a variety of changes, opening up new avenues, and changing the landscape, so to speak.

The new owners have opened up a few doors which had stayed locked under the former F1 ringmaster. And they are also trying to change the notion of it being a very elitist sport by taking it a lot closer to the fans and also using social and digital media extensively, a side ignored by Ecclestone.

As with any new experiment, there will be a few teething issues, but those will be smoothened along the way.

And Liberty Media have promised that there is more to come next season and in the coming years. On the bucket list is engine changes, a return to some of the traditional European venues, expanding the market in Europe, South America and Asia.

The drivers have given a thumbs-up to the changes but also added that more needs to be done.

"I think it's been a positive," said Lewis Hamilton, the freshly-minted world champion for the fourth time.

"I think it's been great to be able to drive and push the cars as we have. I think there is still work to be done in lots of different areas. I hope moving forwards, overtaking gets easier. The more overtaking the more fun it is for people to watch. That's what I'm hoping for, but this year has been a positive year," he added.

Meanwhile, Hamilton's title rival Sebastian Vettel said that the fun element is back to driving.

"From a driver's seat the cars are much more fun to drive again, you can push a lot harder, which is the way I think Lewis and myself we got to know Formula 1 when we joined. That's what we drivers want. It's great to see that the cars go faster. I think that's been great and made the racing better, the races for us more enjoyable. Whether that ends up in a better show and better TV, it depends on the race," Vettel said.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo agreed with Vettel. "There have been pros and cons in my opinion. Probably still more pros," he said.

"The off-track stuff has been pretty cool. It's been interesting. It's certainly opened up a lot of little things. The paddock is one area where there has been room for that to be more exciting for fans. They're experimenting and it's going in the right direction so it's been cool to be a part of it," added the Australian.

james@khaleejtimes.com