As Formula 1 continues to grow in popularity around the world, the work done by Liberty Media, the owners of the discipline, has been praised by Valtteri Bottas and Fernando Alonso.
Despite the global Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the premier category of motorsport had managed to set up a condensed calendar of 17 races. Then the following year, we were treated to a title fight worthy of a Hollywood script between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
And of course, the Netflix series ‘Drive to Survive’ has also allowed F1 to become even more known, especially in the United States where the number of Grands Prix is increasing.
For Valtteri Bottas it’s obvious: the discipline is going in the right direction.
“Of course the race is still the most important part of a weekend, but there’s a bit more to it now,” said the Alfa Romeo driver.
“I now have the feeling of going to an event more than to a race. There are concerts, DJs mixing just before the start or that kind of thing. There has been more energy for a few years that when I started my career, so I think they did a very good job in a lot of areas. It’s more accessible now than in the past, also thanks to technology.”
Bottas also ventured a joke on Netflix and Liberty Media after the Monaco GP.
“I couldn’t believe that once we were done with the national anthem, it started to rain – good timing! Maybe it was sent by Netflix or something!”
Like the Finn, Fernando Alonso paid tribute to the promoter of the discipline.
“Since Liberty Media took over, I think the sport has come a long way,” estimated the Alpine F1 driver.
“The discipline is now accessible to more people in the paddock, and we are doing more off the track too. And the drivers are involved. We are going in the right direction. The world has changed with all these digital platforms, giving access to many things that were still unthinkable 10 or 15 years ago.”
“So overall I think the sport is more open and people are enjoying it more. It used to be that Formula 1 was out of reach, or at least it was harder to follow and understand.”
–
