FOTA to unveil Formula One vision

The Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) has been working away behind closed doors to come up with concepts and regulations that it would like to see grand prix racing adopt in the future.

With consensus about new directions for the sport having been reached, FOTA has decided to call a media event in Geneva on March 5 to unveil what the body calls its "plans for the future of Formula One."

The press event will be hosted by FOTA chairman and Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, who will speak about the teams' plans.

An official invitation sent by FOTA on Wednesday added: "These plans are the result of a series of meetings held over the past few weeks and months, all of them with a common goal: to make Formula One commercially sustainable, environmentally friendly and compellingly attractive for spectators, TV viewers and Internet consumers alike for years to come."

All F1 team principals are due to attend the event, which will be the first public showing by FOTA since its formation last year.

FOTA has commissioned a worldwide market research document to gauge what fans want to see come from F1 in the future, and it is likely the results of this have determined what the teams will unveil.

McLaren team principal Ron Dennis said earlier this year that none of FOTA's members were afraid to introduce radical changes, as long as new ideas were to improve the sport.

"We are not particularly against anything that makes F1 better," said Dennis during a special appearance on the central stage at the Autosport International Show. "But we really believe that it should be driven by knowledge as opposed to intuition and gut feel.

"The teams have financed research and it has been conducted over two months globally, and we will bring into that research the possibility of introducing a new points system, whether it is with medals or whether pole position should carry points to incentivize people to try harder in qualifying, or whether we should adopt monstrously radical things like reversing the grid after awarding points for qualifying.

"That is, for me to say, unheard of. I am a pure motor racer. I am a guy who likes to qualify hard, be the fastest car in front, lead from the front and win by whatever it takes. I am pure. But it can be pretty boring, not to me, but it can be pretty boring for you guys if the race is a procession.

"So we have to be mindful of the fact that those people who are captured by F1, their interest is maintained...we are very, very concerned about playing with the DNA of Formula One and screwing some magic that crosses that audience.

"Our attitude is let's take a scientific approach within the limitations of market research, try and understand what people like about Formula One and play to our strengths, then try to handle our weaknesses."