Team Bosses Seek Improved Show for Fans

Formula One could be set for another weekend revamp after team bosses closed in on a solution to halt falling crowds at Grand Prix events.

The ten team principals met at the start of this weekend's German Grand Prix to discuss ways to improve the show for spectators after concentrating last year's efforts on making races more exciting for television viewers.

They are concerned that the new regulations introduced for this year - which have left fans with no Formula One action between qualifying on Saturday afternoon and the race on Sunday - have led to reduced numbers at the events.

They met at Magny-Cours, during the French Grand Prix weekend at the start of July and Minardi team owner Paul Stoddart believes their second meeting, which lasted three-and-a-half hours, has brought them close to a solution.

"We did a lot last year to actually improve the television viewing and the on-track performances but we have seriously lost crowds this year, there is no other way of putting it," Stoddart said. "We have got to look at that, and in the meeting we were purely discussing how we can actually beef up the crowds and give them a bit more entertainment for their money.

"We came up with the right formula last year to give people exciting racing and I am damned sure that with a bit of effort we can come up with the right formula to give people exciting viewing."

Stoddart revealed that there are several ideas on the table and said he expects their plans to be announced after the next Grand Prix, in Hungary, in three weeks time following further finalisation meetings.

One suggestion has been to run a two-seater race, with celebrities being driven by Grand Prix drivers, during the Sunday morning void. There have also been suggestions of changing qualifying or adding a test session.

But Stoddart said: "I am not sure that any of them will go through but I think what I am sure of is there was one new idea that got everybody's vote and that will happen - and it will be a big public winner.

"I am not going to go into details because we need to do a bit of preparation, we need to look at all the tracks to see whether it would work. But it is all about giving people at the track better value for their money.

"All we have got to do is make sure we give better value for the guy who spends a fairly serious amount of money coming to a Grand Prix. We have given the viewers better value, we have had some fantastic races this year, we just now need to look at the people that are at the track.

"Not having any Formula One action between three o'clock Saturday afternoon and two o'clock Sunday afternoon is a bit hard on the guy who pays his money, so we need to improve on that."