Ron Dennis's Formula Fun

Scratch away at the surface of McLaren chairman Ron Dennis's sometimes-criticised polished corporate image, and you will find something very different. Do not for a second think that the man who often shows little emotion sat on the pit-wall is the same one you will find in the paddock, away from the cameras and the spotlight.

For all his steely determination, slick professionalism and passion for victory, Dennis is a man who very much knows how to enjoy himself. Just ask any of his friends, or journalists from media dinners, who have fallen foul of his favourite Cardinal Puff drinking game...

That fun, however, is often restricted to his own space and time. Dennis does not like to wear his heart on his sleeve too much. He shies away from attention, and opens up only rarely - when, for example, his emotions get the better of him, like after Kimi Raikkonen's spectacular triumph in Japan last October.

But at Imola last weekend, Dennis spoke with zeal about the changes that he wants to see Formula One embrace. And we are not talking about engine restrictions, aerodynamic regulations or tyre rules.

Instead, Dennis believes that the most important change the sport needs to consider is nothing to do with the racing - it is in injecting it with the fun factor. F1 should, and could, be doing more to increase its popularity, and Dennis has some pretty strong ideas about what needs to be done.

"I think we have to do more to attract all the fans," he explains, sitting in the McLaren Communications Centre at Imola. "There are many things in my mind that are interesting things to explore. But any idea is capable of being criticised. We need a think tank approach."

On a basic level, Dennis thinks one of the primary improvements that can be made is in the build-up to Grands Prix themselves - both on television and at the track. After taking the rare step of sitting down after the Australian Grand Prix to watch ITV's coverage of the event, he bucks the view that off-track build-up can often divert away attention from the race itself.

"I love giving parties," he says enthusiastically. "It's a passion of mine. I love it and I like the whole planning. Parties should unfold and get better and better, not get worse. The definition is expectation and anticipation.

"When you watch the opening sequence of the 15 minutes running up to the start of the Grand Prix, to me that creates an expectation. For Australia it was colourful. I saw humour in the couple of kangaroos that were jumping around. That made me smile. I bet every kid who was watching television laughed when they saw those kangaroos jumping around.

"Those guys with the horses, did that have a detrimental effect on Formula One? Not at all. When you saw those girls dancing, I thought they danced really well. Every guy who was watching television looked at those girls and thought 'what great legs.' It was great build-up. Great expectation.

"We've got to get the TV guys to say - we must have this half hour before the race starts. Everyone wants to see this. We should have Miss Imola being voted on here, for example. There are loads of things we could do in the build-up that has nothing to do with the race.

"I watched the ITV coverage for the first time in a long time. Fantastic aerial shots. I drive into Melbourne and have never seen a piece of water - but there's a huge lake in the middle. It looked impressive."

There is even suggestions that on Thursdays before events, the F1 drivers are forced to walk around the track with the media to explain the circuit in better detail.... before Dennis wants "water pistols and crazy foam" handed out for more entertainment.

Dennis' new ideas come on the back of the takeover of Formula One's commercial rights by CVC Capital Partners. There is no doubt that the sport has a real chance to grab the new opportunity offered by CVC and change itself for the better.

Such a move would be obviously beneficial for the teams too, because it would mean a greater income from the sport's entire commercial revenue. Up to now, their motivation for change has been restricted by the fact that they only derived income from television rights - which was pretty fixed.

CVC have shown themselves to be well in tune with marketing sports successfully - just look at what their Dorna offshoot did with Moto GP.

There is no doubt that the motorbike racing championship's booming popularity has been boosted by the Valentino Rossi phenomenon. And Dennis thinks that F1 needs to do more to help create its own characters.

"There is an incentive for CVC to receive back some material benefit for increases in the income. If you pay more, you want more. The question is, how can we have a more cohesive approach to promoting Formula One?

"Could you create a televised event that features the drivers out of the cars, and could that event have not 'tell me how that lap went' or 'are you going to do this on the track', and to create an understanding of the human side.

"You would be surprised at how many people who watch Grand Prix racing cannot put the names to the faces. We don't have characters. People are quiet, shy, etc.

"But there are things we can do to bring these drivers out of their shells, perhaps with a little bit of humour. We don't want to devalue Formula One, but we need to think about engaging people more in the characters."

For too long, thinks Dennis, talk of improving the sport has revolved around on-track factors - improving overtaking, making the cars more exciting to watch, and tweaking qualifying. Perhaps, he hints, that approach has completely missed the trick when it comes to making F1 better.

"I think CVC are an extremely astute company and it's unlikely that they don't have a developing awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of Grand Prix racing. To develop more income, we need an understanding of how we improve the show.

"As motor racing enthusiasts, when we talk about a better show we tend to go down the same old path of 'shall we make qualifying and the racing better by facilitating overtaking'. I think they are not where we should be focusing our effort. We need to create more personality in the sport.

"The personality of Formula One needs to be developed. I have witnessed how F1 is addictive. The reason is because you can have a shallow enjoyment of F1. But as you scratch down inside it, it becomes more and more fascinating.

"What we have to create is more parts of interest so, if a young girl is watching it, if she scratches down below the surface of the motor race she can find out about the personalities of the drivers and what their girlfriends look like.

"Then you might be interested in the economics of it. We have to be open to the process, but it's not as simplistic as 'give us access to your drivers' it's not that simple.

The argument about opening it up to the public is intriguing, and Dennis for one believes that it is important Formula One retains some of the mystique - especially when it comes to portraying the drivers as gladiators when their crash helmets are on.

"You need to humanise it, but there still needs to be mystery as well," he explains. "And by accident you get this helmet on, visor down thing - this gladiatorial aspect.

"We have a phenomenal safety record and long may it continue, but there is always that risk. Do we believe a football player can put himself in a situation where he is at risk of losing his life? Maybe he might bang heads, but you don't watch a football match with the expectation of anyone hurting themselves.

"Motor racing carries with it the mystery of the visor, the mystery of the concealed face, but you have to be balanced. There's the story of the guy in his armour and he's really great, then he takes his helmet off and his eyes are all over the place. Oh my goodness, you've spoilt the whole illusion. We must be careful to retain the mystique."

There is no reason that motor racing should not be able to capture the minds of a greater audience than football, for example, because of the fact that almost every adult in the world drives a car.

"There is a firm belief that F1 can be bigger. They (CVC) are developing an understanding of the nature of F1's footprint. There are sports that are fashionable in some countries, but very often football tends to pull to the event those people who are specifically interested in those teams that are playing. That becomes less of an issue when one nation competes against another.

"You sell to the sponsor that motor racing is next in line after the World Cup and the Olympics. They are every four years and we are every two weeks, nine months of the year. We have a consistency.

"There is a developing passion for football in the middle east. But it is just a trend. F1 had a big following in France, lots of feeder categories, then it moved to Germany and England - these things tend to move around, but I still feel that when you're looking at the demographics of our audience - there aren't as many women watching football as there are F1. I don't think you have the age spread of people watching football as you do F1.

"I don't think there are many men who watch football who believe they can play as well as David Beckham. But most men who watch motor racing believe they can drive as well as Michael Schumacher.

"There is more affinity with the act of driving a car with the viewing audience. It's a different audience. We are competing for a given market, but that market is huge because sport is probably one of the least expensive things to feature on television. We are global and the globalisation of F1 is something that we can do a better job of."

So what about an action plan?

For a starter, Dennis believes that everyone in the sport should go away and consider what their 'Top Ten Commandments' for Formula One would be. They then should become the doctrine under which the sport is run.

"All of us have a desire to be a class act. We want to be a genuine world championship; we want to be world class. I have a technique to determine the route that a project takes. You have to conceptualise the Ten Commandments. I'm going to get 10 things on the list, so that any directional change is then evaluated to see whether it complies to the list.

"So you brainstorm 40 things and debate then. Then star rate them and determine what are the most important things. And then you end up with ten. Then what is the most important of that ten? That is your test.

"Then you cross reference back every time you make a decision. Does it comply? If you use that technique you'll be amazed at how many things fall down because they are not compliant to your primary goals.

"When you want to build a better world championship, you have to decide what is important. What are your goals? If you want drivers' wives having a cat fight, you'll say that is not a good idea because it doesn't comply to this list.

"Does the sport make heroes? Is that one of the ten? I think we should be making heroes - and it shouldn't just be the drivers. It should be broader. We thought about putting all the names of our team members and giving them a number and having a shirt for every member of the team."

And there should really be no limit to what is considered and what is rejected.

"For example, you could analyse whether gambling has any place in Formula One? Personally I don't think so. But does that mean we should preclude looking at it?

"Could you link ideas to someone's ability to ride in the car, I don't mean a camera perspective, but of sharing some of the experiences. Could we put sensors on the drivers' hands and feet and so someone could drive in a video game? We have to be far more creative and think far more out of the box.

"I'm all for reducing costs, but with that in parallel with reducing income. What we have to be doing is saying, 'let's increase the income and maybe we'll have to spend some money to do that'. But what we'd be doing is spending less money than we'd get back. That's how you grow your business."

Dennis believes that the underlying success of any new element of the sport is whether those outside F1 believe it is better or not - not whether the participants agree.

"Personally, would I gamble on the fact the TV companies believe the current qualifying is better than the previous qualifying as regards them being able to maintain the interest of the TV viewer - which in turns leads to better advertising revenue? Would I gamble on that? Yes I would.

"Wait until we get to Monaco with fuel burn and getting in each other's way. Do I think that the races are good? Yes I think they are. Qualifying still reflects different fuel loads. I don't think that is a bad thing, because the alternative is a formula which puts fast guys at the front and slow guys at the back and I don't think that is a good thing."

But what about Bernie Ecclestone? Will F1's grandmaster give his support for such a radical rethink of the way the sport is run - having previously shown himself reluctant with breaking out of the mould?

"I do not believe that Bernie has a problem with looking at F1 to make it better," says Dennis. "Especially now, as it's in everyone's interest to improve Grand Prix racing.

"It would be good to bring some fun into the sport. It would be worthwhile, but it has to be stylish. If it's tacky, it backfires big time..."

We want to hear from you!

Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.

Take our survey

- The Autosport.com Team

Read and post comments