F1 to make Monaco GP all about fans

LONDON, England - Formula 1 drivers have agreed to work together to give more to fans at the 2015 Monaco GP, at a time when unfavourable comparisons are being made with other forms of motorsport.

Alex Wurz, chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, told Reuters more details would be presented on the Friday (May 15) rest day before the Monaco GP in the Mediterranean principality.

Drivers unanimously agreed on the idea during a meeting at the 2015 Spanish F1 GP weekend (May 10) in Barcelona.

MORE ENGAGEMENT

The former F1 driver who now races in the World Endurance championship but has won twice at Le Mans, added: "We would like to engage more with fans to make sure this sport remains at the pinnacle and gets ever more popular.

"How we will do this I don't want to go into because that will be announced in Monaco in great detail. I hope it's cool - the fans will tell us if they like it and that's what we want... we want to give a little bit back and communicate with the people who love the sport"

Social media is expected to feature largely in the plans, with many drivers already attracting a large number of followers.

Lotus driver Romain Grosjean told his 438 000 followers on Twitter:

Great @GPDA_ meeting today! At the #MonacoGP we will announce big plans on how to properly connect with you, the fans #RacingUnited #r8main

— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) May 8, 2015

Mercedes' double F1 champion Lewis Hamilton has 2.74-million followers on Twitter, more than three-million 'likes' on Facebook and 1.2-million followers on Instagram.

#SpanishGP #TeamLH #BestFans photo by Steve Etherington pic.twitter.com/EvBBLAWPhA

— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) May 8, 2015

DRIVERS 'INACCESSIBLE'

However the sport still has a reputation for being exclusive and inaccessible compared to series such as the World Endurance championship, where fans have much more access to the paddock and drivers during race weekends.

F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, has been critical of social media, although F1 has revamped its official website for 2015 and now employs a number of staff to develop this area.

He insisted: "I'm not interested in tweeting, Facebook or whatever this nonsense is. I tried to find out but in any case I'm too old-fashioned - I couldn't see any value in it.

"You're right that we should use social media to promote F1 - I just don't know how."

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