News APP

NewsApp (Free)

Read news as it happens
Download NewsApp
Home  » Sports » 'Alonso needs to do more for F1'

'Alonso needs to do more for F1'

May 07, 2006 19:42 IST
Get Rediff News in your Inbox:

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone says Renault's Fernando Alonso needs to put more back into the sport as world champion.

Ecclestone also had a dig at McLaren's Ron Dennis, the 24-year-old Spaniard's team boss next season, and suggested he should practise what he preaches after talking recently about the need to put more fun into Formula One.

"I'm concerned with Ron and his statements because he's the last person to do any of those things," Ecclestone told Britain's ITV television in an interview before Sunday's European Grand Prix.

"You can't get his drivers to talk to anybody and they never participate in anything.

"It would be great if he started doing what he's saying we should be doing. I think what he's saying (is what) everybody else should be doing except McLaren.

"Hopefully the teams and drivers will realise they have to give a little bit more back to the sport," he added.

"We have a world champion now, Fernando, who doesn't do too much."

Dennis told reporters at last month's San Marino Grand Prix that the sport needed to lighten up its image to attract a broader and younger audience.

"It's important that we think about humanising F1 and encouraging fun back into the sport," said Dennis. "We have to keep Formula One's mystique of course, but the drivers need to be more known."

Ecclestone, 75, has been deep in negotiations about the sport's commercial future after 2007 with carmakers threatening their own series unless their demands, including a far greater share of revenues, are met.

One of those carmakers is DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes, owners of 40 percent of McLaren.

"I'm a little bit guilty of things because I've been firefighting for two and a half years," said Ecclestone when asked about ways of improving Grand Prix weekends.

"We've had arguments with teams and manufacturers, we've had shareholders coming and going so I haven't really been able to do all the things I'd have liked to have done and should have done inside the sport.

"When we get all this out of the way, wait and see. There's all sorts of things we can come up with."

Get Rediff News in your Inbox:
Source: REUTERS
© Copyright 2024 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

Paris Olympics 2024

India's Tour Of Australia 2024-25