Etihad Airways yesterday signed a new seven-year extension to their sponsorship of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone praised the Yas Marina Circuit for raising the benchmark in the sport and becoming the new Monaco.
Speaking after signing the extension, which secures the future of the race, Ecclestone said all new tracks on the F1 calendar now look to Abu Dhabi as the template to beat.
The UAE capital staged its first GP in 2009 and the event continues to go from strength to strength with this year’s title showdown between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg arguably the highlight so far.
Monaco has traditionally been the F1’s flagship event, but Ecclestone now claims Abu Dhabi is setting the standards for the sport.
He said: “We are very very proud of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. From day one they have done exactly what was asked of them. They have done a super job. Yas Marina has set a new benchmark in F1.
“In the old days everyone wanted to be better than Monaco. Nobody mentions Monaco anymore.”
The new Etihad deal sees an extension until 2021 making the airline one of the longest title sponsors in F1 history. It was finalised between Etihad Airways president and chief executive officer James Hogan and Ecclestone at the airline’s stunning innovation centre in Abu Dhabi yesterday.
Hogan said: “We are delighted to extend our title sponsorship of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and to continue our association with an event which showcases the airline and our home of Abu Dhabi to a global audience of 500 million people.
“The event is now firmly established as one of the major highlights of the F1 calendar with Yas Marina Circuit as one of the world’s most advanced sporting venues. We look forward to bringing hundreds of thousands of motorsport fans to the UAE’s capital over the next seven years and beyond.”
Ecclestone added: “We are happy to extend our relationship with Etihad, one of the world’s most innovative airlines and an organisation which shares the same passion and commitment to cutting edge technology, teamwork and precision engineering as we do in F1.
"It’s important to have companies like this supporting F1 because we are an upmarket sport and it is great to have partners like this.”
Asked if the upmarket image of F1 had been affected by the financial problems that saw Marussia go bust and Caterham having to raise money through crowdfunding to race in Abu Dhabi, Eccestone said: “No, they shouldn’t have been here in the first place. I hope they are not here next season. We don’t want people walking around with begging bowls.”
Discussing what has been a landmark season for Formula One with new V6 engines and rule changes that have caused a degree of controversy, Ecclestone admits he had mixed feelings.
On the one hand the Mercedes battle for the world championship has made for a thrilling backdrop to the year but on the other, the lack of competition from the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari has been disappointing.
Asked if he was happy with the season, he said: “Yes and no. It is good that we have the two Mercedes guys racing each other.
“We didn’t know how good Mercedes would be but I wanted to have double points for the last three races in the hope that the others would catch up but we have got lucky with double points here because it has made for a more interesting race.”
He did, however, hint that the double points idea will be dropped, adding: “A lot of people are anti [double points] and as we are now a very democratic sport we will follow what everybody wants to do. We have another system called ‘be reasonable, do it my way’, so we’ll see.”
The introduction of the eco-friendly V6 engines has sparked some complaints that, compared to the V8s they replaced, they are too quiet and that Formula One has lost an important part of its appeal.
Asked if there was a genuine chance of bringing back a more efficient V8, Ecclestone said: “This current power unit is incredible in what it does but it isn’t Formula One. The noise in Formula One is an important part of the sport.
“Everybody would love to see the return of V8s and I am meeting with the teams to discuss getting rid of the current power unit. The only people who don’t want to see that is Daimler. They have spent a lot of money and they have done a fantastic job so we shouldn’t take it away, but we are going to try.”
Ecclestone also said he would like to see more characters in Formula One, like Lewis Hamilton who has become an inspirational and larger than life personality on the grid.
He said: “Years ago we used to have a lot more characters in the sport but now it has become too corporate. I was also sad to see Luca di Montezemolo leave Ferrari because he was a real character.
“He was Mr Ferrari and he was super. He did a great job and for me they shouldn’t have got rid of him. Having said that, I am sure the new boss of Ferrari will do a great job.
“I wasn’t surprised when Fernando Alonso decided to leave Ferrari because he was fed up. The team has not been performing as well as it should have but I don’t think that has anything to do with any one person.
“It is difficult to run a team like that in Italy because most of the top people are in England so it is difficult to steal people from there but I was not really surprised to see Sebastian Vettel go there because they are still the most important team in Formula One so we need them winning.”
