F1: Pirelli's Hembery renews call for rules overhaul

Pirelli motorsports boss Paul Hembery has renewed the call for a shakeup of F1 rules ahead of the company's expected bid to renew its tire-supply contract.

Pirelli, which became F1's sole supplier in 2011, said earlier this year that it would favor increasing tire size to bring the "wow factor" back when the next tire supply contract takes effect in 2017. But Hembery (pictured, with F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone) went further in an interview with Britain's The Guardian newspaper, suggesting a wide-ranging review of sporting procedures as well as techical rules ought to be on the table, with the aim of making drivers more the focus.

“I’d like to see the drivers becoming the heroes. The fans want a hero. They want an iconic person to follow. And they want to know that when driver X is winning he’s actually making a difference," Hembery said. “When people sit in a bar and watch Lewis Hamilton win a race they think great, but they also think that five other drivers in that Mercedes car could have done the same job, and that is a shame.”

Hembery also suggested changes to sporting procedures to make all three days of grand prix weekends more interesting to fans.

"I thought qualifying on Friday night was a good idea, so you can actually win something, and the promoters have something to sell," Hembery said. "And maybe a sprint race on the Saturday, an extra product, so Saturday fans actually see a result and podium places."

He made clear, though, that Pirelli would not be the instigator of such changes.

"It's not for us to tell people what should change, and how it should change, but change is needed. We are in the entertainment business. Some people get ruffled by that idea, but if we don't entertain people don't watch us, and then the sponsors won't come, and the cycle continues.

"The current business model is clearly not working for enough people. Change is needed and the current mechanism for change is very cumbersome and very slow. We’ve got too many people with different vested interests. Someone has got to put a marker in the ground and say this is it. We can’t spend another year going 'round in circles trying to find the big compromise.”