F1 race promoters should cooperate, Baku boss says

Formula 1 race promoters should work together to drive future change with the sport's new owners, according to Baku City Circuit executive director Arif Rahimov.

Liberty Media's recent completion of a deal to take control of Formula 1 has led to a change in outlook, with the new owners keen to invest money in order to grow the sport. Rahimov currently promotes the newest race on the calendar after Baku made its debut in 2016, and he expects it to take time before race organizers will be allowed to make major changes.

"To be honest, right now it is really hard to say – the new management has just stepped in and it will take some time until they really grasp on what they want to change and what they want to implement in F1," Rahimov said. "From our perspective we need to really understand how the sport is going to run from this year onward because it is definite there are going to be some changes, not major changes, it will come bit by bit, but we still have to understand how every other party works and then look at doing something new.

"I haven't spoken to the new management yet but as far as I know they are eager to implement some changes into the sport and into the event. As to what exactly they want to do and how it merges with what we want to do, we still don't have a good understanding and it will take some time until all the promoters together in F1, until we do something major that is different.

"To be honest, that will be good to have a joint meeting of all the promoters to introduce new changes across the board that can benefit both promoters and F1 as a sport, and that will be cool if something like that happens eventually. I know there was a promoters' association, which still exists, but we never had a real meeting to investigate the new opportunities."

Asked what race organizers can do to get further value for money without a reductions in race hosting fees, Rahimov says Liberty's reference to a weeklong Super Bowl-style event would provide more opportunities for both fans and promoters.

"There are some commercials aspects of the race that are not quite exploited yet. As an example, off-track sponsorship and commercial activities are not exploited on all the tracks, that is something that can be of additional value to the promoter and F1.

"I've read in the news that they are planning to extend the race weekend to make it a festive week for the country and the city where the races are taking place. I welcome this as an addition as it is good to give the spectators more for their money – the money they are paying for a ticket. All of these things, they are not going to change overnight. It will take time for them and the promoters to understand what is going on, how this can be implemented. It will probably change eventually."