Q+A with Mark Cole
In his latest interview, Daniel Hewitt visited Mark Cole who has been a motorsport writer and television broadcaster for more than four decades and has established himself to become one of the UK’s most respected motor racing journalists.
Mark Cole: "It's a brave new world with the biggest changes to regulations in three decades, since the end of ground effects, so I'm expecting to see overtaking again, combined with tyre strategy playing a big role now that refuelling has ended."
Formula One has been hard-hit by the recession. Many sponsors have pulled out their funding, including ING with Renault at the end of this year, or are reducing sponsorship; Super Aguri ceased operations earlier last season when they failed to secure further investment, then Honda pulled out. How do you view the future of the sport?MC: "Formula 1 has always survived whatever economic tsunamis have hit, so I don't see any real problem, despite the loss of Honda. What I do see is more teams joining from GP2 with the FIA's £30 million cap initiative. But what the FIA seems to have overlooked in its rush to reduce costs is reducing its own management costs too - reducing the fee to circuits for race rights, giving them back their advertising and hospitality income to help them reduce their own costs. Reducing TV costs too. It has to be applied to both sides."
Ross Brawn now has his very own Formula One team, Brawn GP. They’ve produced some promising results during testing. What are your expectations for the new team and do you believe they will have a ‘race winning’ car this season?MC: "Having seen Ross at work in the TWR Jaguar days before he moved to Benetton and Ferrari, I know that he is the very best there is. Yes they have a race-winning car, thanks to his input and the long lead-time they've had to produce the Brawn nee Honda."
Sebastian Vettel made a big impression in 2008. Timo Glock also provided some promising performances. But who do you think will be 2009’s ‘most improved’ driver?MC: "I think it will be Bourdais. He struggled last year, but now he has found his confidence; look for Champ Car-type performances from him this year. A win at Le Mans with Peugeot this coming June would also help."
What do you believe will be the most visibly evident and/or exciting change in the regulations for 2009?MC: "The return to slicks and the smaller rear wings are the most obvious changes; both should generate more overtaking and better racing.
Many believe that Bernie Ecclestone is misusing his power and having too much influence over the regulations in Formula One? Should the teams run the sport and not have a dictator?MC: "Yes, quite definitely."
The BBC has now secured UK coverage of Formula One in a five-year deal – including TV, radio and online streaming rights. What benefits do you believe this will bring to the sport as a whole and for the viewers/fans?MC: "The biggest difference will be no ad breaks, which disrupted coverage however hard ITV Sport tried not to let it. BBC's 'red button' technology will be a bonus for petrol heads, but we were already here 10 years ago with Sky Sports in the John Watson/Ben Edwards era; nothing is new under the sun."
The biggest down is that despite his monopoly on F1 TV, Mr Ecclestone has not invested in the future - HD.
Which Grand Prix/s do you most like writing about and why?MC: "As a commentator, for spectacle, Spa was always the most outstanding to cover. But for its ambience, Montreal was my favourite to be at."
Talk us through a day in the life of a motor racing journalist...MC: "Busy from dawn to dusk - we start playing after dark!"
Who would you most like to see crowned as the 2009 Formula One World Champion? Why?MC: "Robert Kubica - I followed his career through Euro F3 and saw a star there right from the start, in exactly in the same way I followed Lewis Hamilton from his karting days. Robert was to my mind the outstanding driver of 2008."
And finally, a few words on Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor and their planned F1 team...MC: "Although most Americans would rather see a NASCAR race than sit through a grand prix, F1 desperately needs North America. A US team can only help that aim, even if Mr Ecclestone was short-sighted enough to bite off his own nose by axing Indy and Montreal. Anderson and Windsor are both good people, and if anyone can do it, they can. My only reservation is them trying to run a F1 team remotely from North Carolina, when the rest of the teams and technology bases are in Europe."
Interview by Daniel Hewitt
