Bratches urges fans to be patient over F1 changes

Formula One's commercial director Sean Bratches has insisted that everyone behind the scenes at Liberty Media is working tirelessly to try and evolve the sport and gain as much popularity as possible, but did plead with teams and fans alike to be patient with any proposed changes.

Liberty Media have been owners of F1 for nearly a year now and have already implemented radical chassis and aerodynamic changes to the vehicles.

Attendance figures are up, at least according to the American owners, but prize money has been significantly lessened compared to 2016 much to the frustration of the constructor teams.

Bratches insists that Liberty are working 24/7 to make sure any changes come with the sport's best interests at heart.

"I think if you look at this year, I think we've accomplished a significant amount in terms of building an organisation and starting the process," Bratches said.

"This is a journey and not a destination. We have great aspirations for this sport.

"It's not something that you can just flick a switch and things happen, things need to be invested in and nourished and brought to market, and I think you will continue to see a case of announcements, of changes, the broadening of fan touchpoints in terms of how we are going."

Liberty and Bratches have big ideas for Formula One, but the commercial directors has urged fans to be patient with any potential alterations.

"On the commercial side we will be launching, for the first time, a responsive web platform, social capabilities, a live and non-live OTT (over the top) service.

"We were [in Abu Dhabi] until one in the morning crowning the first champion in the Formula 1 eSports. By the way, it's the first time in a while Toro Rosso has a won a championship!

"There is more to come and we are working on those plans, but we are not going to sit here and numerate what all our visions are for the sport.

"We are working hard and when we have something to announce, we will let all of you know, but I can assure you that we are going 24/7 and working to the end make the sport as great as it can be because we believe there is a huge opportunity."