Liberty CEO: The fans are incredibly important to us

Liberty Media and Formula One chief executive officer Chase Carey has claimed that fans of the sport are 'incredibly important' to the year-long owners, but insists that the supporters need to embrace change better as the sport continues to evolve and develop.

The American organisation has been in charge of F1 for just over a year now and have polarised opinion with their changes, with their recent decision to scrap the use of grid girls leading many to lament the ditch of tradition.

This, along with the introduction of the halo device and the limit of engines to three per season, has seen Liberty come under increased scrutiny, but Carey has pleaded with fans to be patient with the changes.

"The fans are incredibly important to us," he told Bild, "just as Europe - including Germany - is our base."

"So our motto is: same game, different approach. We want to create a product that includes everything the fans grew up with, but that is not frozen in time. Because if you do not allow change, you cannot grow. Bernie Ecclestone said himself in 2016 that he would not buy a ticket to a race. There was a negative spiral and we had to break it."

The American insists that the highest quality of motorsport can still be found in F1, and mentioned the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen as major stars, even if it is his wish that the current world champion has a much tougher time winning in the 2018 campaign that he did last year.

"Lewis Hamilton is a very special personality, Half of Holland comes to the races to see Max Verstappen, and Ferrari is the brightest light in the sport," Carey continued.

"Last year it was too much of a duel between Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. I wish that sometimes an underdog would win rather than only the favourites. Can Fernando Alonso win again? Can McLaren attack with Renault? Will Verstappen have more luck than in the first half of 2017? They would all be nice scenarios."