Croft demands major change: 'Stop the FIA being F1 rule-makers'

Since taking ownership of the Formula One Group in 2016, Liberty Media has overseen the massive growth of the sport all across the planet, particularly in the United States.

This has largely been as a result of the successful Netflix documentary Formula 1: Drive to Survive, which was released following the 2018 season.

New regulations introduced in 2022 by F1 and the FIA were crafted in an attempt to make racing more competitive and easier for cars to follow. However, given the dominating success of Red Bull and Max Verstappen, races have become more predictable as time has gone on - Verstappen has won 10 of the 12 races in 2023, with his teammate Sergio Perez taking the other two.

When asked about the subject and what he would like to see changed in Formula 1, Croft told the Sky F1 podcast: “First and foremost, I’d have to stop the FIA being the rule-makers.

“That’s the trouble the commercial rights holder (Liberty Media) has, it’s that they don’t make the rules – they can have an influence because they have a standing on the F1 Commission, but they don’t make the rules… the FIA does.

“I think the time has come in F1 to actually bring the two parties a lot more closely aligned.”

While Croft admitted F1 had a large say in the current regulations along with the FIA, he still feels the sport should place more importance on it’s marketing by giving more power to Liberty Media: “They are a lot more closely aligned and these regulation changes had been driven by F1 rather than the FIA.

“But we need to think about the show and the spectacle. Marketing sometimes needs to be a bit more important than engineering. But we need to also keep that balance in engineering as well.”