F1 is better off working with the partners they have says McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

Martin Whitmarsh

What became clear is that the teams want to work together. It’s the first time in 60 years that the teams are working better together. Historically, the teams have fought each other, they fought with the FIA and FOM, so it was kind of a battlefield.

What we are trying now is to collaborate in a manner that promotes partnership. There are new suitors, whatever, but we think we are better off working with the partners that we have. Bernie (Ecclestone) knows the sport and has done many great things for the sport, CVC are the owners, so we have got to be respectful.

But that doesn’t mean that we always have to agree and doesn’t mean that we will agree all the time, but I think it is better to find good and constructive ways of working together, rather than saying, ‘Oh, here is someone new, whom we don’t know, who wants to buy the sport so let’s rush off in that direction’.

In my view that would be the wrong thing to do. We all have flaws and weaknesses, but if we can work together that would be the best option. This is a fantastic sport. There are only two global sports: soccer and Formula One. And of course we can do better and we always should be open to embrace new technologies, opportunities and new challenges, but we are better off doing this with people we know - probably - than suddenly saying we must go off in a different direction.