Liberty to unleash new social media era

Formula 1 is already turning a sharp corner as the sport re-writes itself following the ousting of long time supremo Bernie Eccelstone. Former Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo told Italian radio Rai this week that the way the 86-year-old was ditched by Liberty Media was "not nice".

At this years pre-season testing, teams are allowed to take videos of the pit-lane and their cars to share on social media, something that Bernie Ecclestone aggressively limited during his reign. 

"They (Liberty Media) seem very keen to embrace ideas to make the sport more accessible and entertaining," said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. 

Lewis Hamilton, who is always looking to give fans more of an insight, tweeted on Monday: "Through testing I'll be live on Instagram from the cockpit to give you something new." The Briton was warned many times about what he could and couldn't do while under the ruling of Ecclestone,

F1's new commercial managing director Sean Bratches says that he recently had lunch with the triple world champion to get his views on the social media situation. 

"As a world champion, as a culture carrier of the sport, I wanted his point of view on what we are doing right (and) where are the opportunities to do things better", Bratches told the Times newspaper.

"I think that there are going to be guidelines to unleash Lewis, give him the ability to use F1 iconography to drive his brand which in turn helps drive our brand," he added.