BARCELONA (Reuters) - Formula One's new owners signalled a break from the Bernie Ecclestone era on Monday by giving teams and drivers greater freedom to engage with fans on social media from inside the circuit confines. Ecclestone, ousted as the sport's commercial supremo in January after Liberty Media completed their takeover, was famously sceptical about social media and highly controlling of all video content from inside the paddock. Liberty Media have made fan engagement a priority, however, and are determined to build the brand through social media and digital channels. Teams were told in guidelines issued ahead of the first day of pre-season testing in Barcelona on Monday that they could now "shoot short-form video for use on the team's own social channels" from inside the paddock. "In the immediacy, what we can see is that Formula One will perhaps be made slightly more accessible."

Source: The Star February 27, 2017 16:18 UTC