Liberty to ’unleash’ new social media era

F1 is already turning a sharp corner in the early days of the post-Bernie Ecclestone era.

Former Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo told Italian radio Rai this week that the way the 86-year-old was ousted by Liberty Media was "not nice".

But others are hailing the sport’s first post-Ecclestone steps.

For instance, teams were notably allowed to take more video footage of the paddock for social media as official testing began on Monday — something fiercely limited by Ecclestone in the past.

"They (Liberty) seem very keen to embrace ideas to make the sport more accessible and entertaining," Horner, who is a strong Ecclestone ally, said.

Also happier is Lewis Hamilton, who says he was consistently warned about taking social media footage inside the paddock under Ecclestone’s reign.

But on Monday he ’tweeted’: "Through testing I’ll be live on Instagram from the cockpit to give you something new".

The change of heart follows a recent lunch between Hamilton, the triple world champion, and F1’s new commercial managing director Sean Bratches.

"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.