Haas driver Romain Grosjean thinks Formula One's new American owners could be important in improving broadcasting and taking the sport to a whole new generation of fans.
Last week John Malone's Liberty Media announced it has agreed to purchase a controlling stake in F1 in a deal worth $6.4 billion. The group has already outlined five key objectives for F1, including "promotion and marketing of F1 as a sport and brand" and enhancing the distribution of the content beyond the existing formats.
Liberty is also expected to use its experience and expertise from American sport to improve fan engagement in F1 and Grosjean thinks it's important the new owners change the perception of the sport.
When asked if the new owners could bring a new era in fan engagement, he replied: "It could ... People that don't know F1 don't think it is a sport. You drive a car... it is G's [forces], it is temperature and so on, but it is hard to translate it on TV.
"With new technologies to show that the drivers are having a tough time in the car, people will try to follow more. With all the technology, the platform they have... you could get fan engagement through every social media platform we have today."
Grosjean believes it is important to emphasise how difficult it is to be an F1 driver, something he does not think is appreciated in the wider sporting world.
"[Showing driver heartrate] could be fun. They do it in Tour de France with some of the riders. How many kilos you need to put on the brake pedal to stop the car... the G's is great but for someone that doesn't know what 5Gs in the braking, what does it mean?
"It is the same as downhill skiing... if you go to Kitzbuhel and you see the slope you say 'f---', this is not f---ing around! It is hard to show it on TV."
As part of America's first F1 team since 1986, Grosjean thinks the future success of Haas could be instrumental in determining how perceptions of the sport change.
"I think [American owners] is pretty cool. Americans know how to produce a good show if you look at Superbowl or NASCAR, I think for the audience it is something we can improve. A second GP in the US, maybe in the West Coast would be good.
"It is so hard to follow what is going on in F1 because most of the races are 3am or 4am so it is difficult to follow the race live. If Haas becomes more successful then people will start to follow more and it could be a great thing ... I think it is great for F1, it is such a big market, so having them in F1 is a great thing."