Ron Dennis believes Formula One teams need to re-invent themselves if they are to survive in the current multi-media world and attract a wider fan base.

McLaren Group chairman and CEO Dennis is pressing ahead with his own team's plans to be at the forefront of any change and to adapt to the demands being placed upon it.

With F1 audiences declining, both watching at home on television and at some circuits, Dennis feels McLaren has to take the initiative rather than sit and wait for instructions.

"I think Formula One teams need to re-invent themselves," said Dennis. "You can't wait for other people to do it, so we're doing it our way and hopefully we can constructively contribute to the future of Formula One because we have to change.

"The model we have is the model we've evolved over the years, and evolution is not always a good way to move forward.

"So we can either embrace change and use it, or ignore it at one's peril."

Expressing his concerns with regard to viewing figures and spectator numbers, Dennis feels that altering McLaren is a step in the right direction.

"If you analyse television, TV is somewhere between 40 and 45 per cent down on everything," added Dennis. "Formula One has actually held its own much better than many other sports, but actually numbers are down, so analyse why and then do something that's based on the facts.

"How can we go to Silverstone and Austria and it be absolutely full, and then we go to Germany and it's half full? There must be a reason. We can all guess, but that's not very scientific.

"We've really got to understand why these things happen. Is it ticketing prices? Is it national heroes etcetera?

"Whatever it is we have to address it, and my view is to start from changing McLaren, because we're competitive and can contribute to the future of Formula One in a very constructive way."

Dennis feels more could be done across the board, though, to make F1 more attractive to fans, sponsors, investors and promoters.

"We cannot be egotistical about the fact that what we just have to do is televise the race," Dennis said. "We absolutely need more data on the screen and we need to have deeper levels of engagement with younger people.

"But it is not just about the race itself: We have to be everything.

"The race is a little bit like a trapeze act at the end of a circus show. Everybody anticipates there is going to be a crescendo, which is the trapeze act.

"At present we are not doing a quality enough job on all the other acts and the process by which we build up to the grand prix itself. Could we make the grand prix better? Yes.

"That is just about the fact the cars are too easy to drive: for me they have to be more powerful, more of a handful, but not tomorrow, in one or two years.

"My own view is we should commission stylists to create what a new F1 car should look like. It should be something where a child is itching to grab it and go 'zoom, zoom'. It has to be futuristic.

"We should have low-profile treaded tyres, so it has more relevance to tyre manufacturers and encourages them in and we have another tyre war.

"These are the sort of things we need to consider, but at long range.

"Then, when we have all got comfortable, maybe some of that can come forward a little bit and stimulate the race."