Last weekend we published an interview with Bernie Ecclestone, the commercial boss of Formula One, on topics such as the digital future of Formula One and the future ownership of the series at a time when there are bids in the air.

On Friday, the official Formula 1 Web site published an interview with Martin Whitmarsh, the director of the McLaren Mercedes team, in which he discusses some of the same issues. It is interesting to compare the point of view of the promoter with that of a team director — to see the future of Formula One through the eyes of two of the signatories to the Concorde Agreement, the commercial agreement that governs the series.

Ecclestone and the teams are sometimes at odds about the sports’ future, so take a look at both interviews for a balanced look at the current thinking.

Ecclestone spoke about how he has been told that F1 should chase down and develop ideas for new media, but that no one seems to have any idea what direction that should take. Whitmarsh, too, said F1 should develop the new media, but he seemed a little behind the times in saying that TV will soon come to telephones — it already has, including F1 races. He also said that perhaps no one within Formula One really understands the new media.

“You can’t hold new developments back, so we need to bring in expertise that probably doesn’t exist in Formula One today,” Whitmarsh said.

As for the prospects for a change in ownership, and the recent talk of News Corp. taking over F1, I suspect that the scandal surrounding News Corp. now will make it unlikely that the company would make a bid for the series in the immediate future.