‘F1 needs fresh start after ‘dictator’ Ecclestone’

LONDON: Bernie Ecclestone’s fourdecade reign as a “dictator” of Formula One had to end if the sport is to get the fresh start it needs, new chairman and chief executive Chase Carey says.

Ecclestone’s time as the colourful ringmaster of the Grand Prix circuit was effectively finished on Monday when US-based Liberty Media completed its takeover of motorsport’s most prestigious brand in a deal valued at about $8 billion. While the 86-year-old Ecclestone, a former car salesman, was widely credited with transforming Formula One into a multi-billion global business, there have been growing complaints in recent years that the sport has failed to modernise under the Englishman’s no-nonsense leadership.

There has also been the view inside and outside the sport — and a concern shared by Carey — that it is wrong for one man to wield as much power as Ecclestone did in F1.

Despite sidelining Ecclestone to an advisory role as “chairman emeritus” Carey stressed to the BBC that he had “tremendous respect” for Ecclestone and will value his input. But he said that F1 “needs to be run differently than for the last four or five years”.

“He has run this sport for his entire adult life and I respect completely that this is a difficult change,” Carey said.

“We have tried to deal with him with the respect he’s due, which is why we offered him the chairman emeritus title. “He calls himself a dictator. He has run it as a one-man dictator for a long time. I think the sport needs a fresh perspective.”