Formula 1: life after Bernie
Talk about the end of an era, said Giles Richards in The Guardian. After spending almost four decades in charge of Formula 1, Bernie Ecclestone has finally been “ousted” from the top of the sport. US conglomerate Liberty Media completed its £6bn takeover of F1 this week, and replaced the 86-year-old with Chase Carey, the vice-chairman of 21st Century Fox. Ecclestone isn’t out the door entirely; he’ll stay on as “chairman emeritus”, offering advice to the board. But the British billionaire “will no longer be involved in the day-to-day running of Formula 1, for the first time since the 1970s”.
Ecclestone’s impact on the sport is immeasurable, said Andrew Benson on BBC Sport online. After starting out as a team boss, he became a middleman between the teams and the powers that be, before slowly moving “into a position of almost absolute power”. Under his management, F1 evolved from being “a relatively minority activity into one of the biggest television sports in the world”. But Ecclestone has also been widely criticised. His demands for huge fees left several much-loved European racetracks unable to afford to host a Grand Prix, and their slots on the calendar were filled by wealthy but controversial nations such as Bahrain, Russia and Azerbaijan. Ecclestone has also come under fire for creating a prize structure “skewed in favour of the bigger and richer teams”; for making several questionable rule changes; and for not using social media and the internet to expand the sport’s fan base. With attendance numbers down and fans turning off, his departure will not be widely mourned.
His successor may be just the man to “drag F1 kicking and screaming into the 21st century”, said Oliver Brown in The Daily Telegraph. Carey has identified motor racing’s biggest problem as marketing. The British Grand Prix is “the best attended event on this country’s sporting calendar”, yet outside Silverstone “it can be difficult to discern that it is even happening”. Carey has many bold plans, said Kate Walker on ESPN. He wants to turn each Grand Prix into a “highly anticipated Super Bowl-type event”, and to treat the teams more fairly, with deals that don’t favour Ferrari and other big hitters. With luck, Liberty’s takeover will mark an end to Ecclestone’s “divide and conquer leadership”, and usher in a more stable era that’s also more engaging for fans. “We can but hope.”