18/03/2017
NEWS STORY
Whatever your opinion of Bernie Ecclestone - and everyone has one - one has to admit that while there were areas of the sport in which he failed, or was certainly behind the times, in most others he succeeded.
Over the course of his 40-year reign he turned Formula One into one of the most popular, most watched annual championships.
In addition to giving a structure to the sport by means of agreements which guaranteed so many teams and so many races, he took it from its elitist roots and made it mainstream.
The numerous multi-millionaire inhabitants of Planet Paddock have him to thank, as do the sport's previous owners CVC, who reaped billions from their investment merely by letting the man get on with his job.
Yes, there were scandals along the way, and not everyone agreed with his autocratic methods, while in terms of marketing and promotion he was decades behind the times and showing no sign of catching up.
However, when Liberty Media bought F1, one fully expected the sport's new owner to keep Ecclestone in place, if only working alongside Chase Carey, rather than having access to the full powers he enjoyed before, if only to benefit from the Briton's 40-plus years of experience... experience that helped build an $8bn business Liberty was only too happy to buy.
Instead, on buying the sport, Liberty gave Ecclestone a new job title (Chairman Emeritus), and shunted him off to the sidelines, leaving Carey, Sean Bratches (commercial) and Ross Brawn (sporting) to take over.
Ecclestone admits he is surprised by the decision not to make use of him, if only for the first year.
Asked if he felt "let down", the Briton told Sky Sports: "Not at all. I know the way the world operates."
Asked if he would have made the same changes, he continued: "Probably not. I would have asked them to work with me for a bit, wait for a year and afterwards say 'has it worked, not worked?' 'Not worked? Sorry, you'll have to leave,' or whatever.
"But different people operate companies differently, obviously," he admitted. "I think this is very much the way American companies operate. Let's be absolutely sensible about it: they bought the car, they wanted to drive it."
Liberty clearly has the intention of doing things its own way, indeed, we understand that as they await the finishing touches to a new HQ for F1, away from Bernie Ecclestone's old Princes Gate HQ, Carey, Bratches and Brawn are working in their own London office and have virtually no interaction with FOM.
Having described Ecclestone's methods as dictatorial, Carey claimed that the sport had been allowed to "stagnate" and "not grown to its full potential".
"I think people have got muddled up a bit," says Ecclestone. "These people have thought, and Chase has said, that I hadn't done a very good job in the last three years.
"I thought I had, CVC thought I had," he continues, "I managed to produce $1.5 billion-a-year income, which made their shares worth a lot of money... maybe if I'd have done a lousy job people could have bought the shares cheaper."
While CVC focussed on its annual dividend, Liberty is looking further ahead, with Carey and his team charged with further growing the sport.
"I'm envious of him because he can do some of the things that I wanted to do and couldn't do because I was here to run the company and make it profitable," said Ecclestone. "That's what my job was as chief executive. He's got the luxury of maybe not having to worry about those things, but maybe he thinks that he can make the fans happy. But the only way you really make them happy is to have good competition.
"The product that we have had is not a product that is easy to sell and therefore it's not easy for people to embrace. But if this year the racing is good, it will be easier for sure. And that's what I hope happens."
This weekend Ecclestone will be in Brazil visiting his ranch, and while he doesn't know exactly what his new job title entails, he will mix the visit with some company business.
"The only thing Chase has asked me to do, as he knows I'm going to Brazil this weekend, is to chat to the president to see if he will put some money into the race. Otherwise it's possible we are going to lose that race, which I wouldn't like to do as I put it there 45-odd years ago and it's a good race."
As for the Chairman Emeritus bit... "I'd like some rules and regulations perhaps so I know what I'm supposed to do, or not supposed to do," he admits.