Ross Brawn Returning to F1

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http://www.espn.co.uk/video/clip?id=18418077

Edited January 24, 2017 by afx

[Xingu]

During part of that interview, it sounds like he is petitioning for Bernie's job.

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That's my take as well Mike.  I think Ross would certainly move F1 forward.  Bernie want so much control over F1's content that the sport has a difficult time attracting new fans.  In addition Bernie's push for every increasing licensing fees is pushing a lot of the great traditional tracks out of the sport.  Bernie has said holding an F1 race is the equivalent for the host city/country getting the Olympics (!!)  He doesn't expect that a race promoter can actual make money on the event.  He expects governments to subsidize the costs.

[dublin boy]

I'm reading the  Tom Bower  book called 'No Angel, the secret life Bernie Ecclestone"

It's very interesting JC.

ISBN 978-0-571-26936-5 is the updated version.

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Part 2:

http://www.espn.co.uk/video/clip?id=18435609

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Ross Brawn returns to F1 in new management role

 

Former Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn will return to Formula One in a key role with the sport's new owners.

On Monday, Liberty Media confirmed it had completed the purchase of Formula One and replaced CEO Bernie Ecclestone with its own chairman Chase Carey. In a separate announcement, Brawn was named as managing director, motor sports and former ESPN executive Sean Bratches was named as managing director, commercial operations.

Brawn's experience as one of the sport's most successful technical directors and the main architect behind Mercedes' recent domination of the sport means he is ideally suited to a role overseeing the future direction of F1.

"It's fantastic to be returning to the world of Formula One," Brawn said. "I've enjoyed consulting with Liberty Media these last few months and I'm looking forward to working with Chase, Sean and the rest of the Formula 1 Team to help the evolution of the sport. We have an almost unprecedented opportunity to work together with the teams and promoters for a better F1 for them and, most importantly, for the fans."

"I am delighted to welcome Ross back to Formula One," Carey added. "In his 40 years in the sport, he's brought his magic touch to every team with which he has worked, has almost unparalleled technical knowledge, experience and relationships, and I have already benefitted greatly from his advice and expertise."

Liberty has made no secret of its plans to promote the sport in the U.S.A. as well as increase its digital presence worldwide. Bratches is expected to draw on his experience as the executive vice president of sales and marketing at ESPN to achieve those goals.

"I'm very excited to be joining Formula One and contribute to the continued growth of this extraordinary global brand and sport," he said. "Formula One is one of few truly global tier one sports, and I am encouraged by the manifold opportunities to materially grow the business, work closely with current and future sponsors, race circuits, television rights holders as well as create next generation digital and on-site race experiences to best serve the Formula One fans."

Carey added: "I am thrilled Sean is joining Formula One. Sean was a driving force in building ESPN into one of the world's leading sports franchises. His expertise and experience in sales, marketing, digital media, and distribution will be invaluable as we grow Formula One. "I look forward to working with Ross and Sean, as well as key current executives including Duncan Llowarch, our CFO, and Sacha Woodward Hill, our General Counsel, the FIA, Bernie and Liberty as we work together to make Formula One the best it can be for the teams, promoters and fans for years to come."

Edited January 24, 2017 by afx

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End of the road for Ecclestone as Liberty complete F1 takeover

 

Bernie Ecclestone's four-decade reign as the ruler of Formula One is over after American company Liberty Media completed its £6 billion purchase of the sport.

Chase Carey, who was already installed as the sport's chairman, replaces Ecclestone as chief executive officer.

Ecclestone, 86, has been handed the role of chairman emeritus, and will be available as a source to the new board, but he will no longer be involved in the day-to-day running of Formula One for the first time since the 1970s. .

"I'm proud of the business that I built over the last 40 years and all that I have achieved with Formula One, and would like to thank all of the promoters, teams, sponsors and television companies that I have worked with," Ecclestone said.

"I'm very pleased that the business has been acquired by Liberty and that it intends to invest in the future of F1. I am sure that Chase will execute his role in a way that will benefit the sport."

Earlier in quotes carried by German publication Auto, Motor and Sport, Ecclestone appeared to suggest he had been forced out by the new owners.

He said: "I was deposed today. This is official, I do not run the company any more. My position has been taken by Chase Carey.

"My new position is one of those American terms -- it's something like an honorary president. I have this title now, even though I don't know what it means."

He added: "My days in the office will be getting quieter now. Maybe I will attend a grand prix sometime in the future. I still have many friends in Formula One and I still have enough money to afford to attend a race."

Ecclestone, who turns 87 in October, has ruled Formula One for 40 years. But American company Liberty has now put their own team in place after clearing the final hurdle of their purchase.

American Carey, the 21st Century Fox vice chairman, was installed as the new Formula One chairman when Liberty agreed to take control from private equity firm CVC Capital Partners last September.

Speaking to the Press Association last week, Ecclestone said of his future: "We will have to see how we set the company up.

"It is not a case of my terms, it is a case of let's have a look and see which way they would like to go.

"It is something that would have happened anyway. We need to put something together if I am not here because I have become deceased or something and it is about time we did that.

"We were in the middle [of that] and when we knew these people were probably going to buy we backed off and thought 'let's wait because they own the company and it is up to them to decide who or what they want'."

When Liberty bought an 18.7 percent stake from CVC in September, Ecclestone said the prospective new owners wanted him to stay on as chief executive for three years.

"That is what they asked for," Ecclestone added. "In fact we are going to try to put together people that can look after all the things I have been trying to find people to do, which is the sponsorship and things like that.

"As I said, let's see how we are going to operate."

Liberty, run by 75-year-old American John Malone -- given the nickname Darth Vadar for his hard-line approach -- is keen to expand Formula One in the United States, improve the sport's reach on social media, while safeguarding the future of its traditional venues.

Liberty's portfolio includes Virgin Media and baseball's Atlanta Braves. It also holds a large share of the Discovery Communications group.

On Wednesday last week, a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council, which includes FIA president Jean Todt and Ecclestone, agreed to Liberty's purchase of Formula One, 24 hours after the company's shareholders gave the green light to press on with the deal.

"They [the FIA] didn't have any choice," Ecclestone added. "They had no way they could not approve, unless the people that were going to come in were bandits.

"The only reason we had the meeting is because we wanted changes to the FOM [Formula One Management] contract -- little changes -- and they were all approved. No dramas.

"I think that [the deal] should happen within the next three or four weeks."

Asked if he expected Liberty to be the sport's new owners in time for the start of the season in Melbourne on March 26, Ecclestone added: "Yes. Absolutely. One hundred percent."

[Xingu]

So it was an interview hidden in an interview. He got part of (an important part) Bernie's job.

[935k3]

In other words Bernie "you're fired"   Actually I will miss him, he was an interesting character to say the least.  A classic Bernie moment Bernie and the revolving door.

Edited January 24, 2017 by 935k3