Bernie Ecclestone has had a dig at F1’s new owners in his first TV interview since being ousted by Liberty Media.
Ecclestone is clearly not impressed by suggestions from the new management that the F1 business was not well run in recent years.
“I think people have got muddled up a bit,” he told the UK’s Sky Sports F1. “These people have thought and said, 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, and 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.”
Asked if he would have kicked out the manager of a business he just bought he said: “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. 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.”
Ecclestone said that he expects to be at half the races this year, but admitted that he doesn’t know what his new chairman emeritus job title means.
“I don't know what it is. No idea. I'd like some rules and regulations perhaps, so I know what I'm supposed to do, or not supposed to do.”
