Ecclestone: No change coming to F1 management

Recent speculation has linked sponsor guru Zak Brown and former team boss Ross Brawn with senior roles in grand prix racing as new shareholders Liberty plan to expand F1.

But Ecclestone insists that talk of fresh blood at the top is premature, as he makes it clear nothing will be changing until at least a new ‘Concorde Agreement’ is in place after 2019.

When asked by the official F1 website what his message to fans is about rumours of new F1 chiefs, he said: “Well, I can assure them that as far as the company is concerned it stays as it is - there will be no change.

“There can be different shareholders - and the shareholders that are now coming on board are probably going to be more commercial than CVC were. That is about it.”

He said that the terms of the current bilateral agreements with teams would remain unchanged too.

“We have an agreement with the teams - and that will stay as it is,” he said. “And there will be the usual discussions for the renewal of the agreement with the teams. It is a commercial agreement. Let’s see what happens.”

Gambling not suitable

Liberty Media has spoke openly about ideas it thinks can help life F1 to the next level, with gambling having been singled out as one avenue to explore.

However, Ecclestone poured cold water on the idea, saying that previous owners CVC had deemed it impractical.

“I have looked into gambling three or four years ago,” he said. “CVC own a company called Sky Bet, which is very important in England. But in the end the gambling concept was not found suitable.”