Ecclestone: Sale price of F1 has been agreed

Speculation that CVC, which holds a 35 percent stake in the sport, is poised to finally off-load its share of grand prix racing has been rife for several months.

But despite rumours of interested parties from America or China buying CVC out, there has not yet been any public developments.

But in an interview with The Mail on Sunday, Ecclestone has suggested that talks may well be more advanced than some suspect.

"I think CVC will make a decision on the sale sooner or later," he said.

"There are people who want to buy. Actually, two of the people have agreed the price. It's just a question of whether CVC wants to sell or not."

The fate of CVC's ownership of F1 comes at a particularly interesting time amid intense criticism about the sport's governance processes which has left it unable to change its much-criticised elimination qualifying format for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Speaking about how things might be different if F1 had new owners, Ecclestone said: "You don't know what's going to happen until somebody buys and you see what they are like. How do you know if you will get on with them?'

No more races

Ecclestone also made it clear that F1's current schedule of 21 races would not be expanding in the future, despite hinting that Las Vegas was a contender.

"We have got 21 races now. It could go more, but I don't think it will," he said.

"It's enough. Some of the guys at the teams are shattered.

"[Vegas] have a contract. Vegas would be super."