Bernie Ecclestone Tag

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor It emerged over the weekend that those in attendance at last Friday’s meeting of FIA officials and auto manufacturers agreed to abandon F1’s 1.6 liter hybrid power units in 2021 for a simpler engine formula. It effectively granted FIA President Jean Todt’s long held wish to ditch the complex and impressive current engines for an undetermined formula set to fulfill the unlikely wishlist of cheaper, louder, and more powerful. Louder is one thing, that would be met with resounding enthusiasm from most in the sport, especiallyRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Bernie Ecclestone is no longer the chief executive officer of Formula One. His four decade reign atop the sport has come to an end, confirmed by Liberty Media naming Chase Carey as his replacement. Ecclestone who saw the writing on the wall, stepped down graciously and released the following statement. “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 companiesRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor A day after Liberty Media’s shareholders approved the plan to purchase the remaining shares of Formula One from CVC Capital Partners, the World Motor Sport Council and the FIA have approved the sale in full during their meeting today in Geneva. Liberty Media representatives held a special presentation on their plans for F1 with the WMSC representatives and participated in a Q&A session before the deal was unanimously approved. The FIA released the following statement on the historic deal. “The World Motor Sport Council has unanimouslyRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Bernie Ecclestone doesn’t appear to have a ton of faith in the current regime at Ferrari and says that the team should look outside of its Italian roots in order to find success once again. Despite having four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel and 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen, the Maranello-based squad failed to score a win in 2016, scoring just 11 podiums en route to third in the constructors’ standings. Under the leadership of Team Principal Maurizio Arrivabene since November 2014, Ferrari have only managed toRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Liberty Media has announced an agreement with third party investors to raise $1.55 billion dollars in order to move forward with their plan to purchase Formula One from CVC Capital Partners. They are raising the funds through newly issues shares of their stock with the price set at $25 per share. The official release from Liberty is strewn with legal jargon, but the basic gist is that the capital raised from selling the shares will ensure the initial deal they signed with CVC for a fullRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The French Grand Prix will officially return to Formula One in 2018. The news which broke just days ago, was confirmed today during a press conference at the Automobile Club de France in Paris. As previously reported the race will return the Grand Prix to the Paul Ricard Circuit, which last hosted a Grand Prix in 1990. Since then the track has mainly been used as an extensive testing facility and only held low level F3 and touring car series races. The contract gives the promoters valuableRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The French Grand Prix is poised to make a surprise return to the Formula One calendar in 2018, after an absence of a decade. The race, last hosted by the rural Magny-Cours circuit in 2008, will come to the Paul Ricard circuit, where the French Grand Prix was previously held between 1971 and 1990. The track is owned by Bernie Ecclestone’s family trust, but the F1 supremo has insisted that they will rent the circuit to the event promoters for the Grand Prix in order toRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor After incredibly lengthy negotiations, the contract to extend the Italian Grand Prix at Monza through 2019 has finally been signed. It came after months of rumor and speculation on the future of the race. It came after Imola challenged to move the race. It came after Bernie Ecclestone and Angelo Sticchi Damiani butted heads several times. News of the new contract being agreed to broke during the Italian Grand Prix weekend back at the beginning of September, but officials insisted there were still small details toRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor US based Liberty Media’s $8 billion buyout plan of Formula One is set to face its first regulatory hurdle as the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) may mount an investigation into the plan to ensure that the deal doesn’t violate antitrust and anti-competition laws. The CMA released the following statement on the matter. “The CMA is considering whether it is or may be the case that this transaction has resulted in the creation of a relevant merger situation under the merger provisions of the Enterprise ActRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Ross Brawn, the legendary former team principal and technical director who oversaw massive success at Benetton, Ferrari, Brawn, and Mercedes is set to return to the Formula One paddock in 2017. But it won’t be in the familiar role of working with a team, instead he will take up the role of Sporting Director. The news, broken by esteemed journalist James Allen is very interesting; Brawn will not replace Bernie Ecclestone, nor have any dealings with the commercial aspect of the sport. He will mainly actRead More