Chase-Carey-&-Bernie-Ecclestone-Fight
Formula One’s Emperor Nero Dethroned By A Large Moustache
Formula One

Time is nobody’s friend, it is only an enemy waiting until the end is near before suddenly striking without warning. At 86 years old Bernie Ecclestone has had plenty of time at the very top of Formula One but now his tenure as the defacto leader of the sport is at an end. Ecclestone confirmed the move by telling Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport “I was dismissed. This is official. I no longer run the company. My position has been taken by Chase Carey.”

Carey is the the Vice Chairman of 21st Century Fox, he was picked by a US media conglomerate Liberty Media to lead a $8bn bid to buy Formula One. After due diligence procedures had finished and the deal completed on Monday Carey’s first act was to remove Ecclestone as F1’s Chief Executive.

Ecclestone is one of those old school wheeler dealers who worked his way to the top and in his 40 years in charge of F1 he transformed the sport into the multi-billion dollar enterprise it is today. He was at times divisive as he was respected and was never shy to deliver straight talk.

Carey is a product of modern business practices, a post-graduate of Harvard University, Carey has had a successful business career at the heart of the Fox corporation since 1988.

Carey’s annexation of Ecclestone as the head of F1 to a undefined role looks like a cold and calculated cull.

Carey announced that Ross Brawn, the former Ferrari technical director, F1 team owner and ex-Mercedes team boss, has been hired to lead the sporting and technical side of F1.

Carey moved Ecclestone to the role of chairman emeritus, which is effectively retiring with distinction and honours. It’s a ”thank you for your service role, now let us get on with the day-to-day business”.

Ecclestone’s legacy within F1 is what he has left behind, he built a formidable business that students at institutions such as Harvard Business school will study for years to come.

But no Harvard Business School graduate could ever have built such a business, because studying business is completely different to actually generating business.

In business you need to be shrewd, a tough negotiator, you need vision and a rough working plan of how to get to the next level, and if you can’t get there then you try other routes.

Ecclestone had this instinctive capacity to generate revenues wired into his brain. You can’t study to be like an Ecclestone you either have it or you don’t. That’s what F1 will miss.

While F1 viewing figures will always ebb and flow and discussions about how to improve the sporting spectacle will rage on, no one can be in any doubt of Ecclestone’s massive contribution.

When F1 as a sport grew rich the teams within F1 grew rich. Some more than others.

But as this post began time has effectively caught out Ecclestone, it hasn’t caught up with him just yet, even at age 86.

Chase-Carey-&-Bernie-Ecclestone-Fight
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