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'Things weren't done that needed to be done' under Ecclestone - Carey

Formula 1 CEO and chairman Chase Carey has expressed his frustration over the missed opportunities for the sport under former ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone, stressing the need to market it more.

Carey took over the day-to-day running of F1 in January when American company Liberty Media completed its $8 billion takeover of the sport, ending Ecclestone's 40-year stint as its chief.

Liberty is in the process of outlining it vision for F1, and has already made a number of key hires in marketing and commercial roles.

Speaking to Press Association, Carey expressed his belief that Ecclestone had missed some key opportunities to grow F1 in recent years, with Liberty looking to change stance.

"Day-to-day I find a level of frustration. It was very much a sport that got into a habit of saying 'no' too much," Carey said.

"I want to be saying 'yes' to a whole lot more. What is the value of having an idea if the answer to everything you want to do is 'no'? All it does is create frustration.

"There are an array of things that weren't done that needed to be done. We felt it was a sport that for the last five or six years had really not been managed to its full potential or taken advantage of what was here.

"All of us make mistakes and nobody is perfect. Bernie took a business from decades ago and sold it for eight billion dollars. He deserves all the credit in the world for what he has done.

"But in today's world you need to market a sport. We were not marketing the sport. When you have someone so identified with the sport for such a long period of time there is always going to be some degree of complexity. I will do what I think is right.

"Bernie's style was divide and conquer - to keep everything very close - but we want it to be a spirit of partnership in that we compete on the track.

"The teams, the promoters, Formula 1 and the FIA all have a shared vision of where we want the sport to go and building it in a way that is healthy for everybody."

Carey also explained Liberty's push to make more short-term gains instead of thinking solely about the long-term.

"It has been three months and we have been very clear that one of the things the sport has not been served well by is a continued short-term focus, and what we are going to do next week," Carey said.

"We care more about where the sport is going to be three years from now than three months from now. Bernie was always very focused on the short term, and our focus is on building long-term value.

"Some of the decisions that were made needed to have a better process to think through. The current engine, for example, ended up being too complicated, too expensive, and lost some of the sound that added to the mystique of the sport.

"We will do things and some things take time - you are not going to have a new engine in two months because if you tried to do that you are going to do more harm than good."

Zdroj: crash.net