Guenther Steiner, operational chief of the US -owned Haas team, believes the arrival of a USA company should not only boost the sport’s presence in that key market, but might bring about some blue-sky thinking.
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“They are obviously part of a very serious group and I can’t believe a company like Liberty would buy into Formula One at the value that has been rumoured without a long-term game plan”.
A more even distribution of money, as well as cost-cutting measures, will help mid-tier teams such as Force India and Sauber be more competitive in races, Sauber’s team principal Monisha Kaltenborn said.
Bernie Ecclestone (L) arrives at the paddock ahead of Formula One Singapore GP.
“I think it’s an interesting idea”. “So I think we’ll wait to hear what their plans are in detail but everything we have heard so far has been very positive”.
“I think hopefully for the USA market it could be a great thing and some of the other platforms like the digital and social platforms could also be very interesting”, Horner said.
“They’ve asked me to stay on in my position, Chase is going to be chairman”. “It’s hard to see Formula One without Bernie so I think hopefully he will stay and we will see him every weekend as we have been doing for the last 16, 17 years in my case but forever in Formula One”. The American media company has already outlined its key objectives for the sport in the next few years, while it also said it would be happy with the teams buying a stake in the sport.
Upon Brundle suggesting that he would have to work with Carey, Ecclestone replied: “The only thing I have to do is die and pay my tax”. “But obviously it does make sense for the teams to be a participant in the shareholding”. “That is the mindset that we bring and hopefully it will enable us to bring Formula 1 to the next level”. I think for the teams to take a minority shareholding would make sense and to offer it to all the teams under the same terms would make total sense.
F1 has historically struggled to maintain a consistent presence in the United States market, which many have said is a result of Ecclestone’s business model of demanding such large fees from circuits for the rights to hold the race that they struggle to establish a workable business plan.
“So someone must have done an fantastic job to get that price tag on our sport, just for the commercial rights, that’s pretty impressive”.
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He saw opportunities for stepping up investment “in all sorts of areas” including marketing and new digital platforms as well as making tracks more exciting.
