It's Official: Bernie Ecclestone Is No Longer In Charge Of Formula 1

An 86-year-old man has been replaced in his job by a 63-year-old man. Yep, we’re talking about Bernie Ecclestone no longer being CEO of Formula 1.

He’s been at the helm of F1 for over 40 years and has been a controversial figure. But, let’s be honest, he’s made F1 into the huge global sport it is today. So, there’s a lot we have him to thank.

On Monday he revealed in an interview with Auto Motor und Sport that he’d been replaced as F1 CEO by Chase Carey, a former head of 21st Century Fox who had been drafted in by F1’s prospective new owners Liberty Media as chairman.

This was then formally announced a few hours later, alongside the news that Liberty’s 100 per cent takeover of F1 had been completed. So, F1 not only has a new boss, but it has a new owner now too.

Ecclestone’s exit was officially confirmed in the statement, with Carey taking up the role of chairman and CEO. It’s massive shift in power and one that happened much faster than many of us were expecting.

Ecclestone will remain as ‘chairman emeritus’ and will be available as a source of advice for the F1 board. It sounds like a largely symbolic role for Ecclestone, following his four decades in charge, and even he admitted “I have this title now, even though I don’t know what it means.”

But it didn’t end there. Ecclestone’s role hasn’t simply been replaced by one person. No, new managing directors for the sporting and commercial aspects of F1 were also announced.

So, three people are effectively replacing big Bernie E. One of those has a very familiar name for F1 fans.

Former F1 technical director and team boss Ross Brawn is back in F1 as a managing director of motor sports. Having claimed titles with Benetton, Ferrari and his own team, he’s surely the perfect fit to look over the sporting and technical side of F1.

Former ESPN chief Sean Bratches, described by Liberty as one of ESPN’s “most influential leaders”, has been made managing director of the commercial side.

It marks a major, major milestone in F1 history as Ecclestone departs, new owners come in and new people arrive in charge.

Change could be just what F1 needs to take it to whole new levels. Hopefully they’ll take F1 in the right direction, but time will tell.

What do you make of Ecclestone’s exit? Let us know in the comments!