Former F1 owner Bernie Ecclestone hasn’t been a fan of how Liberty Media has been running F1 since they took over in 2017. The British business tycoon has expressed his opinions of how Liberty is taking the sport in an “American” direction. Although since the $4.4 billion dollar takeover, Liberty has strengthened F1’s popularity in the USA relatively more than Bernie’s regime.

Bernie Ecclestone was the head honcho of F1 for 4 decades before Liberty took over. Since then, the pinnacle of motorsport has undergone a major renaissance.

Ahead of the 2022 Miami GP, Ecclestone spoke to Bloomberg, expressing his thoughts on how he doesn’t like the new direction of Formula 1. He said, “They’re producing Formula 1: American Style, It may well be that it’s good, because so many stupid things come out of America and everyone’s happy, but it wasn’t the way I ran things.”

Back in 2018, when it was Liberty’s initial years running F1, Bernie mentioned that Liberty Media might ruin Formula 1. He said, “Liberty could distort and ruin F1 because they have no experience. The FIA must be the master of the kingdom.”

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From a marketing perspective, Liberty has done brilliant efforts to increase the popularity of the sport in the USA. The US Grand Prix in Texas every year is drawing huge numbers of audiences at the track. The inaugural Miami GP was also a spectacle in regards to the show put on for the Miami audience.

F1 – Moving toward the USA or Making it Truly Global?

Being a World Championship, F1 needs to be a global event with races on every continent. With the current calendar, we already have 2 races in the USA, in Austin and Miami. Although, Liberty media also announced a 3rd race in Las Vegas from 2023 onwards. The Las Vegas GP will include racing down the famous Strip, scheduled as the penultimate race of the season.

Besides the Americas, F1 is also looking to revive the South African GP in Kyalami. Stefano Domenicali made talks earlier this year to bring Kyalami back to the calendar in 2023. Although as the race promoters look to gather funds for the Grand Prix, we might get the Kyalami race in 2024. If this happens, then the South African GP will make the F1 World championship truly global.

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To sum it up, the renaissance of F1 since 2017 has been wonderful for fans under Liberty media. The sport and the championship have arguably received a revival. And with the return of ground-effect cars, the racing too has improved in 2022. What do you think of Bernie’s comments? Is Liberty Media doing a good job with F1?