Carey Chase - Dawn of a new era

As we recover from the shock of Ecclestone's departure, Formula 1 welcomes a new CEO Carey Chase. First thing that crosses your mind when you see the man is, what an impressive mustache. That aside, he says all the right things that really excites me about the future of the sport. But when a seismic change like this occurs, you have to stop for a moment and ask a few questions.

One that crosses my mind is, can Chase break into new markets like Ecclestone did?

Now when you stop to think about the sort of places that Bernie has had F1 staged at, places such as Sortie in Russia, Baku in Azerbaijan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico, just to name a few non European flyaway race weekends; can Chase emulate this level of proliferation? The addition of future new Non-European or Non-North American race venues would be a good indication of Ecclestone's obscurity in the future F1.

Can he retain the current venues to the end of their existing contracts?

There are a number of pressure points here for Chase. One the hosting of race weekends has become too expensive for track owners. Germany has dropped out of the calendar. Silverstone is looking to pull out early. It would seem Chase would need to figure out how to make the hosting of race weekend more lucrative for the track owners. Affordable tickets would definitely get more bums on seat at race weekend. This was Bernie's challenge before Chase came along, so an inherited problem. But there is also the unasked question of whether being an American may pose a problem with some state sponsored tracks such as Sortie in Russia, China, Mexico [and the famous Trump wall] and possibly Baku.

Can he extend the grid beyond 22 cars?

This is an area l think he could excel where Bernie failed. Can he make the cost of competing fairer for small teams and reduce the cost of entering the sport for interested non manufacturer teams? The share scheme for teams is a good step forward, but it would take a redraft of the concord agreement to really make a difference l think.

Emulating Bernie Ecclestone's wheeling and dealing is not going to be easy. Ecclestone's approach which has been very successful and effective, is quite unique and unlike any conventional business model. So it would certainly be very interesting to see how the new lot get on. I am sure it would be different and full of great ideas and may open up new facets to the F1 world. But l hope they deliver on their promise.

What do you think?

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Originally Posted by Nitrodaze

This is an area l think he could excel where Bernie failed. Can he make the cost of competing fairer for small teams and reduce the cost of entering the sport for interested non manufacturer teams? The share scheme for teams is a good step forward, but it would take a redraft of the concord agreement to really make a difference l think.

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Why would Mercedes or Ferrari voluntarily give up any advantages that they have?

Any disciple of Rupert Murdock is highly suspect imo

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In August 2011 Rupert Murdoch tipped Carey to be his successor as CEO of News Corporation

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Not missing Bernie though! ;)

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Originally Posted by Nitrodaze

As we recover from the shock of Ecclestone's departure, Formula 1 welcomes a new CEO Carey Chase.

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I guess a guy with a surname for a first name is always going to have a problem with people not remembering which way round they go :p

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Originally Posted by AndyL

I guess a guy with a surname for a first name is always going to have a problem with people not remembering which way round they go :p

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I am not the first, but we live to learn ;-)

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Originally Posted by Nitrodaze

As we recover from the shock of Ecclestone's departure, Formula 1 welcomes a new CEO Carey Chase. First thing that crosses your mind when you see the man is, what an impressive mustache. That aside, he says all the right things that really excites me about the future of the sport. But when a seismic change like this occurs, you have to stop for a moment and ask a few questions.

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The change is indeed seismic, because F1 has been under Bernie's tenure for a very long time. It's a reasonable bet that well over half the people who follow it globally cannot remember a time when he wasn't in charge (me included).

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One that crosses my mind is, can Chase break into new markets like Ecclestone did?

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Eccles has turned the world championship into a truly world championship. Personally, I regret the extent to which he has diluted its traditional European base, but he certainly set out to achieve what he wanted to do.

The result has been the expansion of the calendar to an exhausting 20-odd races. How many more new markets should F1 be trying to break into, and where on the calendar are they going to go?

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Can he retain the current venues to the end of their existing contracts?

There are a number of pressure points here for Chase. One the hosting of race weekends has become too expensive for track owners. Germany has dropped out of the calendar. Silverstone is looking to pull out early. It would seem Chase would need to figure out how to make the hosting of race weekend more lucrative for the track owners. Affordable tickets would definitely get more bums on seat at race weekend. This was Bernie's challenge before Chase came along, so an inherited problem. But there is also the unasked question of whether being an American may pose a problem with some state sponsored tracks such as Sortie in Russia, China, Mexico [and the famous Trump wall] and possibly Baku.

Can he extend the grid beyond 22 cars?


This is an area l think he could excel where Bernie failed. Can he make the cost of competing fairer for small teams and reduce the cost of entering the sport for interested non manufacturer teams? The share scheme for teams is a good step forward, but it would take a redraft of the concord agreement to really make a difference l think.

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There is no question that costs need to be brought down for both of these reasons. It is a travesty that there has been no GP in France for almost a decade, and the demise of one in Germany is almost as scandalous. These were two of the most traditional 'hosts' in F1, and I would hope to see a concerted effort made to bring them back.

As for the number of teams, various attempts have been made to increase them, and the costs involved have always been the main issue preventing that sort of expansion. I wouldn't want to see the return of cars not qualifying or pre-qualifying, but I do remember 'full' grids of 26 cars, and IMV it was better.

Times have changed though. Until c.2000, retirements were commonplace, so if you started 20th you still had some hope of scoring points, even when they were only awarded down to 6th. Now reliability has improved so much, and tarmac run-off areas have made it so easy to recover from a spin, that retirements are relatively rare and if you start at 20th you might as well give up on points at the start, even when they are awarded to 10th.

The nostaglic in me regrets many of the ways that the sport has changed since the 1980s and '90s, but they're not all bad. The question regarding Chase is whether he wants F1 to remain true to its roots, or not.

I really hope we can see more teams. I would love to see regular 26 car grids. I personally would welcome more if they approached.

That would either require pre qualifying or bigger fields. That is for the future but I hope it can happen.

I don't see that 26 cars would necessarily require pre-qualifying. Through most of the 1990s there were 26, and they could all make the grid if quick enough (within 107% of pole time). The modern circuits are safer than they were in those days, so I think the only restriction to 26-car grids is the cost, not the space. Or, maybe, if some of the new tracks added since then were built without enough garages!