Carey Chase - Dawn of a new era

[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.

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?