Liberty Media

[Nitrodaze]

Having someone external would be hugely beneficial in ways. They wouldn't carry any baggage toward any teams and be completely neutral. This could carry a lot of weight in itself. Putting someone like Christian Horner in Bernie's place, with his history in F1, might not be a great idea from that perspective.

The mentoring idea of having new blood into Bernies position looks credible on face value. Three years may be enough to break that individual into the F1 culture that dates back over eighty years. I suspect the teams and the FIA would do their best to welcome this new input to the sport. However, the current challenges are not going to evaporate with the change of ownership. The test is how they approach it and what sort of reactions they conjure up. There are clearly going to be very interesting and entertaining politics ahead. I am curious how it would shape out. But the signs suggest that it would be promising.

I think that there are very credible candidates within the F1 world that could do the job and assure the protection of the F1 DNA as you put it. For instance, Speedbowl racing is not F1. Admittedly, it use to be. There are still remnants of oval tracks at Monza for instance. Also, l concede that current F1 tracks only offer a partial view of the race to attending spectators. The real problem is the performance gap between the teams. Reducing the chances that one team can run away with the championship without proper challenges from other teams is what needs to be addressed. F1 is not only a war of speed but also a war of technological ingenuity.

Candidates that come to mind include Ross Brawn, Gerhard Berger, Alain Prost to name a few. These chaps are astute leaders and would make great promoters of the sport.

Bernies longevity in his position stems from not only his ingenuity as a deal maker but also his deep connection with the formula. He was a team principle if you need reminding. I think realistic success would be assure with having someone with that level of connection to the sport to steer its future.