Chequered flag for Ecclestone as owners revamp F1 team share sale

The new owners of F1 motor racing will bring the chequered flag down within days on Bernie Ecclestone's long-running control of the sport.

Sky News has learnt that Liberty Media Group‎ is preparing a compromise with F1's constructors by altering some of the details of a scheme to sell them a stake in its parent company.

The revamp comes as the media company draws up plans to announce alongside the closing of its F1 takeover that Mr Ecclestone will step down as its chief executive.

An announcement could be made as soon as the first half of next week.

The sport's veteran boss has been offered a less hands-on role - with a title such as life president - but Liberty Media is determined to demonstrate that it is taking F1 into a new era by pursuing a radical overhaul of its commercial operation.

Chase Carey, the media executive who was installed last autumn as F1's new chairman, is said to be keen to announce the appointment of new personnel at the same time that the takeover completes.

Sean Bratches, a former ESPN executive, was revealed by Sky News last month to be the frontrunner for a top commercial job, while Ross Brawn, the former Ferrari (Xetra: 30092157.DE - news) team boss, is expected to take on a key role overseeing the sporting side of F1.

The shake-up will come as Liberty Media tweaks plans to promote greater alignment‎ between the long-term interests of the sport and its teams.

Sources said on Friday that the new owners had listened to feedback from teams about proposals to allow them to buy shares in the new parent company.

Many of the teams are understood to have told Liberty Media that they were "seriously interested" in buying shares, but that a decade-long lock-up for their shareholdings was too long.

The enforced holding period is likely to be reduced to an as-yet undetermined term, while a deadline for the teams to place orders for the shares is being extended beyond this month owing to their unfamiliarity with this kind of investment decision.

"We are a Formula One team, not an investment company," one executive said.

A small number of teams, including Ferrari, already have rights to nominate one director to the Delta Topco board.

Eleven constructors competed in the 2016 World Championship, but there are now grave doubts about Manor Racing's ability to participate in this year's series after the company which operates the team recently collapsed into administration.
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One F1 insider had described the placing as "a goodwill gesture" because they were being sold at $21.26-a-share, a substantial discount to both Liberty Media Group's current stock price and a $25-a-share offering to institutional investors which took place last month.

The latest developments come after Liberty Media voted to approve the deal, with the motorsport governing body, the FIA, also giving its blessing this week.

CVC Capital Partners, the private equity firm which has controlled F1 since 2005, will continue to be a shareholder when the deal closes.

Mr Carey has ambitious plans to increase the number of races, and to turn each of the year's Grands Prix into a Super Bowl-style event in a bid to attract new sponsors.‎

F1's new shareholders are said to have been surprised at the comparatively undeveloped approach to exploiting its commercial rights compared to other global sports franchises.