Liberty: Bernie did too good a job and drained F1 promoters

Shortly after his downfall, at the 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix, Ecclestone lobbed a grenade whose aftermath is still being felt, “When I convinced these people to build this place and all the other places, I feel a little bit responsible. I charged them too much for what we provided so I feel a bit responsible.”

"These people" referring to the promoters he basically 'ripped-off' (as they would say in second-hand car sales circles) as he lined the pockets of his paymasters, and his own of course.

Clearly "these people" took note and some of them have gone on the offensive with Liberty Media in the firing line as promoters want a better (cheaper) deal, while Ecclestone has all but disappeared from the scene to a coffee farm in South America.

Speaking at a Deutsche Bank conference attended by Motorsport Network, Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei expanded on the subject, “Bernie had done a very good job, arguably too good a job, and had drained the promoters."

"And we got a lot of blow-back, partly because we’re public now and they can see the prices, and also partly because Bernie suggested to a lot of them that they were overpaying. That didn’t help the cause."

“Exacerbating that are governments trying to pull back subsidies, in Mexico, other places – Spain. So that creates some challenges.”

While the likes of Silverstone, Circuit de Catalunya, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Monza and Interlagos are on the F1 endangered list, it is clear behind the scenes Liberty execs are toiling overtime to generate demand and attract potential hosts.

Maffei revealed, “We remain working on Miami, but there are obstacles to a lot of that. We’ve looked at other alternatives in the United States, including Las Vegas. We’ve looked at other alternatives in Africa. We’re trying to solidify some of the western European races and bring those in."

“That core fanbase is strong, and there are some in the works that may very well come to pass in those traditional western European places."

“You’re always trying to balance both solidifying where you are strong, or core, which is historically western Europe, and then adding other things, like expansion to Vietnam, potentially a second race in China, potentially a race in Africa."

“We’re not yet prepared to announce any, but there’s a careful mix or blend of where you want to grow and where you want to solidify.”

To say that races in Asia have had modest success is an understatement, races in Malaysia came went as they did in India. F1 now heads to Vietnam from 2020 which Maffei believes will rejuvenate interest on the continent

He said, "[It] will be more exciting and a positive improvement over Malaysia, which was not differentiated enough from Singapore.”