Ecclestone: 'I'm a hit-man with a gun but no bullets!'

Bernie Ecclestone just gave  a colorful description of the title he inherited following his departure from Formula 1.

The former supremo was ousted from his position at the helm of the sport by new owners Liberty Media following the US company's recent $8 billion takeover.

But the 86-year-old was awarded the title of Chairman Emeritus of The Formula One Group, an honorary status which has left Ecclestone fairly unimpressed.

In an interview with Top Gear's Eddie Jordan, Mr. E was asked what the title exactly entailed in his view.

“I don’t know really… it’s a little bit like giving a hitman a gun and no bullets," he said

"But I’ve got enough money to buy the bullets."

"I said the trouble with all sort of animals, if you want to kill them, you have to kill them, don’t wound them," he said, perhaps offering a hint of things to come for the new owners of F1.

"It depends how the people want to take meanings doesn’t it?" he added.

• Brawn: working with Ecclestone 'wouldn't have worked'

Regardless of how he considers Liberty, Ecclestone believes the sport will improve under the media company's guidance and management.

"The problem over the last two or three years has simply been no competition and now it looks like we got some.

"I think we ought to get rid of a lot of the silly regulations that restrict so many things for the drivers and the people building cars.

"It’s become an engineer's championship not a driver's championship. It’s the drivers that should be driving the cars, they’re the ones who should win the races and get all the credit for doing what they have done."

Finally, asked about Ferrari's salutary resurgence and the Scuderia's prospects of winning the championship this year, Ecclestone offered a mixed response.

"Honestly I shouldn’t say this, but I hope they do. But I don’t think they will."

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