Liberty Media want Ecclestone to stay 'for three years'

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Bernie Ecclestone says Liberty Media - the group set to purchase F1 from CVC Capital Partners - wants him to stay "for three years".

Liberty Media has been in advanced talks with CVC for a number of weeks, with it becoming clear during the Italian Grand Prix weekend that a takeover of the sport is imminent in an estimated £6.5bn deal. Part of those talks involve Ecclestone's future, with sports marketer Zak Brown linked with a role as part of F1's management and various reports suggesting Ecclestone could leave as American businessman Chase Carey is expected to become chairman.

However, on Wednesday Ecclestone says Liberty Media have requested he remain involved.

"They want me to be here for three years," Ecclestone told Reuters.

While Ecclestone's comment suggests he is wanted by the new owners, the 85-year-old does not state what the role is which he would be working in or if he would even accept the request.

The next race on the F1 calendar is the Singapore Grand Prix, but Ecclestone says he will now no longer be present at the race on 18 September because CVC wants him to help with the takeover talks.

"Because all this is going through, they (CVC) want me to be there to help them with all sorts of things. I can't afford to be away for five to six days," Ecclestone said.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.