Ecclestone staying as F1 sale announced

Bernie Ecclestone is staying in formula one, despite earlier speculation that the F1 supremo would be ousted amid the sale deal to Liberty Media.

That deal was announced late on Wednesday but must first be approved by European authorities and the FIA.

But when it does go through, Ecclestone will still be chief executive.

"They want me to be here for three years," the 85-year-old told Express newspaper.

"I’ll be 89 by then," he also told the Telegraph, "and probably then I might want to retire or do something else. But I’m carrying on.

"I’ll just have a bit of help."

Some of that ’help’ will be from Chase Carey, a 21st Century Fox executive who will be the new chairman.

"He can do lots of things that I haven’t done with this social media, which he seems to be in touch with," said Ecclestone.

Amid the high-profile sale by CVC, Ecclestone announced that he will miss next weekend’s Singapore grand prix.

"Because all this is going through, CVC want me to be in London to help them with all sorts of things," he said.