EU politician slams Liberty Media's F1 takeover

Questions have been raised as to whether Formula One's sale to Liberty Media can go ahead.

British EU parliamentarian Anneliese Dodds, who previously pushed for Sauber and Force India to lodge their complaint about the sport's income distribution and governance systems, has pointed out the conflict of interest for the FIA, who must approve the deal, despite also owning a stake of the sport.

"It may be that the European Commission might come along and say 'You're not allowed to do that', but they might not," former FIA president Max Mosley had said.

However, the Liberty Media deal is still going ahead as planned for now.

F1 sponsorship guru Zak Brown recently stepped down from his own agency, amid strong rumours he will take up an F1 role with Liberty.

"I will take this experience forward to my next chapter in the arena I know best -- motor sport," Brown confirmed in a statement.

But politician Dodds is very much against the deal.

"It is unacceptable that a regulator of any industry should be allowed to benefit financially from sanctioning the sale of one of the companies it regulates," she told F1 business journalist Christian Sylt.

And two top lawyers agree with Dodds, that the FIA could cause a problem with the deal.

"If the FIA approves the sale, people may question whether it was driven by the desire to get the multi-million sale proceeds," sports lawyer Charles Briathwaite told Sylt and the Telegraph.

Tim Owen QC added: "No regulator exercising quasi-judicial powers can have a financial interest in the very subject matter it is supposed to be regulating as an independent, unbiased body."