Jean Todt: "Formula 1 is already great"

Jean Todt has denied that formula one needs to make radical changes in the new Liberty Media era. The headline news of Liberty having completed its takeover of the sport is that F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone was ousted. Frenchman Todt, the president of the governing FIA, said: "He (Ecclestone) did a lot for formula one -- and he also got a lot from formula one."

"Bernie is Bernie," he said at the Spobis sport business congress in Dusseldorf. "Sometimes you love him, sometimes you love him less, but his achievements are unique. I hope for him that he will have the opportunity to do other great things. I managed to do something different, and I hope that Bernie still has the fitness and the passion to do the same," Todt added.

However, Todt denied that in Ecclestone's wake, Liberty now needs to make radical changes. "I think formula one is already great," Todt insisted. "The sport must be unpredictable, and the title fight (in 2016) went to the last corner. I'm sure Liberty Media will give us different insights for other forms of communication that are likely to bring new fans to formula one," he said.

Todt denied that Mercedes' dominance since 2014 shows that something is fundamentally wrong with the structure of the sport. "At the moment it is Mercedes," he said, "but before it was Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Williams, which also happens in other sports like athletics and football. So we should congratulate Mercedes for its successes and hope the others work even better now."

As for the radically different 2017 technical regulations, Todt said: "Expectations are high, but we will have to wait for the first race." (GMM)