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 Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the 84-year-old billionaire
made clear it was business as usual.
Ecclestone said he was back on the board of Formula One, after
standing down during a bribery trial in Germany that was eventually
settled, and only the board could remove him as chief executive.
"I’m happy here as long as the board are happy with me. When I think
I can’t deliver any longer, I shall retire," he said.
Private equity group CVC, Formula One's controlling shareholder, is
seeking a new chairman to replace the unwell Peter Brabeck-Letmathe
and that has led to suggestions that Ecclestone's grip could be
weakened.
Brabeck, the Austrian chairman of food group Nestle, was appointed
in 2012 when Formula One was preparing a flotation that was
scrapped. Paul Walsh, former head of drinks group Diageo, has been
touted as a likely replacement.
 Management Today this week quoted a source close to Walsh as saying
he "would want to rein in (Ecclestone) to some extent from a good
governance point of view."
He added that Walsh would get "short-tempered" if Ecclestone did not
change his ways.
Asked about the 'rein in' remark, Ecclestone replied: "He would be
unique if he could do that. First he’s got to be appointed, hasn’t
he?"
The Briton, who has regularly confounded those eager to write his F1
obituary, said talk of the need to groom a successor was "a little
bit of a nonsense" and suggested chief legal officer Sacha
Woodward-Hill could do the job.
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"If I died now, there’s enough people in the company who could
continue running the company the way we’ve set things up," he said.
"I think perhaps if I was controlling the board... I would probably
say it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a woman being the chief
executive," added Ecclestone, who once caused a stir in America by
comparing women to domestic appliances.
The supremo, who said there were no current plans for an Initial
Public Offering (IPO), recognized he could use some help however.
The sport is facing declining television audiences and critics
accuse it of failing to attract younger fans. A number of teams have
financial problems and one, Marussia, folded in the season that has
just finished.
"We've been looking for the last five years for someone, one or two
people, that maybe could help when it comes to chasing around for
sponsors and things," he said. "Really we need to have someone
that’s actually been successful doing that."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ken Ferris)
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