Carey will work alongside Bernie Ecclestone for the next three years
Monday 12 September 2016 08:55, UK
Liberty Media will not try and "Americanise" F1 following their £6bn takeover, insists chairman Chase Carey.
CVC Capital Partners is handing over its ownership of the sport it has had a controlling stake in since 2005 to the US firm, with Bernie Ecclestone staying on as chief executive in a transitional role for the next three years.
But Carey, who spoke exclusively to Sky Sports News HQ's Craig Slater alongside Ecclestone, insisted that it was not their aim to make the sport more American.
"I want to be clear, we didn't make this move because of America," he said. "America is an opportunity, I think we can do a lot more [there], but it's probably more long-term than short-term.
"It will take time to build the audience, but there's a much more passionate fan base than anybody realises in America. I think we can do a lot to develop that but realistically it's a global sport, we're not trying to Americanise the sport and we have great respect for the European foundations of it. Europe is critically important to us.
"This is a great global sport, a great franchise and one we're just going to continue to build on the things Bernie has built. We want to make it everything it can be."
Carey will work with Ecclestone at the helm of F1 and insists he's looking forward to running the sport with a man not normally renowned for working well alongside others.
"Bernie and I have met a couple of times previously, and I look forward to working with him," said Carey. "We'll work as partners and we'll figure it out.
"I have nothing but respect for the business Bernie has built, its success speaks for itself but I think there's an enormous upside and hopefully we can continue to build it to its full potential, so we can look forward to the future."
