CVC boss Donald Mackenzie has denied Bernie Ecclestone’s regular assertion that F1’s major stakeholder is obliged to sell its stake soon.
Ecclestone said recently that something could happen before the end of this year, with US firm RSE Ventures the entity most closely linked with the sale, in a partnership with Chinese investors.
“No, we’re not obliged to sell,” Mackenzie told this blog. “It’s unlikely that we’ll be here forever, but we’re definitely not obliged to sell. Bernie often says things he doesn’t mean…”
Meanwhile Mackenzie said that the spectacular US GP demonstrated that the sport can still put on a great show when the circumstances are right. Inevitably the recent dominance of Mercedes has put F1 in a negative light in the eyes of many observers, but the US GP did much to redress the balance.
“It was brilliant, wasn’t it? It often happens when it rains. I was pleased for Lewis, and also for the fans. I came from England, I was worried about coming all this way and it not happening! So it was great that it came off, and it was a brilliant race.
“And it also shows you that with the right ingredients, F1 is still fantastic. Close racing. You saw that the Red Bulls with less power and more grip were right up the front, until the slicks came on.”
Mackenzie is also a keen supporter of Ecclestone’s push for a budget twin-turbo V6, which was formally announced this week.
“I know Bernie would like an alternative to the big two. The current situation isn’t that healthy. If we can go to a good alternative engine at the right price, we’ll be very pleased.”
Adam Cooper's F1 Blog 
Alright Donald, put some of your money where your mouth is. Pay Cosworth to develop the alternative engine and then mandate ALL teams must use the unit in their second car. Give them a chance to build speed and reliability and tell the car manufacturers adios MF’ers, don’t let the door hit you in the butt.
That or cost cap the current engines.
“Bernie often says things he doesn’t mean…”
No kidding.
Never get the best price if you ‘have to sell’, I suppose.
Could well be wrong but a theory…
Bernie’s possibly thinking ‘legacy’ and wants to eventually leave F1 in a period of strength and health. To do so, he needs more philanthropic ownership than is currently the case…thus encouraging change to get that.
Based on that thought, I must be in a very optimistic mood today…
I wouldn’t.. I would want to leave it such that it went into a state of decline immediately after I left… that would show the world who ran the show and what they were missing… And I think Bernie thinks like me…
That was my point really – if you leave when it’s in a position of weakness, it’s pretty easy for your successor to score some easy ‘wins’. If you leave it in a position of strength…the likely impact of change is (initially at least) a period of decline / instability.