F1 CEO apologises to Baku race boss over Liberty Media comments
Baku race boss Arif Rahimov says F1's CEO apologised after Liberty Media's president intimated the race is not good enough for the calendar.
Formula One's new CEO Chase Carey has apologised to the man in charge of the European Grand Prix in Baku for comments made by Liberty Media regarding the event not being good enough for the calendar.
Greg Maffei, president and CEO of Liberty - which owns F1 - recently claimed Baku had only been added to the race schedule for monetary reasons and "does nothing to build the long-term brand and health of the business".
But Baku race boss Arif Rahimov, who hit back by labelling Maffei "ignorant", said Carey told him he fully supports the Grand Prix's place on the calendar.
"I have spoken to Chase," Rahimov said in quotes reported by Autosport. "It was about a different topic but this had to be brought up, and we kind of realised that it was not everyone who shared this opinion.
"He [Carey] was apologetic about what happened, he really sounded like he completely disagreed with what had been said.
"He was really upset about the situation and that it was brought to this level.
"It was good to hear from Chase that he didn't share the opinion.
"I think we are finished with it, and will just get on and show everyone who has not been to the race that we are doing a great job and it will be a great race.
"He is really excited about the race. He really wants to come and see the race, and that he has heard a lot of good things.
"He feels we are a strategic partner to F1, and he really wants to keep the race.
"It was a good talk we had over the phone and it was good to know that not everyone is sharing the opinion of Greg Maffei in F1."