Liberty Media not planning to 'Americanise' F1
Chase Carey, chairman of Liberty Media, says he is not planning to "Americanise" Formula One.
Liberty Media are planning to grow Formula One in the United States in the long term, but are not attempting to "Americanise" the sport says chairman Chase Carey.
An agreement for Liberty Media to acquire F1 from a consortium of sellers, led by CVC Capital Partners, was agreed earlier this week.
The American company, which owns the Sirius XM radio group and the Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball franchise, is to rebrand as Formula One Group when the takeover is complete.
And Carey says his intention is to stay true to F1's values, while developing the fan base Stateside.
"I want to be clear, we didn't make this move because of America," he told Sky Sports News.
"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."
Bernie Ecclestone is to remain as chief executive officer, and Carey says he has no issue working alongside the man who has been the long-term authority figure of F1.
"Bernie and I have met a couple of times previously, and I look forward to working with him," he added. "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."