Ecclestone: No plans to step down

Ecclestone plans to keep his finger on F1 for awhile

Bernie Ecclestone says he will remain in charge of Formula One for as long as he feels he can "deliver".

The F1 supremo, who has been in charge of F1 since the late 1970s, is set to turn 82 on Sunday and has spent the last two days doing the media rounds in India.

One of the first questions – as to be expected – was when is he planning on stepping down from his role.

"Eventually I'm going to go, one way or another," he told BBC Sport.

"But as long as I feel I can deliver, and the shareholders are happy for that to happen, I will stay. When I can't I'll give them plenty of notice."

He continued: "When we decided we're going to get an IPO the obvious thing was 'well, what's going to happen about Bernie?'

"So we put in the prospectus that we're going to find a head-hunter to try and find someone. That was a couple of years ago.

"But as long as I feel I can deliver – and they're happy for that to happen – I will stay.

"I will tell [F1 owners] CVC exactly if I'm going to turn it in when I'm 85 or something like that, which will give them plenty of notice."

In a separate interview with Sky Sports F1, Ecclestone was asked about F1's future calendar in light of Russia and other countries joining the fray.

"We'll keep trying to move forward. We're a World Championship," he said. "We'll probably lose two or three more races in Europe as we have to sort of move on."

Pressed as to whether that meant the calendar would consist of as few as four European races he said: "Who knows." Planet F1