With Liberty Media "now in charge of F1," promoters of the Chinese Grand Prix said that "hopes are high the Shanghai race will stay on the calendar," according to GMM. China's "latest multiple-year contract is up for renewal." Officials met last weekend with F1 CEO Chase Carey. China GP promoter Juss Event CEO Jiang Lan said, "We haven't talked about details yet -- it was more about the sport itself and how to promote it better here." Jiang indicated he is "happy the forthcoming negotiations will be with Carey rather than his predecessor," Bernie Ecclestone. Jiang: "F1 has been seeing a drop in viewership worldwide. But I found Chase, who has a media background, more tolerant and open-minded. He was willing to give more power to F1's local organizers. ... Chase might not know about F1 as clearly as Bernie did, but he agrees that the F1 weekends should be more fun, which is in line with what we want." Jiang said that Liberty Media has "essentially provided promoters a larger toolbox to promote and sell their events." He said, "F1 is a disciplined sport with strict rules, even for organizers. The activities and commercial booths we arranged near the entrance of the circuit had been questioned by the previous F1 management, but the new bosses like it" (GMM, 4/11).
