Ecclestone Retains Control Of F1 After Push To Install Former Diageo CEO Falls Apart

F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone has won his battle to retain control of the racing organization after former Diageo CEO Paul Walsh “walked away from plans" to become F1 BOD Chair, according to Roger Blitz of the FINANCIAL TIMES. CVC Capital Partners co-Founder & co-Chair Donald Mackenzie, whose firm has a controlling stake in F1, lined up Walsh in an effort to loosen Ecclestone’s “grip on the running of the motorsport.” But a “carefully laid plan” to install Walsh at last Monday’s BOD meeting was put “on hold at the last minute,” and the issue was not discussed. Walsh’s decision to walk away is “a blow” to Mackenzie, who had persuaded the BOD and F1 team principals to “buy into his strategy for managing one of its biggest and longstanding problems, the Ecclestone succession issue” (FINANCIAL TIMES, 12/17).