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Bernie Ecclestone will be watching Sunday's Australian Grand Prix from his wife's native Brazil rather than Melbourne following his ousting as head of the sport - but although he is absent, he is no less opinionated, telling Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport that he is hoping for a competitive Ferrari team at the 2017 curtain-raiser: "I am really hoping they will be strong," he said.
In addition, when asked how he was feeling about F1's new era and Liberty Media's control of it, the 86-year-old responded: "I'm fine. There's no problem. The new owners have a different idea of how the sport should be run, and they have every liberty to implement it.
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"I wish them all the best. I don't see myself as a retiree. I'm not outside Formula One as I'm still an advisor or honorary president."
Ecclestone may no longer be as actively involved in F1, but he will still gladly pass Liberty advice regarding the tasks ahead: "It's necessary to work closely with the race organisers. The Grands Prix have to be promoted better. And Formula One has to be more affordable.
"The ticket prices have to go down," he said, adding that he does not approve of Ross Brawn's plan to introduce a non-championship race to the F1 calendar.
"We've talked about it before and I haven't changed - today's format works. Modern Formula One is the result of the journey it has been on." Of Brawn himself, and his new position, Ecclestone stated: "Brawn was a key part of Benetton and Ferrari winning, but that was a different thing to now. Let's see the facts before we judge him."
Ecclestone then returned to his thoughts on Ferrari: "It's true that at the time I wanted Alonso and then Vettel to be at Ferrari," he revealed. "Because I know how important it is for the sport that Ferrari is competitive." Despite this desire, he denies that the new rules were intended to dethrone Mercedes.
"The rules weren't made for or against anyone. Mercedes has dominated because they did their job better than the others. Now let's see how things look in Australia."
Mason Hawker
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