Report: CVC choice Walsh "walks away" from F1 board chairman role

Bernie Ecclestone appears once again to have outwitted, outplayed and outlasted a potential threat to his leadership of Formula 1. Britain's Financial Times reports that Paul Walsh, the former CEO of consumer goods conglomerate Diageo who was tipped earlier this month to become chairman of the Formula 1 board, has "walked away" from the offer after concluding that the position lacked the necessary authority to effect change.

The FT quotes an unnamed source as saying: "Paul only wanted to take it on if there was complete accountability and authority. There was neither and he did not want to be simply a puppet or figurehead."

CVC Capital Partners, the private equity group which owns 35.5 percent of F1, is believed to have pushed hard for Walsh's appointment, with the aim of him taking on some executive duties from Ecclestone. Although CVC did not comment, the FT interpreted Walsh's rejection of the position as "a blow to F1's major shareholder as Donald Mackenzie (CVC's co-founder and managing partner) had seriously courted Walsh for the role."

Although it had been unclear what changes, if any, to the economic setup of F1 might have been forthcoming under Walsh's stewardship, the FT quoted an anonymous team boss as expressing disappointment at the news: "We are all back where we started and it looks as though nothing is going to change."