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If the outcome of Wednesday's special meeting in Geneva of the FIA's World Motor Sport Council, called to consider a request for a change of control of Formula 1's commercial rights from current managers CVC (parent of Delta Topco) to Liberty Media Group, was predictable - the sale was unanimously approved - the choice of wording of the subsequent media release was hugely telling on at least three points.
While the current FIA administration prides itself on unity - little wonder given its recent history under one of the most decisive presidencies since its formation in 1904 - the fact that the word 'unanimous' described the decision suggests that all 26 WMSC members felt underwhelmed by the sport's outgoing commercial rights manager CVC Capital Partners, which controlled the Delta Topco entity.
And with good reason: at every turn the venture fund sucked every loose penny out of F1 as it sought to saddle it with Singapore Stock Exchange shareholders. Mercifully, this did not come to pass, but only through the intervention of the global economic crisis, and the Munich bribery trial of Bernie Ecclestone, CEO of the Formula One Group, the operating subsidiary of Delta Topco.
