Bernie Ecclestone reveals limited involvement with F1's new bosses

Ecclestone is back in the F1 paddock in Bahrain this weekend, making his first appearance since he was ousted when Chase Carey became F1 Group CEO and installed Ross Brawn and Sean Bratches in racing and commercial roles respectively, but he said he has little to do with the new management.

"I've never met Sean," Ecclestone told Autosport. "Ross popped in to see me for 10-15 minutes a week or 10 days ago.

"I spoke to Chase this morning, he was asking me some things which I could help him with, which I did.

"So if there's any help they want, I'm there helping."

Ecclestone has argued since his removal that perceptions of his running of F1 were tarnished by his need to generate revenue for previous owner CVC Capital Partners.

He reiterated his belief that Carey was "in the lucky position that I wasn't in" as Liberty "can do lots of things and not worry about the income".

Asked if he meant Liberty was investing in F1 for the long term, Ecclestone replied: "It's not a case of investment, really and truly it's like they bought Starbucks - everything's done. Even how much milk you put in the coffee.

"It's a case of keeping what's done, and adding on top of it things that I didn't do because it wasn't earning money, like this social media.

"They're going to spend a lot of money on that, which may be good, but it wasn't good for the [CVC] company."

Despite being moved aside by Liberty, Ecclestone insisted his workload had not reduced.

"I'm in the office the same sort of time I always was until sometimes later than I used to be," he said.

"There seem to be more emails coming in.

"Lots of people want to know if I can help in different ways, so I try to help."