Bernie Ecclestone hits back after Chase Carey jibe

Bernie Ecclestone has hit back at the claim that he presided over an era of saying "no".

After decades in charge of Formula 1, the 86-year-old was ousted by Liberty Media as the American company took over.

Chase Carey, his successor, said this week that Ecclestone "said no" too often.

"I want to say 'yes' a whole lot more. We felt it was a sport that, for the last five or six years, had not been managed to its full potential," he said.

F1's hands-off 'chairman emeritus' Ecclestone, however, hit back.

"The only reason I ever said no to anything is if I thought it wasn't a very good thing to do or didn't produce any income," he is quoted by as saying by The Sun newspaper.

"I had to make sure we got the maximum financially we could for the company to make it interesting to buy, which is what happened.

"The bottom line is, we will have to see whether the new owners are right or not."

The 2017 season continues next weekend with the Spanish Grand Prix.