Formula E will Dethrone F1- Bernie Ecclestone ahead of 1000th GP

Bernie Ecclestone, popularly referred to as 'F1 Supremo' for several decades dropped a bombshell ahead of the landmark 1000th Grand Prix in China. The 88-year old Brit who is largely the force behind the commercial machine that Formula One is today, believes that Formula E is the future and that interest in Formula 1 will taper off in the years to come.

Ecclestone, started his F1 career in 1958 as a race driver. But he tasted limited success and quickly made the switch to the business side of F1 and was owner of Team Brabham from 1971 to 1988. Until January 2017, the octogenarian was the Chief Executive of the Formula One Group.

The same man who once was not at all happy with F1's quiet engines has now taken the side of the near silent Formula E cars. In an interview to Reuters, Bernie said, "It’s a different form of entertainment but Formula E will begin to get much, much bigger and better, which is slowly what they are doing anyway.And Formula One will suffer because of that." He went on to add, " There’s more chance there of big, big expansion [in Formula E] and more chances commercially than there is of changing things in Formula One."

Despite not attending as many races as he once did, Bernie says he has probably been to more than 800 F1 races, including the very first F1 Grand Prix held at the Silverstone Circuit in 1950.

For a man who was once an outspoken critic of Formula E, it's quite a clampdown from his earlier stance on the sport. All through his career, Bernie has been a maverick but his comments may not be all that far fetched considering that in the 2017-2018 season, Formula E attracted over 300 million global viewership.

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