The future chairman of the Formula One Group, Chase Carey, said that the sport’s new owners are excited to grow the sport in emerging markets – as well as his native America – in future.

“In terms of developing markets, clearly new markets are opportunities as a global sport, and we’re excited about that, to grow the sport, expand the sport in places like the Americas and Asia,” said Carey.

“But I want to be clear that, certainly, the established markets – the home and foundation of Formula 1 is Europe in particular – are of critical importance.

“Building the sport in Europe, building on that foundation, has got to be second to none. We do want to take advantage of the global footprint of this sport, we want to focus on it.

“In the longer term, markets like the US and key Asian markets are opportunities to develop. We’re not going to do that overnight.

“But there are huge audiences there. If we reach those fans using digital platforms and some of the tools that haven’t been exploited aggressively, we can build a whole new generation of fans in places that, historically, have been as significant a part of the Formula 1 fanbase.”