Bernie Ecclestone has always been a man of deserving admiration. Despite his questionable and sometimes devious behaviour, he has spent over 50 years involved in F1, 39 of which at its summit as CEO. But in sport, much like in life, change is inevitable and salubrious.

There is no doubt that F1 needs to reconnect with its core audience and to engage the audience of tomorrow. For all its glitz and glamour, it would benefit from becoming increasingly accessible. How can its new leaders achieve this? I’d suggest that customers, not cash, need to be much more central to the entire decision-making process.

Britain’s Formula One teams were ideally placed to fast-track the development of the relevant technology in collaboration with major car manufacturers. Back then you had McLaren, where Ron Dennis was planning to turn a racing team into a freelance purveyor of all-round technological expertise and a builder of road-going supercars.

He was a much and quite unfairly maligned racer, tagged with the journeyman driver tag, at best. Ricardo Rosset however was much more than the three wretched F1 seasons he took part in from 1996-1998. When I say took part, 1997 doesn’t really count after the dismal Mastercard Lola project stumbled in to ignominy and eventual administration after just one Grand Prix.

In 1976 British F1-team Tyrrell had introduced the innovative and alien six-wheeled Project 34. The P34 utilized four tiny 10 inch front wheels in an attempt to reduce the drag caused by the standard-size front wheels on an F1 car. An added bonus was an increased contact patch with the tarmac and enhanced grip. Surprising friend and foe, P34 promptly scored a 1-2 finish in the 1976 Swedish Grand Prix at Anderstorp.

The current bid by CGF will not be accepted but we have been told by the team that it is not a matter of Fitzpatrick holding out for more money as had been suggested elsewhere. I have been informed by a source within the team that CGF have yet to provide the team or the administrators with any evidence that they could fund the team for the 2017 season. Clearly, until such evidence arrives, no deal will be reached.

There is a lot to look for in the 2017 motorsport season. I felt something was missing in 2016. I don’t know what it was. Some sort of spark. Maybe it was me, maybe it was other events away from racing, or maybe motorsport just didn’t grab me as much as before – with the exception of IndyCar and MotoGP which were excellent. I didn’t invest as much time in keeping up with WEC and IMSA, something I’m doing over the winter break. I think that should change this year.