Bernie Ecclestone claims Formula E "wouldn't have happened" had he remained in charge of Formula 1.

The all-electric series has become one of the most entertaining for fans with close, action-packed races on street circuits, and one of the most attractive for manufacturers due to its road-relevancy.

And though Formula E began back in 2014, when Mr E. was still firmly in charge of F1, he believes he would have prevented it from becoming the growing competitor it is today.

“I feel sorry for the guys running F1 now, as they have to consider the impact of Formula E. I would have buried it," Ecclestone told Autocar.

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"It would have saved all the arguments. It wouldn’t have happened if I had been there.

“But now everyone is only talking about electric cars, so it would be a bit of a courageous thing now to go against it.”

Indeed, just to prove how out of touch his comments are, Bernie was still F1 CEO until early 2017 when Liberty Media completed their take over as commercial rights holder and Chase Carey replaced the Briton.

“It was alright, actually,” he said of the moment he was relieved of his duties.

“Chase Carey came into this office, sat there, told me what was what and asked me to sign a legal document. I signed it without reading it. No time for that. He had already explained.”

Yep, coronavirus has really driven us to make this seemingly newsworthy...