Bernie Ecclestone has appointed a successor for the retiring Paddy McNally.
Entrepreneur McNally, also a director of the sport, heads the lucrative trackside advertising company Allsport, which also runs the Paddock Club.
F1 chief executive Ecclestone, who oversees the sport’s companies including Allsport since 2006, has appointed David Campbell to succeed McNally next year.
Campbell, chief executive of AEG Europe who oversaw the transformation of London’s successful O2 Arena, is now tipped as a likely successor for the 80-year-old Ecclestone.
Allsport Management confirmed that Campbell will start his new role in the first quarter of 2011, with Irish multimillionaire McNally expected to stay as non-executive chairman.
"He (Campbell) is going to join Allsport run by Mr McNally in Geneva and be helping him. He needs a bit of help," Ecclestone told the Press Association.
"I hope he can do it. It’s a completely different thing to what he has been doing at O2. But he’s a commercial-minded guy, so I’m sure there will be no problems," he added.