They came, they saw, they purchased. And now, at the first race of the 2017 F1 season, two of F1's three new men in charge faced the media in an open press conference designed to provide us with a summary of the way things will be in our brave new world.
Ross Brawn made his first appearance in his new team kit, looking sharp in a logoed FOM shirt, while Sean Bratches was working the business casual look, semi-suited and sporting a pocket square. The absence of sponsor logos -- while only to be expected in top-level execs -- made for something of a culture shock in a sport so used to branding that press conferences typically begin with PRs adjusting tee-shirt folds to make sure none of the valuable logos are obscured.
And that was it as far as shocks went. While questions were opened to the floor and attendant journalists were free to ask whatever their hearts desired, the questioning followed three clear threads: the opening up of digital and social media; the regulations and their effect on close racing; and growing the fanbase. Fundamentally, that's the same core question asked from three different angles.
This week has marked the first F1 season in four decades without Bernie Ecclestone at the helm. And while several of Bernie's most high profile henchmen have been given their marching papers, this sport retains much of the structure that Ecclestone put in place during his years in charge.
Whatever grand ambitions any incoming owner might have had for the sport will have become stuck in the spiderwebs of contracts and memoranda of understanding that govern everything from the current governance of the sport to the distribution of wealth. That applies to Liberty, but would also have applied to any of the interested parties linked with our sport in recent years.
However capable Ross Brawn is, he is not able to tear up watertight contracts. Patience must be applied between now and 2020.
"I think the reality is that quick changes on the technical or sporting side are really against the view we are preaching," Brawn said, "which is to think about things carefully and have a proper and measured response. ... Today I couldn't say to you that we need to change a, b, and c to improve the racing for tomorrow.
"We should have a vision of where we want to be in three to five years' time, but that doesn't mean we won't be involved in the present, because problems and issues will arise in the present time," Brawn added. "The fundamental changes which we envisage we need time for, because it's not fair (a), to go through a proper process with the FIA and the teams to arrive at the right solutions and (b) to implement them so soon that it disadvantages someone in terms of their team structure or their investments."
Fans will be pleased to learn that closer racing remains high on the agenda.
"We need as many teams to be as competitive as possible," Brawn said. "We need to flatten off the variation between the front and the back of the grid so that on a good day, with a following wind, with a great driver, Force India can win a race, that a competent but perhaps smaller team or private team can win a race. At the moment that is highly unlikely.
"We have got to flatten off the field, and that means -- quite honestly -- finding ways of limiting the potential of the regulations or limiting the resources teams have at their availability. The fact is that however good a small team is they will never beat a good big team. We need to have all very good teams in Formula One all in a similar band and all with the same potential to win a race."