Bernie's gone mad - two-tier F1 system

[tuj]

So the latest talk is that Bernie wants to have B-Spec cars on the grid, with the old V8 engines and such.

From TJ13:

Mr. Ecclestone, however, is becoming desperate to get rid of the big manufacturers to cling on to his job. Even eternal F1 competitor Ferrari are apparently not happy about Ecclestone’s increasingly despotic way of running the sport. E’s weapon of choice is to push the concept of a two-tier championship, a concept that Mercedes is categorically opposed to. In an early January meeting with Red Bull tsar Dietrich Mateschitz, Ecclestone is said to have developed a price model. According to f1-insider.com the top teams would hand down their old chassis to the smaller teams for a fixed sum of 10 million, with another 10 million added for V8 engines with a less complex KERS system (read: the engines F1 ditched two years ago) and another 5M for gearboxes, amounting to a technical budget of 25M for which teams like Force India can come last week in and week out.

How do you feel about such rule change? Mercedes is categorically opposed to it, and I think I am feeling the same way. I want the junior teams to be able to complete but it needs to all be the same rulebook IMHO.

[Italiano]

Ever since 2008 its been going downhill, the little man is so far out that it's unreal. Two tiers in a top tier motorsport? What is this, somekind of a bad joke?

[acosmichippo]

it just seems so... arbitrary.

[ojlopez]

Bernie has to go. He is like a kid at a piñata, swinging and missing, trying to hit the piñata and get the candies, and most of the times just failing. He has to face the fact that he is outdated, step aside and let a new group control the future of F1.

[donskar]

The real "race" in F1 is this: the race to see who will die first -- F1 or Bernie.

[f1316]

I just wonder if most things he says or does are a way to get the opposite thing done - I.e. In this case he's either trying to get smaller teams to step up their budgets (or risk being relegated to second tier status) or he's still pushing for third cars by giving the big teams an unpalatable alternative.

Personally, I love the idea of third cars - just means more competitive cars if you ask me. Even last year, when there was only one car to be in, an additional car would have spiced it up no end.

[tuj]

3-car teams; how do you do constructors points? It's simply not fair to do them as it stands if only two constructors are given the 'right' to run 3-car teams. And even at that, Red Bull said they could barely pull it off; it seemed that only Ferrari, the favorite red-headed stepchild of the FIA, was ready to run 3-cars...I wonder why?

[Unc1eM0nty]

He's no fool, he say's stuff just to get a reaction sometimes, it's hard to tell what he really means.

I guess this would be a bit like the turbo & non-turbo cars back in the 80's, there must be a better way though.

[MOWOG]

Bernie's gone mad

The thread title says it all.......

[wesley123]

I just wonder if most things he says or does are a way to get the opposite thing done - I.e. In this case he's either trying to get smaller teams to step up their budgets (or risk being relegated to second tier status) or he's still pushing for third cars by giving the big teams an unpalatable alternative.

Personally, I love the idea of third cars - just means more competitive cars if you ask me. Even last year, when there was only one car to be in, an additional car would have spiced it up no end.

Pretty much this.

The lower teams have complained a lot about the cost and because of their budget a lack of success. Of course this is an issue, and Bernie acknowledges this by giving them an unreasonable solution. This pretty much puts the teams in the situation where they could either man up or go with the stupid idea, and in both ways they'll lose.

It pretty much takes advantage of a certain element of "shame"(For the lack of finding a better word), you stop pretty quickly with voicing your issue(or opinion) if the guy(s) overseeing don't take your issue serious and even poke fun at it. No one likes to be the joke.

The thing is, where teams are reliant on Bernie, Bernie isn't reliant on the teams. Bernie could simply step on the stage with both middlefingers up telling everyone to "go --- themselves" and he wouldn't be the one to lose.

Bernie is still the mighty one here and he just strengthens his position by making completely idiotic propositions to solve complaints. And what are the teams going to do about it, keep complaining? Like said, no one likes to be the joke. Oh, or are they going to leave? Where to? Teams simply have no alternative than to go with what Bernie says, and that's pretty much their own fault.

[tuj]

you over-estimate Bernie's hand. Since 2008, the global TV audience for F1 has fallen from 600m to 425m in 2014. The Chinese GP just got a reduced hosting fee. So did the Belgian GP. The Nurburgring race in 2013 was effectively free to the track. Rumor are that Sepang and the Nurburgring are posting low-ball offers. Monza, COTA, and Russia are all at risk for this year.

You know what country viewership is up? The same country that doesn't have a team or a driver in the fight; USA!

[wesley123]

And how much of that is actually Bernies problem? afaik(but can't confirm) F1's income has increased since then.

The amount of viewers will be something that'll hurt the teams more, 175m less people that see the brands on your car is quite a lot.

[tuj]

um, all of it? Bernie negotiates with the circuits and in exchange kick's back a paltry sum to the teams at the year's end based on constructor's points. Circuits pay Bernie for the 'privilege' of having an F1 face, and then have to recoup their money through ticket sales, because Bernie owns all the trackside advertising as well. TV? Goes straight to Bernie. Concessions? To Bernie. Memorabilia? Bernie. The tracks are getting fed up with him, the teams are slowly getting fed up with him, and eventually he will die or the teams and tracks will abandon him.

You know there were more people at the TRUCK race at the Nurburgring last year than there were at the German GP on the same weekend?

[wesley123]

Circuits pay Bernie for the 'privilege' of having an F1 face, and then have to recoup their money through ticket sales, because Bernie owns all the trackside advertising as well. TV? Goes straight to Bernie. Concessions? To Bernie. Memorabilia? Bernie.

And this is why it's hardly Bernie's problem, he gets his money regardless.

The tracks are getting fed up with him, the teams are slowly getting fed up with him, and eventually he will die or the teams and tracks will abandon him.

And here is the great part; for what are they going to abandon him? Teams can't really go anywhere as F1 is the only autosport that has exposure on such a large level, there is no (viable) alternative.

[tuj]

The only thing Bernie truly own's is the "F1/Formula 1" moniker.