More Ramblings From Bernie...

[autogyro]

Pat Moss, anyone?

I thought we were talking about F1 cars, a Healey 3000 is hardly difficult to drive.
The Simonite sisters were pretty good as well.

I suppose you want a Black lesbian with a burka for the token involvement so as to keep it PC right?
The FIA could make the cars even more 'driver friendly' and they could fit prayer mats in the pits.
Just put them in the fastest car and they would win no problem.

It's not about being PC, it's about excluding 50% of the population just because they have tits.

You sound like a typical British male born in the 1930-40s. Bigoted, racist and, no doubt, homophobic. Indeed, you sound a lot like my dad - same generation I guess.

Sad, really, that change scares people so much...

No respect for your father says it all really.
Usual silly lefty comments of course, racist, bigot, homophobic, you forgot Islamaphobic, dont forget that one .
Get it right though, I have NO fear of Islam I just despise the filthy medieval cult and recognise it and the moronic appeasers who support its development in the 21st century world.
Lets be sure on one thing F1 is in a decline and I have yet to see any suggestions with any ba--s that stand a hope in hell of changing that fact.
It is a shame that Bernie is not a younger man as there is NOBODY else who could make the right changes.

[wesley123]

It's the boss of F1, its public face, giving his opinion, as the boss of the sport. What he says has repercussions on the view that companies and people have of him, and by extension, the sport.

To a certain extent, yes. However, I personally do think that people take it to heavy, and that extends outside F1 as well. People quickly tend to see the opinions of a leading figure as representative for the whole company(or organization etc.), a company that is filled with many other people who also have other opinions.

Would the head of the English Premiership ever give an interview to explain his admiration for Putin? Would the boss of Indycar come out and say he didn't think women made good racing drivers? Perhaps they may have these opinions in private, for all we know, but they are smart enough not to damage their sport by airing them on a platform given to them by their job.

Does it really damage the sport though? The general reaction to what Bernie says tends to be "thats not true". and maybe that's the point? By saying one thing, achieving the other? Remember that this is the same guy that made F1 a billion dollar business.

As boss of Formula One, Bernie's responsibility should be to ensure the sport is viewed in the best possible light. But instead he uses it as a platform for his own views, be it on politics, immigration or his desire for a fanbase of old Rolex wearers, while taking the sport on a tour of dictatorships at the expense of the fanbase to fill his already over flowing pockets.

Our opinions on what's best are quite different than what he might think. It's a matter of opinion, and Bernie made it into a business. Whether we agree with him or not, controversy tends to sell, somewhere in the idea of "any publicity is good publicity".

Also, the money isn't really a problem. F1 has become a brand that has a certain prestige, and this prestige costs money. And people are clearly still willing to pay.

Hell even in straight sporting terms, you'd never get the boss of the Premiership criticising the product or demanding ridiculous rule changes to mix things up! Bernie's only in it for one thing; Bernie.

In whatever way you look at it, criticism is important. You cannot improve without taking a good look at what you are doing, and sometimes voicing your criticism is a good thing as it forces an reaction. And that's exactly the point here, to force an reaction. I see it more as a call for people to step their game up. Sometimes you just need to say something is crap, instead of saying they can do better.

[adrianjordan]

I try to pretend Bernie doesn't exist. Quite frankly I have no idea how such a vile little man can stay in charge of one of the world's biggest sports, or how he hasn't managed to somehow be sued using anti-discrimination laws.

The trouble is, while he is just one sad old man shouting out to the world, he is still inextricably linked to F1, and the sport still dances to his tune.

As much as we can say he doesn't represent the sport and F1 doesn't agree with him, the sport still followed him into Bahrain in the middle of the Arab Spring and held a race under martial law, and the sport still followed him to Sochi after Russia invaded Ukraine and Bernie agreed with Putin that "gays should stay away from children".

Teams don't even speak out against these things; if any team speaks out against Bernie's views on female drivers, it will be the exception, not the norm, and by not speaking out and instead going along with it all, they're essentially supporting him, and his views.

You are simply wrong and when Bernie exits F1 it will collapse.
There would never have been F1 if it were not for Bernie.
Read the truth and weep.

You do know that there WAS F1 before Bernie took the reigns don't you?

[SR71]

I try to pretend Bernie doesn't exist. Quite frankly I have no idea how such a vile little man can stay in charge of one of the world's biggest sports, or how he hasn't managed to somehow be sued using anti-discrimination laws.

The trouble is, while he is just one sad old man shouting out to the world, he is still inextricably linked to F1, and the sport still dances to his tune.

As much as we can say he doesn't represent the sport and F1 doesn't agree with him, the sport still followed him into Bahrain in the middle of the Arab Spring and held a race under martial law, and the sport still followed him to Sochi after Russia invaded Ukraine and Bernie agreed with Putin that "gays should stay away from children".

Teams don't even speak out against these things; if any team speaks out against Bernie's views on female drivers, it will be the exception, not the norm, and by not speaking out and instead going along with it all, they're essentially supporting him, and his views.

You are simply wrong and when Bernie exits F1 it will collapse.
There would never have been F1 if it were not for Bernie.
Read the truth and weep.

You do know that there WAS F1 before Bernie took the reigns don't you?

Please describe F1, the licensing of races, how teams were treated, how tracks were treated, and overall general revenue of the sport before Bernie.

Thanks,
SR71

[autogyro]

Formula 1 before Bernie was a roll over of the national sport of GP racing before WW2.
It relied on the public having pride in their countries technical, engineering and sporting skills.
This was already slowly dying as socialism crept like a disease into peoples minds.
It is practically non existent today with PC and liberal apologists controlling most things through lies and deceit.
Bernie changed things by promoting business and glamour.
F1 today is simply about greed and jealousy.
For every good F1 driver driving there are a thousand better drivers who dont get the breaks and the technology used is totally controlled by a handful of wealthy companies with vested interest.
The public now have worldwide instant communication and just like issues in politics they are slowly realising that they can find the truth for themselves and no longer have to rely on the criminal mass media.
Things are changing and F1 in its present form is on a short road.

[OneAlex]

You are simply wrong and when Bernie exits F1 it will collapse.
There would never have been F1 if it were not for Bernie.

When Bernie exits F1 in its current form might collapse, if it doesn't collapse by itself anyway with the direction it's taking. Frankly I can't see it getting that much worse than where the sport is going anyway.

When the exclusive pay-per-view contracts Bernie is pushing come into effect into a sport where Bernie continues to drop classic GP's for authoritarian regimes, those regimes are going to realise no one is watching the "prestigious" sport they're paying Bernie tens of millions to be a part of anymore and that's how it will collapse. Particularly if Bernie ever gets his way and strips all the advanced technology back.

I'm sure Bernie did some wonderful things for the sport a couple of decades ago, but that was then, this is now; he doesn't help F1 any more, he harms it.

[Steven]

I'm sure Bernie did some wonderful things for the sport a couple of decades ago, but that was then, this is now; he doesn't help F1 any more, he harms it.

Exactly. Bernie did great to make the sport a global reference. Others however had equally important roles, with Sid Watkins certainly one of them. Basically it was all a bunch of friends who ran the sport, be it business friends or personal friends, Bernie, Mosley, Watkins, Whiting were all pulling in similar directions.
However, things got out of control when Bernie realised that there are no money limits in F1, and that he could make ever more, without worrying about anything else. As the world changed, Bernie didn't. He disregards political conflicts and ethics, and all he really cares about these days is his own wallet.

The result is a political game to play teams against each other, leaving small teams without money and changing regulations without team support.

The thing is though, if teams want him gone, what is really holding them back from sitting together, leave the sport jointly and start a new series? That is of course if they could ever come to an agreement to a more even income distribution... which Ferrari certainly aren't too interested in.

[Just_a_fan]

I thought we were talking about F1 cars, a Healey 3000 is hardly difficult to drive.
The Simonite sisters were pretty good as well.

I suppose you want a Black lesbian with a burka for the token involvement so as to keep it PC right?
The FIA could make the cars even more 'driver friendly' and they could fit prayer mats in the pits.
Just put them in the fastest car and they would win no problem.

It's not about being PC, it's about excluding 50% of the population just because they have tits.

You sound like a typical British male born in the 1930-40s. Bigoted, racist and, no doubt, homophobic. Indeed, you sound a lot like my dad - same generation I guess.

Sad, really, that change scares people so much...

No respect for your father says it all really.

I have great respect for my father, thanks, but I don't subscribe to all of his views. That's because he ensured I received the best education he could afford for me. My respect for him doesn't stop me cringing when he uses words such as "puff", "wog" or "ni--er" to describe people.

Usual silly lefty comments of course, racist, bigot, homophobic, you forgot Islamaphobic, dont forget that one .
Get it right though, I have NO fear of Islam I just despise the filthy medieval cult and recognise it and the moronic appeasers who support its development in the 21st century world.

Not sure why it's considered left wing to try and treat people with respect, but hey-ho, must be a generational thing.

Islam has no unique position when it comes to the long list of bad things it has done or does do now. Christianity showed them how to wage war on the " non-believer" after all. My own view is that religion as a whole is wrong; there is no chance of humanity getting along so long as any of the mono-theistic religions exist. Even some of the others such as Buddhism have been known to do nasty things. Getting rid of religion in it's entirety is required.

Lets be sure on one thing F1 is in a decline and I have yet to see any suggestions with any ba--s that stand a hope in hell of changing that fact.
It is a shame that Bernie is not a younger man as there is NOBODY else who could make the right changes.

Bernie was the right man in the right place when he got the keys to the kingdom. He made F1 the global brand it is, no doubt. But now it's time to move on; he is obviously playing his silly games in the belief that it will still work as it did in the past. Sadly, for him, the audience has grown up and moved on; they expect their entertainment to be presented in different ways. Bernie's insistence on avoiding the on-line audience is evidence of that.

[iotar__]

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/36086363

I'm torn, is he properly going senile, or is he deliberately trying to talk the sport, and consequently its value, down?

None of the above. It's Ecclestone's self centred idea of marketing, even sadder because recycled (women), at least he left Hitler alone this time. That way he think he's important generating noise and expects people to forget fiasco of his dumb qualifying idea.

[strad]

they expect their entertainment to be presented in different ways

Good heavens that right there is the kernel of the problem
Auto racing is NOT supposed to be entertainment like some stupid Madonna concert.

[Just_a_fan]

What's wrong with wanting to watch a live online stream instead of a standard TV? What's wrong with wanting to pick camera angles yourself? That's what the new generation want, not TV like they did in the 1980s which is what Bernie wants to give them.

[strad]

And like most Youth they can be summed up by the Doors
"We want the world and we want it...
We want the world and we want it...
Now
Now?
Now! "
Youth always wants to be served now. We spoiled our kids and now our grandchildren want to eat us.
Bide your time and remember you don't deserve anything from Bernie.
I don't care for the old fart, but he made this phony glamour show y'all seem to like so much

[zac510]

they expect their entertainment to be presented in different ways

Good heavens that right there is the kernel of the problem
Auto racing is NOT supposed to be entertainment like some stupid Madonna concert.

If it's not entertainment then why do we have TV coverage at all?

A mere spreadsheet containing the race results and an array of laptime statistics, distributed at the end of each competition weekend, should provide the evidence we need as to who won that weekend's technical engineering contest. Watching the outcome on TV is superfluous to the knowledge of the final placings of the race.

The moment you turn on the TV, or turn up at a circuit to watch the unfolding of a race it becomes entertainment.

[SR71]

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/36086363

I'm torn, is he properly going senile, or is he deliberately trying to talk the sport, and consequently its value, down?

None of the above. It's Ecclestone's self centred idea of marketing, even sadder because recycled (women), at least he left Hitler alone this time. That way he think he's important generating noise and expects people to forget fiasco of his dumb qualifying idea.

Wasn't the qualifying format the teams idea? Bernie wanted something completely different.

You can blame him for being the seed of change but it's unfair to say that format was his idea.

And I think ScottB is right, this is all about the purchase price of F1.

[autogyro]

In 2010 I placed a paper before the FIA outlining the take up of electric open wheeled racing alongside F1.
I had predicted the decline of F1 long before that time.
The FIA chose to tender for an electric formula to run on its own in City centres. FE.
My ideas were for an electric formula to run as a technology promoting back up to F1 to be run at the same venues.
The opposition to this was enormous and mainly from vested interest in oil and ic car production.
F1 was left alone to promote a hybrid bolt on power train totally controlled in its development by the major car manufacturers.
For the initial seasons this energy recovery system technology was promoted to the viewing public by the motor sport media and commentators but the general viewer was not interested in the stand alone complexity, so the marketing slowly changed to the only thing F1 has left the driver personalities.
The hybrid systems now used have emaciated driver skills and made the cars sound and look slow and predictable.

If my ideas had been used it would have allowed a slower take up of 'green' technology in F1 proper and gradually brought a focus back onto leading edge vehicle technology through the sister electric formula (F2E).
The viewing public would have had a full range of interest to follow and discus.
Sadly although Bernie would almost certainly back this principle other vested interests will continue to block it.