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Seems like there is a concerted effort by Luca Di Montezemolo to get Ecclestone out. He has been increasingly outspoken lately and openly critical of Bernie.
What's going on folks... is Montezemolo just gasing or does this seem like a legitimate oust, and if the later does he really stand much of a chance of getting Bernie to walk away/push him out?
At the moment, I think it's simple posturing and an attempt at being seen to be politically correct in a very awkward situation. If Montezemolo had said "time to go now", then that would be something indeed, but that's not the case, at least publicly anyway. Also, Montezemolo is still stinging from the jabs Bernie made about Ferrari being bad sports at Brazil, so it's probably a fair jab back. I also wouldn't put it past both of them for this to be actually scripted to a point.
All he's done is suggest publicly what everyone has been saying and thinking privately. Eccelstone is in a lot of trouble. That trouble will tarnish F1 and will continue to put doubts in investors. An accusation is one thing, multiple accusations are another. Bernie is feeling the pressure. You can see this how essentially he is blackmailing everyone in an attempt to prevent a forced removal by suggesting race promoters will leave if he does - classic Bernie.
Interestingy that Bernie simply believes he has done nothing wrong - "The biggest thing is people trust me, so they rely on me. That is the difference. It would take the new guy coming in an awful long time to prove that out.
There's no way anyone trusts Bernie. But perhaps it's 'better the devil you know'?
fritticaldi wrote:His age alone, at 82 he should retire. I doubt he will get out of this financial bribery scandal. It seems there is strong evidence against him.
Bernie was only ever good for himself or to those that in the longer term, would be good to himself.
Better the Devil you know? Well the F1 brand itself is as mismanaged as Football. The only thing that keeps F1 alive is the fans, not Bernie Ecclestone.
Even today, there has been practically ZERO engine development and 2012's car looked as if they had done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. Yet F1 still has a massive audience. His nous in making deals is renowned, but when you are talking about his "skill", it's easy to forget the teams or the FIA have no power to challenge him. He is the product of too powerful a position. And the roots of this stem from the criminal sale of the commercial rights for a woefully low sum.
Take his power away and Bernie is another Geriatric Billionaire.
Indeed, amount of money being taken out of F1 is appaling. And while I dont have access to figures just yet I'm sure once the teams and FIA have been paid, FOM takes way more than it deserves.
Last edited by FoxHound on 22 Dec 2012, 14:05, edited 1 time in total.
FoxHound wrote:Bernie was only ever good for himself or to those that in the longer term, would be good to himself.
Better the Devil you know? Well the F1 brand itself is as mismanaged as Football. The only thing that keeps F1 alive is the fans, not Bernie Ecclestone.
Even today, there has been practically ZERO engine development and 2012's car looked as if they had done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. Yet F1 still has a massive audience. His nous in making deals is renowned, but when you are talking about his "skill", it's easy to forget the teams or the FIA have no power to challenge him. He is the product of too powerful a position. And the roots of this stem from the criminal sale of the commercial rights for a woefully low sum.
Take his power away and Bernie is another Geriatric Billionaire.
Indeed, amount of money being taken out of F1 is appaling. And while I dont have access to figures just yet I'm sure once the teams and FIA have been paid, FOM takes way more than it deserves.
To be fair... Bernie got into the position he's in now, by being a team boss, and organising the teams to work together in such a way that they were able to overthrow the powers that be. The teams absolutely have the power if they organised themselves. But... They all see having Bernie in charge as a good thing, because he's making deals that get them a --- ton of TV money.
They did organise themselves into FOTA and previous iterations.
But of course, Bernies mate max included 3 new teams(which made unanimity impossible), and had the divide and conquer methodology which makes unanimous agreement impossible.
Offering Williams greater cash for signing early? Easy.
Any Merchant banker can do that in his sleep.
Question is, why would Bernie want to do these deals?
To keep his excessively powerful position of course.
