Bernie

[f1italia]

Who will takeover after Bernie? I am so pissed that Silverstone will be off the calendar in 2010. It's one of the greatest race tracks ever.

[greenpower dude reloaded]

I get the feeling this may annoy plenty of people and that's not the intention but i'm glad silverstone going its boring as hell! i've been there a number of times and its flat and dull! Hopefully sunday will prove me wrong, but i for one am glad to see Donington replace it, it's further away from me but i'd much rather drive up there to watch the race at least I can see more of it!

[nae]

come on now guys we all know its got little to do with the actual track layout of the fans opinion but how much monies Bernie can get

the rest is just smoke and mirrors

i for one welcome our new old hair pin overlords

[Belatti]

Let me quote Luca:

"Time goes by and in a few years I will retire too. The crisis might accelerate a process of renovation. I've known Ecclestone since '73 and I think he's done a great job. A few years ago we argued. I called him greedy, because of the revenues, which were distributed 70 percent for him and 30 percent for the teams. Now it's 50-50. We'll have to do more though. We'll see. What's certain is that the time to divide and conquer to rule in F1 is over."

If you ask me:

Yes, he is greedy.
Yes, he has been sacking F1 for the last 35 years.
Yes, he should retire.
Yes, the time to divide and conquer to rule in F1 should be over.

[pgj]

F1 is waking up to the notion that for no good reason, it is servicing a massive debt. It is a debt that never has benefited F1 and it never can. 50% of all income from media rights goes to CVC. F1's only incentive is pay CVC's debt off as quickly as possible so that CVC gets into profit as quickly as possible. Only then can there be any legitimate talk of a bigger share being granted to F1.

An alternative would be for FOTA to walk away from F1 and have a new series recognised by the FIA. This would leave Bernie and CVC with worthless contracts and a massive debt. It would leave the new EF1 in total control of its own finances.

[modbaraban]

An alternative would be for FOTA to walk away from F1 and have a new series recognised by the FIA. This would leave Bernie and CVC with worthless contracts and a massive debt. It would leave the new EF1 in total control of its own finances.

That would be like a breath of fresh air! Why won't they just do it at last!? It's not like they have that much to lose, it can't be any worse can it?

[donskar]

An alternative would be for FOTA to walk away from F1 and have a new series recognised by the FIA. This would leave Bernie and CVC with worthless contracts and a massive debt. It would leave the new EF1 in total control of its own finances.

That would be like a breath of fresh air! Why won't they just do it at last!? It's not like they have that much to lose, it can't be any worse can it?

That would have been very unlikely as recently as just a few months ago, but now, with FOTA seeming to be quite united, it is not impossible - but unlikely. I'm afraid the teams would never be able to pull together for any effort as big and mulitfaceted as starting a whole new series.

Now if a Chris Pook or Tony George stepped forward to provide leadership, direction, and smarts, then we might have something very interesting . . . THAT would be a Christmas gift!

[xpensive]

If donskar is correct, we might as well keep believing in Santa before anything radical will happen with Mosley in charge. Mosley and Ecclestone are still as criminal as ever, a dynamic duo raping F1 together while sometimes pretending to disagree with poorly disguised charades.

Think about it, selling the commercial rights for 99 years for a measly, how much was it now, 300 MEUR?
That's 3 million per annum, pocket change in the context.

[andartop]

I doubt the Manufacturers can pull off such a trick, mainly because of the greediness of human nature but even more so because of the even greatest greediness of corporate nature. There is so much at stake, that I 'm afraid if they went for it we would only end up a few years down the line with a situation where we'd have not one but several championships:
a)the "official" F1 branch with Ferrari, Red Bull/Torro Rosso and a couple more new/old teams Bernie would manage to attract (candidates for entering new/old teams: Eddie Jordan, Tom Walkinshaw, Paul Stoddart, any other scum in the galaxy!).
b)the "European" F1 branch with Renault, BMW, Williams plus (possibly) a couple more, who would try to "revive" the good old 70s-80s F1, racing mostly in historic European circuits.
c)the "Asian/Middle Eastern" F1 branch with McLaren, Force India, Prodrive(?) who would go after the petrol money.
d)the "Japanese" F1 branch with Toyota and Honda finally able to run their teams based on their own philosophies!!!
Then a new "Bernie" would appear out of nowhere and manage to re-unite all these into a new F1 championship, he would be hailed as a God and handed the keys, then he would pull out every trick in the old Bernie's list!

[meves]

I partly agree with the sentiment of andartop. The teams are way too greedy and will do anything to get one over on hte otehr teams, a great example is Ferrari and this has been known for year but it's great to see it being quoted from Bernie is;

"Ferrari get so much more money than everyone else. They know exactly what they get; they are not that stupid, although they are not that bright, either. They get about $80 million (£54 million) more. When they win the constructors' championship, which they did this year, they got $80 million more than if McLaren had won it."

but not only financially but also to hear this come from Bernie which is more suprising is;

"The only thing he has not mentioned is the extra money Ferrari get above all the other teams and all the extra things Ferrari have had for years - the 'general help' they are considered to have had in Formula One," Ecclestone told The Times.

This could well blow Bernies support base from Ferrari.

I think the biggest problem is that all the major circuits are signed up to Bernie and so are not allowed under their contact to run an alternative series.

But ultimately F1 is a dicatorship and everyone is too scared and now short of cash and has too many other issues to look at running around organising a series which will ultimately cost them millions to set up when it will probably only save them the same amount of money.

[xpensive]

My sentiments precisely, why I cannot for my life understand how the likes of Mercedes, BMW and Toyota let themselves på shafted by those con-men on such a regular basis?

But surely, the general razmatazz as well as the beautiful girls of the Monaco paddock, is a persuasive tool with the boardmembers of said corporations.

[timbo]

What Bernie's reaction definetely tells is that he's really desperate now. Actually that bonus Ferrari gets only tells about the system he created where right hand won't know what left's doing.

[donskar]

It's good to see Montezemolo goading Bernie Hugestones. Bernie can not handle pressure, and he is showing signs of cracking. Some of his comments are purely personal and have no bearing on the central issue - profit sharing. It should be transparent to anyone that Bernie is using sophmoric tactics -- attacking the man rather than the man's argument.

I don't think it WILL happen, but Bernie MIGHT be toppled if others join Luca CdM and begin applying pressure. Now is the time to go for Bernie's throat.

Does Ferrari get more money? Sure. No question. So what's Bernie's point? Anyone out there think F1 is lily white and free of any inequities? F1 DOES need Ferrari more than Ferrari needs F1. Think about it. Ferrari has established itself as one of the top 2 or 3 most recognizable brands in the entire world. They can maintain their sales and profitability by winning races in ANY series they choose. And with its marketing ability, Ferrari could probably make MORE money if they raced nowhere at all.

Bernie is furious that he THOUGHT he had "bought" Ferrari, but instead Luca has taken the money and NOT given Bernie what Bernie thought he had paid for. They played a game, and Ferrai won. Isn't it a shame? =D> Ultimately, Luca may have to back down if he gets no support from the other teams, but it is good to see him scoring some points against the old [your favorite expletive here].

[xpensive]

Being far from a conspiracy theorist, sometimes I cannot help wonder if certain thing are purely coincidental, like Mosley's exotic private life exposed not very long after that ridiculous fine on McLaren?

And now, Bernie's wife walks out on him together with God knows how many Giga-USD, when suddenly his most loyal team-ally Montezemolo lets him down after all those pay-offs?
The poor man will have a terrible X-mas...

[pgj]

Like it or not, Ferrari is the senior team in F1. It has been there since the beginning. I have no doubt that the extra payment is made up from legitimate payments that other teams have forfeited when they have left F1. I do not know for sure, but I would be surprised if the rest of the field get an even cut of what is left. It is likely that McLaren and Williams get a bigger share than some of the other teams.

This is not a new story and it is an attempt by a desperate man to break a new-found, and long over-due, sense of unity in F1.

A lot of people have suspected for a long time that there are some murky waters that surround Fortress Bernie. It is not difficult to envisage a situation where the status quo has been maintained through personal gratification. Why else would such accomplished and successful in their own right allow themselves to be treated as stooges in Bernie's smoke and mirrors show. If proof is needed then all that needs to be done is to look for people who plead poverty one minute and then buy apartments in Monaco in the next.

As long as F1 is burdened with the CVC debt, it will continue to be forced to ask over inflated prices for GP franchises. It is race fans who will be expected to dig ever deeper into their pockets to subsidise the parasitic debt that is CVC. Along with plenty of other people, I have called for F1 to 'get real' and to start having empathy with the people who contributed to building it up over the years. Short of the TP's agreeing to take a smaller share of the income from media rights so that CVC can get into profit sooner, there is nothing that can be done so long as the CVC debt exists.

It is unlikely that FOTA would launch a new EF1 series, but I would support them if they did.