The childish rules in Formula that see the participants prize money withheld at the end of the season will now cost Manor in excess of $3m.
Ecclestone refuses to allow the teams access to THEIR winnings until the following season – and then it is paid in equal instalments between March and November, and only then if the team continues to participate thoughout the year.
Bernie would argue this helps the teams budget better, as he claims, “their companies are in the shit because they spend more than they have got”. So Daddy Bernie sends a cheque once a month to tidy them over.
Whether this is compliant with EU law is not clear, however, the smaller teams spend about 35-40% of their annual budgets during the closed season and have to beg borrow and steal credit to see them through this period.
Manor were forced to attend the Melbourne GP to ensure they did not fall foul of the rule which states they can only miss 3 races before 2020 otherwise they forfeit their right to compete in Formula One.
The FIA and Ecclestone must have known the timescales were ridiculously tight for Manor to bring the team out of administration and be capable of running a car on track – after nearly four months being out of business.
In fact the FIA stewards did in fact recognise that Manor “made all reasonable efforts to run in Melbourne” and so did not sanction them. Yet Ecclestone will be refusing them over $3m of their own hard earned prize money.
Under their previous name, Manor F1 finished the season ninth in the F1 constructors’ championship entitling them to around $54m in prize money, however due to their Russian backer co-incidentally withdrawing immediately following the inaugural Russian GP, the team were left high and dry and forced into administration.
Ecclestone has now said he will withhold 1/19th of last years prize money due to Manor F1 failing to get their cars on track in Melbourne two weeks ago.
“We will deduct the race they missed from the prize-money,” he said. “They will miss one 19th of it and they are going to get a bill for the free travel that we gave them.”
It is highly unlikely Ecclestone has the legal right to deduct last years prize money for what happened in Melbourne because the moneys awarded are for last year’s performance and should therefore not be contingent on future performance.
Yet Manor dare not take Ecclestone on, because the consequences could be grave and challenge their continued existence.
Welcome to the world of F1 – run by a despot.
Sweet sweet music from our garage and our @ScuderiaFerrari powertrain, as we complete our planned fire-up! pic.twitter.com/WvV52A76vM
— Manor Racing (@ManorRacing) March 26, 2015
Ecclestone definitely breaks the rules on that. They DID participate as they passed the scrutineering. The old hack wants to get rid of the smaller teams to push through the three car idea. What he’s doing is usually described by the word fraud or theft.
Run by a tosspot more like……
Still consistent with the poisonous dwarf’s actions over the past few years, since the killing of Concorde and the introduction of bilateral agreements, to gut the small teams and bleed them out of business. HRT and Caterham are dead. Marussia got a heart-attack, recovered, but the dwarf is withholding blood transfusions, and will die soon enough in all likelihood. I wouldn’t bet on Force India and Sauber surviving this year. Lotus isn’t far behind, either.
It seems Adam Parr wasn’t wrong, just one year late… This is the end of F1 as we know it…
“This is the last year of F1 as we know it. In 2015 eight teams will contest the championship, with several teams entering three cars.”
And this is still very much of actuality:
http://thejudge13.com/2013/01/23/adam-parr-calls-ecclestones-concorde-deal-a-crime-and-the-eu-commission-negligent/
“It’s wrong, it’s just wrong”, Parr asserts. “To force a team into bankruptcy and cause the loss of all those jobs is in my view absolutely and categorically an abuse of a dominant position”.
If Manor can see the writing on the wall then perhaps they can do is all a favour, laywer up and go out in a blaze of glory rather than fade away #takeouthetoad
I used to work for Sainsburys and once met Justin King. All I would say is I took the impression that he wasn’t someone you would push around or that he was afraid to play the long game. All this talk of the EU being involved is this another threat against Bernie that $3million now may hurt later
Bernie is getting desperate. I think Mr E is just sending them the message that they should race in the event. He understands that a grid with 14-16 cars is very bad for the profits.
Not from what I see. Actually I’m seeing the toad as invigorated and on the offensive. He was extremely fragile during his German trial, and being removed from some senior positions, but (from memory) he was later reinstated. Which means: he’s back in business, and CVC—the owners—are powerless to reign him in.
What he is doing now is, to me, a sign of strength. And as all old people sensing death approaching, he now has little qualms over his “reputation” (who cares, right?!). He is purposely ramming through the 8 teams 3 cars idea, and this means gutting a team or two. Which he is doing with gusto, and before the end of the year at least one of FI, Sauber or Marussia shall join HRT and Caterham…
Overall, as a good manager who respects themselves Bernard doesn’t care about CVC’s profits or the resell value of F1 (unless he shall be buying it, of course). The toad gets a high from how the game is being played, and this is what he has been doing all along since the moment he bribed Gribkowsky… He loves controlling the game-play. He relishes being the center of the F1 village, and he never loses focus and he has no thoughts to spare for “stakeholders” (what a joke, right?!). He is also always two moves ahead of all else, so his moves always take others by surprise.
So if Bernard wanted Marussia to be racing this year, surely he would be more concerned with giving them more money than breaking the law to withhold funds to which they are entitled…
Fuck the Midget!!! He epitomizes all that is wrong with F1, the EU should just take his shriveled ass and brain on directly…without a complaint from any team…