In the eyes of many, Bernie Ecclestone is a fool whose time has come and gone in Formula One. Though underestimate Ecclestone’s ability to fight back – and you risk a big surprise.
Bernie has been fighting the new V6 Turbo Hybrid engines for years – even before they first appeared on track.
The Ecclestone polemic against the new F1 powertrains, varies for each audience he addresses. Lack of noise was his first big push to pump out negative propaganda via the race prompters. Bernie played on their fears there would be a collapse in F1 race attendees.
Yet this slide in attendance has been marked for some while at many circuits, and now a number of promoters have realised the reduced noise is good for a new audience – families with children.
Another supporting pillar of the Ecclestone propaganda, is the cost of the engines. Most people will agree with this and the fact that the cost manufacturers charge to teams should have been capped prior to them beginning their R&D.
SP why did Bernie not flag this up to the FIA prior to the regulations being finalised, years before the R&D even began.
Worse than this, Ecclestone signed commercial contracts with the teams following the agreement for a new engine. This inadequate arrangements now sees the smaller teams unable to afford to compete for a year, without substantial begging bowls being filled.
Ecclestone even now admits these contracts are inappropriate and the bigger teams should ‘tear them up’.
Speaking to Italy’s Autosprint magazine, Ecclestone states: “I want to change a number of things. Today we have a formula where engines are dominating. I don’t think that F1 should have engines that are so complicated.
A friend of mine, who will remain nameless, works for a big auto manufacturer. He tells me that the technical solutions of the current F1 hybrids will never be used on road cars.
These engines don’t help Formula 1 in any way. They do not help the show, they don’t help teams to find sponsors and investment. The teams are having to pay much more for them than they did before. ”.
Ecclestone is an opportunist and feeds off the dissent between others, forming alliances based on negativity and self-interest. Engine cost is now the flak sent up by FOM’s ack-ack guns, often hoping to score a moderate hit. This is a distractionary manoeuvre say when the issue of redistributing Formula One’s income more fairly is raised – or when its suggested FOM give up some of its total share of the F1 income pie.
In the strategy group, the teams’ are united together with the FIA in resisting Ecclestone’s demands for substantial changes to the new F1 engines (possibly with the exception of Bernie’s appointed heir – Christian Horner).
Bernie knows this is a lost cause, but is still fighting this battle without a glimmer success on the horizon. But Ecclestone understands the power the engine manufacturer’s hold, and any negative perception he can continue to create, will sometime stand him in good stead.
By keeping this topic in the public domain, with some persistence, Bernie is carving out a bargaining tool for further down the line.
Bernie’s no fool. He’s made a career (and billions) out of being both the arsonist and the fire fighter on any number of issues surrounding F1. I doubt that anything he’s said to anyone ever hasn’t advanced at least a few of his numerous causes. There’s no down time with BE.
I hope he’s been keeping a daily journal or progressively writing a no-holds-barred autobiography on the quiet all these years – to be published on his demise. That’d be a read and a half.
Bernie was “arsonist and the fire fighter”, but that was when he was in a double act with Mosley. Since Mosley was forced out, Bernie has been a struggling solo act and he’s been receiving brickbats from all directions, and long may they continue to strike home. It would appear Bernie only has one friendly team, Red Bull, and they are not in a position to help him out, in fact RB and Bernie could both could be facing their final tour in the near future.
Andy Cowell comes out fighting…(somewhat)….,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/32797672
Bernie Ecclestone: problem, reaction, solution (with a good dose of propaganda tossed in to obfuscate the problem AND the reaction). Positively Machiavellian.
Well, how much of EBD’s aerodynamic propoerties were passed on to road cars? I wonder if it was ever an issue with Bernie.
Anyhow, if the manufacturers, teams and FIA are so easily fooled after decades of Bernie being around, then they deserved to be fooled and broken. I guess the same goes for the fans too if they ever come to expect Bernie to actually do the best for F1.
Oh, you’re too kind of the sycophants from Autosport!
http://plus.autosport.com/premium/feature/6246/ask-gary-anderson-f1-financial-problems/
Gary Anderson confides: “I have to say, Bernie, that F1 needs you in control. No one else can do what Bernie has done for F1 and we are now at a critical point. If the teams have any sense they will get behind him.”
Not to be outdone, immediately after the dwarf bribed his way away from bribery charges, Jonathan Noble showed some true grit:
http://plus.autosport.com/premium/feature/6203/the-f1-star-back-on-top-in-singapore/
“The F1 star back on top in Singapore
It’s been a tormented season for one of F1’s biggest stars, but in Singapore he was back on his best form – and that has major implications for the sport, as JONATHAN NOBLE recounts
He’s back in the game. Things haven’t been easy for him in recent months, but it is pretty clear now that the magic of the old days has returned.
Fighting fit, clear of distractions and fully focused on the job that needs doing over the remainder of the year, he’s moved up another gear.”
I don’t think “fool” is a qualified definition for these professional and expert idiots…
The only thing I can add is,I instead of dwarf,should have read “poison dwarf”.
I did notice something in the post, just the wording from MrE..’its about improving the show’, when will this be about improving the racing?
I for one don’t want a WWE type of entertainment but I fear that without noticing we are already there,just look at the fake sparks, before ,these were there to stop the car bottoming out now its just to add spice to the fans
Next we will have Mexican wrestling masks and fun names for the drivers..gentleman button vrs the crashtonator
We have those already – ‘Bling Bling’ and ‘Britney’
I forgot about those😂
http://media.townhall.com/Townhall/reu/d/2011%5C210%5C2011-07-29T142623Z_01_MXR22_RTRIDSP_0_MOTOR-RACING-PRIX.jpg
But we do have the masks,just wait for MrE entering the ring and declaring that Britney is being ‘dissed by the bulls’
TJ, you do our heroic champion a disservice – surely he is rightfully the ‘King of Bling’ ?
“Worse than this, Ecclestone signed commercial contracts with the teams following the agreement for a new engine.”
Indeed. It’s all Ecclestone’s fault that Ferrari, M-B, Renault and Honda have collectively spent close to $1.5B on these new engines. And it’s also Ecclestone’s fault that the customer teams didn’t ask their respective supplier how much these new engines would cost.
Customer teams were imposed the engine costs. Much like many other things, like the fine print of revenue distribution. They’re disenfranchised, and forced to play a game they can’t survive.
It was the FIA’s role to ensure engine costs didn’t spiral out of control – not Ecclestone’s.
They asked plenty – I can assure you.