CVC

Chinese F1 race promoters look to “Post Bernie Era”

by

Despite allegedly receiving bi-weekly blood transfusions, Bernie Ecclestone appears to be going nowhere fast. Though his grip on F1 appears to be slowly diminishing as with any autocratic regime in decline. Ecclestone was forced by CVC to apologise in November 2014 following his remarks that the sport’s smallest teams were “beggars” and “idiots”. The previous … Read more

#F1 Daily News and Comment: Monday 22nd December 2014

by

This page will be updated throughout the day. Please if you are on Twitter press the tweet button below. If you re-write and tweet individual story headlines don’t forget to include #F1. You may not realise how hugely important this is and has helped grow our community significantly Previously on The Judge 13: #TJ13 #F1 … Read more

#F1 Features: The Fall of the Empire, Part One: The inevitable goes unseen

by

Sometimes you can just be too close to the situation. As it unfolds, events may appear to be similar to something you’ve seen many times before, and so the natural assumption is that the outcome will once again be similar. A number of contributors to TJ13 have in recent weeks contacted via social media, senior … Read more

Daily #F1 News and Comment: Thursday 10th July 2014

by

This page will be updated throughout the day. Please if you are on Twitter press the tweet button below. If you re-write and tweet individual story headlines don’t forget to include #F1. You may not realise how hugely important this is and has helped grow our community significantly. #TJ13 Social Media Competition We’re giving away replica … Read more

Daily #F1 News and Comment: Friday 13th June 2014

by

This page will be updated throughout the day. Please if you are on Twitter press the tweet button below. If you re-write and tweet individual story headlines don’t forget to include #F1. You may not realise how hugely important this is and has helped grow our community significantly. 1965 Clark wins Belgian Grand Prix Bottas … Read more

Daily #F1 News and Comment: Monday 24th February 2014

by

This page will be updated throughout the day. Please if you are on Twitter press the tweet button below. If you re-write and tweet individual story headlines don’t forget to include #F1. You may not realise how hugely important this is and has helped grow our community significantly Webbuary Di Montezemolo continues at Ferrari CVC’s MacKenzie … Read more

Daily #F1 News and Comment: Monday 18th November 2013

by

This page will be updated throughout the day. Please if you are on Twitter press the tweet button below. If you re-write and tweet individual story headlines don’t forget to include #F1. You may not realise how significant this is and has helped grow our community significantly in the past couple of months – thank … Read more

Wolff wishes to clear the air, Big Foot or The Hulk, Pirelli reveals tyres for 1st 4 races, Ecclestone and the ‘appearing’ evidence

by

Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb.

I have now put 2 RSS feeds at the bottom of the right hand bar for those of you who know how to use them for updates.

TJ13 is now also on Facebook. Like us in the toolbar on the right if you’re a FB’er.

Toto Wolff sets matters straight

In an interview for Formula1.com Toto Wolff talks about expectations at Mercedes.

“As they (Mercedes) know I have put my neck on the line they know that I have no room for failure. Not only have I taken a personal risk by leaving Williams – where I have enjoyed working – but there is also a financial and economic side to it. There is a huge amount of trust on both sides and I am very happy having joined.”

I’m not really sure what Toto is inferring here, “You cannot run a Formula 1 operation in the UK out of Germany. It is not only a difference in mentality – there is definitely a difference (laughs) – but it is also about physically being there.

Running a company from a distance never really works, so the question is either you run it full time or you don’t. And if you don’t, then you rely on management. In the past I have done that, but it was not the role Mercedes had envisioned for me.”

Read more

Ecclestone on the brink, Ricciardo: I need to be more like Grosjean,

by

Follow thejudge13: Why not follow thejudge13 by email. Click on the button at the top right of the page to receive an email when (and only when) a new article hits the interweb. WE REACHED 500 email followers in only thejudge13’s 15th week and just over 400 by twitter.

Ecclestone tipping point: If you type ‘Ecclestone’ into the search bar you’ll see all the articles thejudge13 has been producing following the Ecclestone story. I have maintained all along something has changed this time, a tipping point has arrived and Ecclestone is losing his grip on F1.

He admits in the Sunday Telegraph today that should he be charged by the German prosecutors, CVC will want to replace him. CVC have been incredibly loyal to Bernie, mostly due to his manipulation of the Bayern Bank into selling the F1 rights to CVC instead of Bluewaters.

We now know this meant CVC promised to retain Mr. E as the CEO of FOM, and Bluewaters made it clear they would offer no such guarantee. Hence the 44m euro bribe to the German bank’s CEO to ensure the sale went the way of CVC.

Read more

Ecclestone, Parr and the “Night of the long knives”

by

A man speaks up

Remember back to the 3rd ever FOTA fans forum in Montreal 2011. Adam Parr, the then chairman of Williams, called for F1 to challenge Bernie Ecclestone over the direction of the sport. His basic premise was that Mr. E doesn’t really understand modern technology and is missing a significant number of opportunities to drive F1 revenue.

I think I heard someone else in the past few days suggests age was a factor mitigating F1’s CEO ability to operate competently. Parr said that night, ‘The way F1 is consumed is going to change over the next few years. There’s so much content you should be able to enjoy. Bernie has two or three cameras on every car. Then there are all the circuit cameras.

‘There’s an astonishing richness of material and we’re not really touching that at the moment.’ Assessing the way Ecclestone manages content, Parr added: ‘There are two things that Bernie thinks about. First, he likes to control the amount of material that’s available. He believes that rarity is an important characteristic of our sport.

Read more