In the round-up: Bernie Ecclestone says F1’s new owners Liberty Media want him to remain in charge for three years.
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Ecclestone says new F1 owners would want him to stay (Reuters)
"He (Carey) can do lots of things that I haven't done with this social media, which he seems to be in touch with. He's been dealing with sponsorship with his TV people."
Honda has separate team working on 2017 (Autosport)
"We have a completely separate team from the start of this year concentrating on next year's engine."
Damon Hill: My fear that I would die on the racetrack brought on terrible depression (The Mirror)
"I wanted to get out, I could feel what happened to my dad there in the background, there was an accident waiting round the corner that would claim me. I thought I was going to die."
The pressure’s within - Q&A with Manor’s Esteban Ocon (F1)
"Renault has been champion in the past and I have been working with them since my very beginning. So, yes, that would be a dream come true - but first of all I have to do a good job this season."
No revolutions with 2016 Renault engine performance (F1i)
"Next year I want to have a Renault engine on the podium, that would be very nice."
Williams won't divert resources back to '16 car to beat Force India (Motorsport)
"I think we’re probably going to go through a cycle with this P4, back and forth. It doesn’t matter what happens with the next few races, as long as we finish the year in P4."
McLaren Automotive Secretly Used These Two Ferraris to Develop Its First Car (Road and Track)
"While spies did mention seeing a suspicious Ferrari 360 around Woking, nobody had a picture to prove that Ron Dennis' engineers are indeed building a Ferrari competitor using mules based on Ferrari's hardware."
"Bernie Ecclestone’s daughters are set to share a £500million windfall if Formula One is sold to an American media tycoon."
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Le Mans and F1 clash bad for Motorsport. I am pretty sure those in F1 circle will be jealous of us at the twice around the clock classic! ;)
— Pipo Derani (@PipoDerani) September 7, 2016
I'd love to see Honda take Jenson Button on a global motorsports tour racing Suzuka 1000km, Indianapolis 500 and more. #F1 #IndyCar #SuperGT
— ForTheLoveofIndy (@4TheLoveOfIndy) September 7, 2016
#F1 & Liberty Media: Foolishly, I continue to believe in a distinction btwn selling a sport's commercial rights & selling the sport itself.
— Richard Williams (@rwilliams1947) September 7, 2016
Oh and by the way – Liberty clearly know a lot about UK/European media having missed all 1st edition deadlines with their announcement…
— Daniel Johnson (@danielt_johnson) September 7, 2016
#F1 is sold to Liberty and teams can own a stake of it now. Should be great thing for the fans and viewers on long-term . Positive changes
— K.Beschir خليل بشير (@khalilracing) September 7, 2016
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
Is Jenson Button underrated?
Jenson’s drive [at Canada in 2011] was incredible. I still remember it as one the greatest F1 drives I have ever seen by anyone. He was unstoppable that day.
His talents and skills are dismissed far too easily by too many people. He could easily have more championships if things had gone his way more. He’s generally underrated I think and has been all his career. I think this partly stems from his lack of pole positions though which always get the headlines.
Phil-F1-21
From the forum
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On this day in F1
Alain Prost was fined $5,000 by FISA (now the FIA) on this day 30 years ago for “untruthful and insulting statements” after describing his disqualification from the Italian Grand Prix as “stupid”. Prost had started the race from the pit lane in his spare car but was later black-flagged for switching cars after the formation lap had begun.
@HoHum (@hohum)
8th September 2016, 0:44
I hope Bernie enjoys his advisory role but I suspect he will tire of it and retire after a suitably face-saving time.
petebaldwin (@petebaldwin)
8th September 2016, 8:58
Bernie won’t last 3 years. He’ll try some ridiculous deal to race in Syria, get rid of Ferrari or blot out the sun and Liberty will tell him to back off and he’ll throw a strop and quit.
It does make sense to keep him in charge for the short term though as much as I despise him.
Nick Wyatt (@nickwyatt)
8th September 2016, 12:15
Over the years, I think I have worked for three companies where the outgoing CEO/owner was asked to stay on after the company was sold. Pretty sure it was three years in all three cases, too. In not one case did the exec stay on for more than a year! Having been the chap that made the decisions, they just couldn’t stomach the idea of having to get those decisions approved or counter-signed or whatever.
Bernie has ruled as an absolute monarch, and the only way that monarchs pass control on is by dying or abdicating. I really do not think that Bernie will grit his dentures and play by new rules, I agree with @petebaldwin, Bernie will walk away and then criticise everything from his exile.
Loen (@loen)
9th September 2016, 9:30
Lyndon Baines Johnson on the dictum ‘ keep your friends close and your enemies even closer ! ‘
‘Well….I’d rather have him inside the tent, p—ing out, than outside the tent p—ing in !’
Reckon they know the reputation of the slippery exploiter they are dealing with quite well.
omarR-pepper
8th September 2016, 1:31
Knowing now that Bernie is immortal, he will reconsider it and try to get a 20-year contract by Liberty. He might even asked to be paid those 20 years in advance.
JCost (@jcost)
8th September 2016, 8:27
Oh Lord!
AceAce
8th September 2016, 3:04
Great guys from fox, they’ll probably run attack ads on banners at the bottom of the screen during races talking about Dumocrats and their smell fair programme. Next Bill O’Reilly will be announced as the supreme sole F1 commentator with subtitles Available for $9.95…😂
Tristan
8th September 2016, 4:30
“That’s Eddie Jordan. If he had any money, and wanted a small wager, I’d give him good odds,” said Ecclestone.
Somebody get the burn cream! “If he had any money” :’D Especially seeing in in Reuters.
Meanwhile if Renault brought an engine update at Singapore, I see that as them clearly missing a Monza deadline. There would be no reason to keep it another week otherwise, hence the downplaying it as small. If it came last week it would be heralded as a much bigger change and success I’m sure.
Honestly I think 80% of F1 drivers are underrated, by the public anyway. People seem to think if an F1 driver hasn’t won championships they’d be able to beat them around their local track.
@4TheLoveOfIndy – I’d love to see him come down to Aus and have a crack at our supercars in the Bathurst 1000. He said he’d love to do it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHvkhlP4XUU Just as a side note actually Simona De Silvestro (former Sauber hopeful) was given a contract to be a regular racer in the series in 2017.
LovelyLovelyLuffield
8th September 2016, 5:01
“Bernie Ecclestone’s daughters are set to share a £500million windfall if Formula One is sold to an American media tycoon.”
Ugh. I’m supposed to be just killing Bernie, dammit.
Hey, what? Even crime lords have to have considerations, too, you know.
pcxmac (@xsavior)
8th September 2016, 5:18
congratulations Bernie, you have achieved in helping to produce a 2+ hour long commercial.
bull mello (@bullmello)
8th September 2016, 5:47
Three years. Well, it will probably take that long to find out where most of the skeletons are buried…
Loen (@loen)
9th September 2016, 9:47
Brilliant, Man !
UNeedAFinn2Win (@uneedafinn2win)
8th September 2016, 6:29
Most teams have a signed “concorde agreement” to race in f1 until 2020, so it seems Liberty is giving The Bernard this one last round of negotiations.
So expect much of the same old same old, tantrums, bullying, breakaway series talks, coalitions, handshake deals, special treatments and the lot.
The king is dead, long live the king!
gweilo8888 (@gweilo8888)
8th September 2016, 7:48
…and most of the fans would rather Bernie leave within the next three minutes.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
8th September 2016, 7:55
Bernie “says” they want him for 3 years or Liberty Media say they do? Lets see what Liberty actually says in a media statement & not rely on Reuters
Mark
8th September 2016, 13:50
Or Bernie.
ColdFly F1 (@)
8th September 2016, 7:58
Still a lot unknown, but I’m glad to read in the press release by Liberty Media that they will “be good stewards of Formula One and benefit fans, teams and our shareholders.”
I don’t recall any instance where BE acted or even mentioned to ‘benefit fans’.
GeeMac (@geemac)
8th September 2016, 9:05
Talk is cheap @coldfly.
As much as people dislike Bernie he was a known quantity. I will wait and see what Liberty say when they come out with concrete plans for the future of the sport before celebrating their arrival.
Strontium (@strontium)
8th September 2016, 11:02
+1
Captain Pie (@captainpie)
9th September 2016, 1:09
@geemac a known quantity who was unpredictable!
GeeMac (@geemac)
9th September 2016, 8:07
@captainpie Well, he was predictable in his unpredictability…
Loen (@loen)
9th September 2016, 13:55
There were always fifteen ways of interpreting any
statement BCE made on any subject concerning his
lifelong love affair with profit ( profit for BCE that is ! )
So….you guys are right….lets see what actually happens
as opposed to what they say is going to happen.
JCost (@jcost)
8th September 2016, 8:38
Liberty Media should not be carried away by the “media part” of it and spend some time working on improving the “sport part” which, if fixed, will certainly lead to better ratings.
Pukka T Pie (@pukktpie)
8th September 2016, 8:45
I’ve never been much of a reader but i think i’m going to have to check out Damon Hill’s autobiography… Daft question @keithcollantine but is it living up to the hype?
KaIIe (@kaiie)
8th September 2016, 9:40
I think Keith mentioned yesterday that a review is coming up shortly.
Neil (@neilosjames)
8th September 2016, 8:53
I think with Bernie, the problem is that they NEED to keep him for at least three more years. He’s built the whole empire up with himself as the glue that keeps it held together… like the wood of a tree, holding all the leaves in place. He has a finger in every single pie, sometimes more than one finger, and often those fingers are keeping the pies in their proper position.
Simply ditching him immediately, and having to unravel everything without him being there, would be far more painful than keeping him on for a while and gradually shifting each pie into the hands of a new controller. Not so much a smart/dumb move by Liberty, more a necessary one.
petebaldwin (@petebaldwin)
8th September 2016, 10:59
If they got rid of Bernie and brought someone else in immediately, the teams would trample all over them with demands and the sport would fall apart. There are lots of examples of countries run by evil dictators but once they die, the resulting power struggle leaves the country in an even more crazy position than it was before.
CVC have allowed Bernie to get away with what he has – I’m not sure Liberty will… Bernie will be there to do the deals but if Liberty don’t want F1 to be racing in a certain country (for example), it won’t happen.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
8th September 2016, 9:56
Regarding COTD: if you are a star in changing weather conditions then you are exceptionally good. I believe that close to half of Button’s victories were in these conditions. There were races where I said to my friends: “Look the track is drying up, watch Button!”. He will not be one of the all-time greats but he sure is a worthy champion.
Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
8th September 2016, 13:08
@matthijs The human barometer. If I were an F1 strategist, I would have genuinely used the tactic of ‘just do what JB does’ in mixed conditions.
KnGS (@)
8th September 2016, 10:27
Hey guys cmon.JB is underrated.Great driver and great COTD.
PS Today’s my BDay
ColdFly F1 (@)
8th September 2016, 10:30
Congratulations @godoff1
Greg Kingston (@gregkingston)
8th September 2016, 12:43
For some reason it feels enormously troubling that Honda have a team working on the 2017 engine that’s completely siloed away from the current engineering team. Let’s hope that there’s at least some transfer of knowledge and experience built up over the past couple of years!
sato113 (@sato113)
8th September 2016, 12:47
regarding Button and COTD. I wonder if Jenson has been affected by his split with his wife, Jessica…
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
8th September 2016, 16:13
@sato113 Performance-wise? I don’t think so, they splitted at the end of last year and he’s pretty much at the same level compared to Alonso as he was last year, he even ranked his more recent performances as some of his best ever.
Patrick (@paeschli)
8th September 2016, 17:19
Also, the split seemed pretty amical from what I understand and he has a new girlfriend.
sato113 (@sato113)
9th September 2016, 8:01
yeah but it must have hurt, getting married after so long and then divorcing so quickly!
Evil Homer (@)
8th September 2016, 15:16
“Liberty want me to stay for three years”
Unfair F1F’s he was misquoted they missed a word mid-sentence:
Away
Quite
Sobre
in Russia
in Brazil (with Mother in law)
Antartica
at FIA Formula e
at FIA WEC
at any other FIA event………… please
But Cudo’s to a man that just wont let go- as he said he will quit when he has his funeral!
Sergey Martyn
9th September 2016, 13:45
Hail mighty Vlad Ecclestone and his glorious reign over F1 Transylvania!