Bernie Ecclestone bucks the trend in drawing up plans to avoid another Honda
Bernie Ecclestone: “I always said we should give all those fancy engineers gold-plated consoles and send them off somewhere to play. That’s all they do anyway and it would be far cheaper. We could get the real job done. If the manufacturers are prepared to make a long-term commitment, say seven to 10 years, we should let them spend what they want to spend, providing they supply engines and gearboxes at an affordable price. Whether they will commit to that I don’t know. Getting them to agree on anything has always been the problem. But if they did it would prevent the kind of thing we have seen with Honda because we could sue the arse off them if they left. They wouldn’t like that.”
French senate approves French GP at Yvelines
“The French senatorial majority has on Friday adopted a plan for the authorisation of a Formula 1 circuit in the Paris region, in Yvelines.” Yvelines is to the west of Paris.
‘[Martin] Whitmarsh smiles contentedly, as if he already knows the answer to an even more loaded question. Can Hamilton, who has just turned 24, eventually match Michael Schumacher’s record seven world championships? “Oh yes, he clearly has the potential do that. He won’t talk about it because he’s too modest, and what Michael did is extraordinary. But with great champions you don’t want to match it – you want to beat it. The key thing about Lewis is that he’s still very young and he hasn’t reached the peak of his powers as a racing driver. That must be very worrying for his competitors.”‘
Recovering Webber speaks to SIdepodcast at Silverstone.
“Williams, the British-based independent Formula 1 team, would have been facing a struggle for survival had the global downturn not forced the sport to cut costs, according to the men running the team.”
Ecclestone brokers deal to keep team racing
“Williams has made a loss of £50m over the past two years but the boost from Mr Ecclestone has helped the team get its budget in place until the end of 2010.”
“Jackie Epstein, a well-known driver, engineer and team manager, has died at the age of 74. Epstein raced in a number of non-championship Formula 1 races in the early 1960s in a private BRM, but became better known later as an entrant.”
Speed King Lewis Makes City Pit Stop
“Here’s something you don’t see in the company car park every day – speed king Lewis Hamilton taking a Formula One car for a spin. But that’s exactly what greeted workers at the Diageo bottling plant in Glasgow this morning.”
Kester
25th January 2009, 10:17
Each time I read something from Bernie I gain a greater dislike for him. Stating that all the “fancy engineers” basically just play on consoles all day; He does realise that it’s those engineers that made his sport what it is doesn’t he? I mean you can have all the commercial interests in the world, but without something worth watching, it’d all be worthless.
He’s definitely not a people’s person.
HounslowBusGarage
25th January 2009, 10:40
Bernie seems to be morphing into The Grinch.
His comments are increasing ungenerous (if there is such a word) and unkind to those organisations and individuals around him that give him his powerbase.
Arthur954
25th January 2009, 11:14
Every time Bernie speaks, he has something cruel to say of someone or something. The worst this time is about Honda : those hundreds of people that might lose their jobs and that have put money into his pockets with their talent are dismissed with a “who are they – do they make lawnmowers ?” and then wishing he could sue them. Aside from being mean, this is not good business practice at all. With gentlemanliness and good taste you make more money. F1 would be be better off without Bernie : he runs things in a tacky and tasteless way, with no respect for the beautiful traditions in choice of venues, track design, and many other aspects.
I am new to the world of F1 so I am still very surprised by the fact that all parties involved consider him so indispensable. What really scares me is that he lures the teams into a new long term contract. The FIA and the teams should, by now, have studied an alternative structure and be imagining what a wonderful world it could be without Bernie.
Hazelio
25th January 2009, 21:45
Bernie Ecclestone, what a dick. I wish he’d stop mouthing off and get on with his damn job.
Adrian
26th January 2009, 9:44
One day we’ll wake up and Bernie will no longer be involved in F1, I only hope F1 survives long enough to see that happen.
DG
26th January 2009, 10:04
I think Bernie means he wants the Manufacturers just to supply engines and gearboxes at a reasonable price, and not run teams, which is a way forward, as long as the other costs are low enough to encourage independant teams to participate.
This also has me thinking about the Bridgestone contract – will he ‘sue the arse’ off them if they don’t play his game?
Eric
26th January 2009, 14:42
What else can you say about Bernie? I believe he would destroy F1 before let it improve without him. Buy hey he is 78, let’s hope its alomost over.