Ecclestone forced to step down as CEO

A 1000hp+ GP1 specs series may never replace F1, but provide more entertainment for less money, and attract more spectators because of it. The rest should follow.

 

Gp2 2017 is basically supporting all but one the F1 race weekends

In 2018 they will be having different chassis/engines...so maybe something is already in the planning stages.

 

Of course Bernie has the connections - but after the threats of breakaway series back in 2009, Bernie has made sure to lock in the organizers, tracks, TV contracts on behalf of F1, to eliminate the opportunity for them to participate in any series that challenges F1.

Further - Bernie doesn't believe in social media or streaming broadcasts, that's why F1 is still in the dark ages of media - why would you expect that he will suddenly see the light and embrace the new tech when he vehemently refused it until now?

And ultimately, as william noted, Bernie is ancient - I would not bet my fortune on an aging, out of touch dictator who doesn't believe in succession plans. He could kick the bucket before any alternative series could first turn a wheel.

 

I wish there was a purely GP1 European series visiting countries that F1 has deserted: Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal, San Marino, Switzerland, on top of the countries already hosting a GP. One can even imagine several races held in the same country (MotoGP has 4 GP just in Spain!!!).

If it was kept relatively affordable, one can imagine the fans attending several races each year, instead on just one, or worse ... none! Maybe GP1 could share events with other series to spread the cost (touring cars, GT?).

One can only dream ...

 

Hard to fathom what he is made of. At 86 no less? He is extraordinary.

 

I don't know that Bernie Conned Jack Brabham... he did twist Tauranac around so that he'd leave. Brabham sold out for what he thought was a good price... Ron stayed on thinking he could control Bernie....

As for F-1 FOCA etc... It was Bernie's wavelength to see TV and do the figures. .... when he negotiated for the TV rights... he gave all the teams the opportunity to jump in for $100K... admittedly much more than he paid for them... but only he saw the potential, and set to work on that... that was the brilliance of Bernie...

does he lie -yes, is he ruthless - yes, does he deliver - yes, is he hard to pin down - yes, is he a crook - maybe. has money corrupted him -yes. around 1992 - 94 he moved from the F-1 promoter in chief to wanting to be the Owner of F-1 outright... once he got people sucked in and addicted to money, he lost all measure of reality.... that is where F-1 went wrong. Max Mosley is the culprit... and tool....

I've met Bernie 3 times... once in an actual business deal. he simply said why do you want to be in F-1 and can your company deliver? because I don't know if your people really want this for a long term deal.... sadly we could not make it work.

 

Excellent posts by both Tom and William.

 

Initially, Bernie Ecclestone wasn't interested in the Brabham team, but in Jack Brabham Motors, a series of garages open at Chessington, Ewell and other locations in South England, to expend his car business empire. It started as Brabham wanted to go back in Australia, where he had bought a business, expecting to sell his garages in England to finance it. When Bernie learned that Brabham needed some cash urgently before going home, he took advantage of it. Negotiations dragged on, and finally Brabham had to offer his share of MRD (the Brabham team) to get the capital he hoped for; Bernie visited the place, and lowered the price, but proposed an immediate payment that Brabham had to accept.

Ron Tauranac, the co-owner of the Brabham team was undermined from the beginning. Bernie wasn't happy with his methods, and brought it Colin Seeley as workshop manager. Then, he decided to concentrate on F1 and abandon the production of F3 and F2 customers cars. Tauranac wasn't happy with that change of orientation, since it reduced the company's income and diminished his influence as designer. Tauranac decided to leave to start his own business, by selling his share of MRD. A price was verbally agreed between the 2, but when time came to settle the matter, Bernie lowered the price by 1/3. "Ron, that's all the money I am going to pay!" Rather than letting the dispute drag on, Tauranac reluctantly accepted.

Ecclestone obtained the Brabham team well below its value, and made its entrance in F1 as team owner at the second attempt, 10 years after the Connaught failure.

 

Bring back V8 engines, allow them to change engines as often as they like, remove fuel economy requirements (which brings back refueling) - the whole thing would become far more interesting and entertaining.

 

William, we disagree on many points of F1, but thank you for sharing your knowledge of racing history with us. Many of us weren't alive back then.

 

Bas - " What I'd quite like to see is a tire that's good enough to run the entire race (it'd be a hard compound, so grip would be somewhat challenging) AND no refueling, so people actually have to overtake instead of relying on the strategy. "

All great ideas!! How I admire your wisdom and knowledgeof the sport...greatly! With regards to tyre compound, the track's abrasiveness has a direct correlation to tyre degradation. When have we not seen the super softs(red banded) last, at times, 15-20 laps when they are only supposed to last(7-9) laps. But that also has to do with chassis setup. A hard compound, yes, to last all the way to the end but each track has its own "characteristics"...plus some get re-paved. If the case with a super hard compound, where they warm-up(lap 7 thru 10), Pirelli or whoever it is needs to do an extreme compound test....over-engineer the tyre with the most abrasive track and settings on the model car set to max/extreme downforce with loads set to a full tank and run it for like a week or two...however long it takes to get it right. Otherwise, if not the case, then at least one stop to change tyre's.

 

Completely wrong!

Teams like Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull wouldn't have a new engine every day! - They'd all have a brand new engine for every single session!

 

This is the best F1 news I've heard in years. There may still be hope for the sport!

 

Bernie Ecclestone said: "I'm proud of the business that I built over the last 40 years and all that I have achieved with Formula 1, and would like to thank all of the promoters, teams, sponsors and television companies that I have worked with. I'm very pleased that the business has been acquired by Liberty and that it intends to invest in the future of F1."

In two sentences the dwark used the vertical pronoun five times. "We" didn't do anything, Bernie did everything. Tells you all you need to know about this narcissistic, very little man.

 

Yep, take the tactics away from F1, and make it a race from start to finish.

 

Exactly right, 100% agreed. I was always a fan of the idea of a single tire for the race, and no refueling, but as you pointed out they didn't use them both at the same time. Eliminate strategy and make them race it out on the track! Ironically, Mad Max Mosley always felt that the 'chess' aspect of strategy was (or should be) the most appealing to fans and refused to simplify the races to just racing. Along with his stupid reduction of mechanical grip in 1998 (narrow track, grooved tires), he set back F1 by 15 years at least.

 

Very interesting read! I love learning the inside stories like these.

Of the two big Ecclestone biographies, which do you think is more accurate - Tom Bower, or Susan Watkins? I haven't read either, but this thread has reminded me that I had planned to. I would expect that the Susan Watkins bio would go extremely easy on Bernie and leave out the more sordid details, due to Sid's working relationship with Bernie at the time.

 

I read both, by preferred Tom Bower. Susan Watkins glosses too much over Bernie's early life, IMO.

 

Reducing grip makes the cars more spectacular to watch, and becomes a real challenge for the drivers.

 

As a general statement, agreed.

But in the 1998 F1 case, it drastically shifted the ratio of aerodynamic grip to mechanical grip in favour of aero, and drastically worsened the reduction of grip when a following car got close to the car ahead, making genuine overtaking much more difficult even when the following car was significantly quicker. It did the racing spectacle great harm. Unfortunately, the 2017 changes aren't going to help - they will significantly increase mechanical grip with the wider track and wider tires, but also increase aero grip via the bigger wings. If they had just increased the mechanical grip, and kept the smaller 2016 wings, the racing would actually have had a chance to be better.

 

That is what it was like from the 60's right through to the late 80's (I think) and very much the best years of F1.

Bernie of course fncked it up with we want more entertainment BS ... now the teams have to freight an enormous tyre changing team to each race instead of just a few engineers and mechanics to keep the cars going. That and the enormous PR team is where the money is wasted.

Honestly if he comes back in to F1, somebody should knee cap him to save the "sport"!
Pete