Bernie Ecclestone weighs in on Formula 1's current situation and says how he'd level the playing field with a number of ideas. Formula 1's former boss Bernie Ecclestone has outlined a plan to fix F1's current lack of competition with two manufacturers' championships and spec cars supplied by constructors. The chairman emeritus would implement a teams' championship alongside the constructors' championship, keeping the drivers' championship intact. "The constructors' championship is for the teams that manufacture the engine and the chassis; teams such as Ferrari and Mercedes," he says to ESPN's Maurice Hamilton. "By having two championships – aside from the drivers' – we're helping the small teams while letting the manufacturers race the way they want. "But if Ferrari want to stop, they can stop. Or they can join the team people if they want to. The choice is theirs.” The teams' championship would introduce a spec car supplied by those constructors, with a $30m payment given to new teams in the championship to encourage more competitors. "I'd build a car – like a very sophisticated F2 car," he says. "I'd give you a complete car and a spare engine. And I'd give you $30 million a year. "That way we can forget all this cost cap nonsense. You've got to run the team as best you can. You've got $30m to get you going, so you need to go out and find some sponsors. "If Honda decided they weren't going to be in F1 – or if Renault decided not to be a constructor – I'd do a good deal for one of them to supply everyone. These would be engines similar to those we have today. But one engine has to last a full season, with one spare engine only to be used if the original one has a failure." In turn, the suppliers of the spec cars would receive money for supplying the cars and sponsorship on the cars that they supply. He goes on to outline his plans to bring back refuelling – a practice that was outlawed under Ecclestone at the end of the 2009 season. "If you want to, you can refuel. You have just one set of tyres but, if you want to stop and refuel, you can also change tyres. Then maybe we'd have to change the weight of the car. If we found the team cars weren't quick, we'd make sure the constructors' cars were a bit heavier. That way, you could easily find two seconds. "With a refuelling strategy and change of tyres, you'd find another, say, second a lap. But only if you want to do that. It's up to you. "And one more thing," he adds, "the teams could enter just one car, if they wanted." The comments came after a lacklustre French Grand Prix that led to an eighth win for Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton netting 15 podiums so far this year. "F1 has to get people's attention again," he continues. "If you've got four friends going to a race, you want to have a situation where none of them can agree on who is going to win. This is all about Ferrari and Mercedes racing up front, but other teams having a chance to be in among them for about a fifth of the budget. "Everything is up for discussion. But the bottom line is having affordable entertainment rather than very expensive technology." Ecclestone claims that Audi was interested in his proposed regulations, but 'dieselgate' stopped short its entry. "They're confident their engineers are talented enough to design a car and engine that would be competitive within two years," he says. But F1 never did adopt these plans under Ecclestone's tenure. Now, with every Mercedes victory, Liberty is under increasing pressure to deliver with the next set of F1 regulations. https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/news/f1/bernie-ecclestone-heres-how-id-fix-f1
The only thing I agree with is losing the technology. Maybe outlaw traction control or reduce it and bring back refueling. Would also love to see manufacturers have free reign on engine design as long as they meet certain criteria’s.
To "get attention" you will also need exciting engines. The GP2 cars sounded better last week than F1. Like a quieter version of Group B cars with their BANGS ! As Bas has mentioned previously, V10 / V8's would also be more cost effective than the current leaf-blowers.
True but the industry as a group is making fewer of them. The manufacturers in F1 will always link F1 to its strategic scheme. I feel the V10 days have passed in a permanent sense.
Who cares what road cars have in them? The way of the future is 4-bangers with giant turbos bolted onto them. Do you want F1 to be as unexciting as a BMW 7 series with an overboosted 4-pot under the hood? This Prius racing spec has been on the road since 1997...and it has ruined F1. F1 should have no relevance to road cars at all. Put violent V-10's back in there and let them sprint-race from start to finish. FIA need to dispense with this road car relevancy BS and any manufacturer that wants it should be shown the door.
I agree. Of course they have the teams and money, most important the influence to make the sport move to a general direction as well of course. Seems FIA listens to well resourced participants lol
Just sit back and retire gracefully Mr Ecclestone - enjoy your retirement.............please This is just the type of meddling the sport doesn't need - its all artificial and meaningless, the teams compete in F1 because that's where they want to be, not F-0.5. If you want to encourage teams into the sport then make the prize money equal to all, not just favouring the big teams or the most successful. £30million wouldn,t buy you much. Greed has killed the sport, circuit owners are robbed blind to hold an event and there isn't even a jar of Vaseline to make it easier for buying the admission tickets.
So Liberty shouldn’t talk to teams but he was in talks with some of them in order to start a rival championship...
If F1 had to be road relevant they'd all race VW golfs. F1 is a business and their business is not sustainable much longer. They can blame the move to pay TV for dropping viewership all they want but the simple case is the product they're selling is not worth paying for. It is not very hard to dream up a set of rules that allows the cars to race closely together, be cost effective, sustainable and something the fans love. And drivers will love it, too. The ones who will hate it? Certain manufacturers, probably. The wings and body should be absolutely simple. No more complicated than the ones used in the 80s. To win some speed back a venturi tunnel is allowed. No holes, winglets and other crazy stuff. Diffusers to be simplified. Remove the barge boards completely. Remove DRS. Return to a ''fixed'' V10 engine, much in the same rules as the V8 era (i.e. fixed engine angle, weight, materials, rev limit, cost and so on). Yes we'll have some moans, probably threats to quit. So be it. Mercedes' new CEO is not a fan of racing anyways so how long will their very expensive last? I think right until the moment they'll have some competition and soon the plug will be pulled. Renault has come and gone so many times I've lost count. Ferrari will stay. The new regulations make F1 a lot cheaper so it remains to be a money making exercise for them, a no brainer. Red Bull will spend a whole lot less money so for them it will work too, another no brainer. Yes they won't have a massive aerodynamic advantage any longer, just a small one...but again, money talks and it's a big money maker for them, so no brainer. Honda won't be very impressed, but hey their engine still sucks so in the end it'll save them from this embarrassment. Lets assume Mercedes has a fit and leaves. Renault too. Mercedes team can't be sold as a whole, but parts can. Renault probably can go as a whole. So we'll have 2 fewer engines suppliers. Cosworth/Gibson etc can easily make a spec engine and make money of it. Red Bull could go as far to make their own engine and at the very least supply it's own teams, if not others as well. Ferrari of course will make an engine. Mclaren, probably Ricardo will built them the spec engine and badged as their own (a first for them in F1 I do believe). There we go, engine crisis solved. We now have great noise, speed, close racing, no artificial overtakes. The alternative is to keep this farce going, wait too long or introduce another set of daft rules for 2021 that won't change a thing, still be ludicrously expensive and wait for F1 to topple over. Good luck winning the fans back. F1 is at serious risk of the latter happening. With ''my'' rules yes there will be a significant job culling happening...but what do you guys think will happen when F1 topples over? Or Mercedes pulls the plug? Merc pulling the plug that's 1500 jobs gone in an instant. F1 topples over it's all jobs gone INCLUDING the trickle down jobs. Sanity has to come in NOW. Balls' in F1's court. And guess what, no one is saying that with my rules we'll have all teams winning races suddenly. There will always be teams that will just do things better, and teams making up the back of the grid. So be it. So long those teams can make money and provide entertaining races, it's all good.
I'm opposed to anything that mandates pit stops...refueling, changing tire compounds, etc. I want to see racing, won or lost on the track, not in the pit lane or from the pit wall.
About the only thing F1 does correctly is qualifying. NA one race weekend motors: displacement limited, any fuel legal, BTU "gas" tank limit. 2 visible aerodynamic surfaces (front and rear 1 element wings) 1 invisible aerodynamic surface (underbody + diffuser) Except for cooling air in and out no breaks in the convex hull of the chassis.
F1 can't be fixed because it isn't broken. In all my years of watching F1 I honestly can't say I think it's much different that it was 50 years ago with one exception, reliability. When wasn't passing an issue? That was the reason they introduce DRS in 2011. Nothing really changed. But reliability has made racing, all racing, less exciting. When was the last time, for example, that you watched an Indy 500 and the leading car failed on lap 19x? Part of the drama of F1 used to be if the cars would last. Personally, I'd like to see simpler cars. Less aero in particular, like the cars of the 80's.
More power More tire More fuel Less aero Less pit involvement Less whining (or whinging) More balls We need some new Barnards, Murrays and Brawns. Or just bring back the old ones!
Very true: managing the reliability of their car used to be a constant worry for the drivers of yesteryears; they don't have that worry now, thanks to electronics, pit communication and seamless gearboxes.
Bernie is just confirming suspicions that he lost the plot some time ago. And Alejandro should know better from tinkering with his own show.
Incredible that simple motorbikes are (a LOT) louder than modern F1 cars... Gp3 loudest car on track these days during and F1 weekend. Followed by Supercup, F2 better sounding than F1. Crazy times we live in...
Sorry to revive this thread but.... Isn't Bernie a damn lucky mothafaka? I would guess that Liberty's ROI on F1 is about to become negative with all the cancelations ahead...
