ECCLESTONE: Absolutely No Break Away F1 Series

"Youz start a new ting - I don't give a damn WHAT ting - dat looks anyting like my operation, on my
turf, and youz gonna swim with da fishes. And youz kids gonna swim with da fishes. Fugetaboutit"

Don Bernie

 

I think it is funny that Bernie and Max are starting to threaten the FOTA if they try and start their own series. To me that is their last approach they have, and they must be feeling like they are losing control. The TV contacts will go with the series that the audiences want to watch, and if the teams that the audiences want to watch end up in a new series, Bernie won’t have that to hold over their heads, which is really the only thing he has since the banks really own F1. I really hope the FOTA stands their grand and doesn’t cave. F*#k Off Bernie and take Max with you!!

Jim

 

So Max is getting desperate and now Bernie is showing he's scared. Hmm, interesting...

If something is virtually impossible and you're confident it won't happen then why worry about it?

 

Max needs to tell Bernie........that he told the FOTA, if they didn't like whats going on, to go race on their own.......LOL pathetic to say the least

 

"Never let them know what you're thinking." - Micheal Corleone.

 

What developed countries have only one TV company? FOM has contracts with ONE tv company per market. Some of those are for renewal this year, and some of them have clauses about what teams are participating (ITV did this after the last threat of breakaway). The tv deals are not a problem. What tv company wouldn´t love put up the FOTA championship with all the teams and their stars at a reduced rate against their competitor channel with very expensive FIA championship that has participants that no one has heard about?

In any case, why all the threats if the breakaway is near impossibilty?

 

Bernie is obviously biased and scared, and his statements can't be considered a realistic and honest account of the feasibility of a breakaway series.

I am sure there if the manufacturers started their own series, there would be no shortage of television companies who would love to carry the races. I seriously doubt any of those companies have contracts with FOM that limit what other racing they can carry, and I don't think any new series would have to entice companies away from F1 and into their series... they could just agree to run in parallel and let the market decide.

As for the costs aspect, F1 revenues for FOM are something like a billion dollars a year, less than half of which goes to the teams. So, with their own series, there is potentially $500mm of money that the teams don't currently have access to. $500mm pays for a heck of a lot of races and track workers. Bernie charges many tracks $15-20mm, and he is obviously making a lot of $$$ at that level. Even if it costs $10mm per race to stage each event, a 20 race calendar would be $200mm, still leaving a LOT more money for the teams.

It seems to me that Bernie and Max are using every method available to try to save the series, the only thing they are NOT doing is sitting down with the teams and hammering out something that works for them. They have tried threatening them, cajoling them, playing good-cop/bad-cop, and pretty much everything else. I think this is a clear case of "thou doth protest too much".

Bernie and Max are in tight spots, and IMO they know it.

 

Correct Mike, I'm sick of all this BS and posturing support of Bernie and Mosley, MOSLEY will drive F1 in to the ground rather than back down. It's that simple why would anyone support such a dumb view.

Otherwise why would in the real world would Renault be reported to have informed its partners that it may not be in F1 next year.

Friday will give us an indication of where things are going IMO.

Otherwise Carry on...:0

 

Of course he's going to say that......... he needs as much money as possible for his divorce.

 

Bernie is not going to war with Toyota. They are in a different league financially. This is going well beyond the team principals and is being driven by the boards of the FOTA stakeholders. The following is from Ghosn in front of the French National Assembly:

"We are the ones doing the show, who bring in the technology, who bring in the engines, who hire the drivers. And if we do the show, the revenues of Formula One must come back to us." "Today we pay to be in Formula One; that is not normal," Ghosn said. "Intermediaries have made enough money with this. We want to take back control of Formula One."
"Accepting different rules depending on the constructor is out of the question." "We want the same rules for everyone,"

 

The last thing FIA/Bernie/Mosley wants is for this to be decided by the court. It will turn into not only a financial nightmare but also a PR nightmare that will easily cripple FIA & Bernie. FOTA does not need to start a new series, all they have to do is join an existing series that are willing to make a "few" rule changes. IRL/CART will kill to have Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes, Renault, BMW-Sauber, Toyota etc. on their racing grid. Heck, if FOTA really wants to and are willing to spend the money, they can even join Formula Mazda or Formula Atlantic and make it THE series to follow. IMO, Bernie/Mosley both knows that it is the teams that makes Formula One, Formula One. Which is why they are resurrecting names like March, Braham and Lotu.

 

+1
Bernie sounds scared. But if a person could be scared to death the little man isn't nearly scared as much as I'd like him to be.

 

I've been wrong all this time. Bernie is in fact a humanitarian and philanthropist through whose veins flow nothing but the milk of human kindness. A man who selflessly provides for the good of the poor little teams who couldn't possibly survive with out his beneficent protection.
Or maybe its all about business.
BTW Did his original statement end withe a

 

This whole thing is getting as Sgt Schultz would say "Veeeeeerryy IN Teresting"

We can only hope that a new series is born from the ashes of this mess. F1 is dying. The racing is (generally) boring. The economics make no sense. The teams are fed up and with the present economic enviroment, it has become basically a financial decision (as Honda made) to vote with your feet.

Ferrari screwed up the last time and sided with Bernie and bought him a reprive, but not sure what will happen this time.

Bernie sold out for big bucks and the banks that bought it from him are probably going to get caught holding the bag. They may never get a return on their investment. It's just like when CART went public. I figured it was all over for them, Penske doesn't sell something that is going to be a long time money maker and when it went public I figured it was doomed. Three years later and all you could do with CART stock is paper your wall with it. Bernie, (or I guess his ex-wife) is counting his money, but he is probably getting millions in a salary every year, so he doesn't want the show to end either. Sounds like desperation to me, but not sure that there is going to be time to pull the plug this time around... We can only hope for the end of this sad era in F1, which will undoubtly called the "Bernie years"...

 

Actually that was Arty Johnson from Laugh-In. And he always followed it up with "but Stupid". Pretty much describes the whole thing here.

Schultz line was "I know nothing, nnnooootthiiiinng!" And truly that is how I feel in all this. Let's just get on with it and see what happens...

 

The reality is that Bernie's gonna be dead soon. And Max will disappear along with him, if not sooner. I won't miss them the least bit and I suspect I'm in the vast majority. New blood is way overdue.

 

I could very easily see half or more of the teams just saying 'screw this, we are done with F1 totally'.

I don't see much difference between a spinoff series, and teams folding (yes, I know it's different), but if F1 can let great teams totally fold up shop, then who cares what F1 thinks ? They don't care if a team folds, but they DO care if a bunch of teams go elsewhere ? Not much difference.

Imagine if Tyrrell, Brabham, Lotus, Alfa, Ligier, March and Toleman all went under at the same time, what's the difference ?

 

Teams can probably challenge the Bernie's contracts under "monopoly"

 

Well it's simple..... have a contract with BBC? Go to ITV! Have a contract with Star Sports? Go to ESPN! There are so many channels out there, how hard can it be? And as a promotion, they might as well broadcast it on a website "free", so everyone ( I mean every single person) can watch it!

If Toyota, BMW, Ferrari, McLaren, Redbull come on board to the new series, it will be a killler series! Every F1 fan will be crazy about it! And F1.......... will become GP2 or Apgp or something ( see i can't even name that series)

 

Can we just start calling the little Troll Napolean instead of Bernie.

Or maybe Barnie. "I love you, you love me, damnint if you don't I will sue you, your mother, your unborn child ...."

 

IMO Bernie's comments are for fan and advertiser consumption as well. He wants it clear that his is the only show in town. I think that when the dust settles that's how it's going to be.