Bernie more out of touch than ever
Discussion
Whilst I'm sure Bernie sometimes says things just for the sake of publicity some of the things he is reported to have said in a recent interview in Russia really are quite astounding:
On Putin: “Super. I’m his best supporter.”
On being a successful 'dictator': “I think, if you can get people to, more or less, fall in line with what you’re trying to do and support you, then it seems like democracy.”
On Sepp Blatter of FIFA: "I don’t think he should have ever stepped down, and I don’t think he should have ever been challenged, because it’s because of him we have a lot of countries around the world that are now playing football. And if these people allegedly have been corrupted to make things happen in their country, it’s good. It’s a tax football had to pay.”
On the F1 show: “I think we are in show business. The minute we stop entertaining, we’re in trouble. So people like racing… I think, what our biggest problem is that you and I know pretty well who’s going to be the World Champion this year. It can’t be right.
Amongst others - these quotes taken from http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/no-place-for-dem...
Just on the last point, was it a problem in all the years before when the championship was decided much earlier in the season that it is going to be this year. The others leave me a little speechless.
On Putin: “Super. I’m his best supporter.”
On being a successful 'dictator': “I think, if you can get people to, more or less, fall in line with what you’re trying to do and support you, then it seems like democracy.”
On Sepp Blatter of FIFA: "I don’t think he should have ever stepped down, and I don’t think he should have ever been challenged, because it’s because of him we have a lot of countries around the world that are now playing football. And if these people allegedly have been corrupted to make things happen in their country, it’s good. It’s a tax football had to pay.”
On the F1 show: “I think we are in show business. The minute we stop entertaining, we’re in trouble. So people like racing… I think, what our biggest problem is that you and I know pretty well who’s going to be the World Champion this year. It can’t be right.
Amongst others - these quotes taken from http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/no-place-for-dem...
Just on the last point, was it a problem in all the years before when the championship was decided much earlier in the season that it is going to be this year. The others leave me a little speechless.
I'm not surprised by those comments frankly. He's been out of his tree for years, total f
kwit these days IMO.
There'll be those along soon saying he's the master negotiator, mastermind etc soon but he truly isn't these days, if he ever was.
His support for the likes of Putin and other putrid dictatorships clearly shows his 'thinking' for what it is.
kwit these days IMO. There'll be those along soon saying he's the master negotiator, mastermind etc soon but he truly isn't these days, if he ever was.
His support for the likes of Putin and other putrid dictatorships clearly shows his 'thinking' for what it is.
He may not appear to be the most likeable person, but IMO for a position like this, it's way, way better to have a visionary, but flawed dictator than some half-arsed committee.
Don't forget he presided over what many on here consider to have been "the good old days" as well as the present shambles. Seems to me that in many ways, the less power he has, the worse F1 has become.
Don't forget he presided over what many on here consider to have been "the good old days" as well as the present shambles. Seems to me that in many ways, the less power he has, the worse F1 has become.
dr_gn said:
He may not appear to be the most likeable person, but IMO for a position like this, it's way, way better to have a visionary, but flawed dictator than some half-arsed committee.
Don't forget he presided over what many on here consider to have been "the good old days" as well as the present shambles. Seems to me that in many ways, the less power he has, the worse F1 has become.
There is merit in what you say, the problem being that Bernie is no longer the visionary he once was. His comments are very out of touch and likely to make some of the brands that support F1 squirm a little. The main brands sponsoring FIFA activities asked for Blatter to be removed, why would the brands supporting F1 want to be associated with someone sympathising with Blatter?Don't forget he presided over what many on here consider to have been "the good old days" as well as the present shambles. Seems to me that in many ways, the less power he has, the worse F1 has become.
Of course, it could all be a ruse by Bernie to destroy the value of F1 in order to reduce the price so he can buy it back himself, in which case maybe it is visionary of him still. But I'm not sure he will be able to live long enough to turn it around if he is still in charge and has to backtrack on him comments to gain credibility again.
andyps said:
dr_gn said:
He may not appear to be the most likeable person, but IMO for a position like this, it's way, way better to have a visionary, but flawed dictator than some half-arsed committee.
Don't forget he presided over what many on here consider to have been "the good old days" as well as the present shambles. Seems to me that in many ways, the less power he has, the worse F1 has become.
There is merit in what you say, the problem being that Bernie is no longer the visionary he once was. His comments are very out of touch and likely to make some of the brands that support F1 squirm a little. The main brands sponsoring FIFA activities asked for Blatter to be removed, why would the brands supporting F1 want to be associated with someone sympathising with Blatter?Don't forget he presided over what many on here consider to have been "the good old days" as well as the present shambles. Seems to me that in many ways, the less power he has, the worse F1 has become.
Of course, it could all be a ruse by Bernie to destroy the value of F1 in order to reduce the price so he can buy it back himself, in which case maybe it is visionary of him still. But I'm not sure he will be able to live long enough to turn it around if he is still in charge and has to backtrack on him comments to gain credibility again.
dr_gn said:
I dunno. I'm as out of touch as he is - if not more, but anyone - ANYONE who opposed the current engine regs for the good of the 'sport' is just fine in my book.
But if your business is selling the sport, why would you be so vocal in saying that it is crap. It didn't work very well fro Gerald Ratner and isn't working well for Bernie.Which particular part of the current regs are so wrong, as Bernie hints in the interview it is a culmination of many things which have built up over time, yet he is just opposing the one area which is technologically relevant and very clever - the power units. Would there be all the fuss there is if they were a little noisier? I doubt it actually, but the lack of noise is a consequence of the efficiency of the units as noise is waste energy. Whilst they may be regretting the decision at the moment, Renault were a great supporting of the change, Mercedes wanted it, Honda were prepared to return because of it. Without the engine suppliers, where would F1 be? A bit of a spec series with everyone apart from Ferrari running a Cosworth. Even Ferrari have hybrid and turbo road cars now so there is clear relevance to them with the power units.
There is plenty wrong with the regs for me, but the basic power unit used is the least of my concerns, but seems to be top of Bernie's.
dr_gn said:
He may not appear to be the most likeable person, but IMO for a position like this, it's way, way better to have a visionary, but flawed dictator than some half-arsed committee.
Don't forget he presided over what many on here consider to have been "the good old days" as well as the present shambles. Seems to me that in many ways, the less power he has, the worse F1 has become.
I think that some of the post Ferrari dominance seasons have been some of the most exciting we've ever had. Hamilton's first WDC could not have been closer. It had everything: the likeable Ferrari driver celebrating being WDC only for realisation to sink in in full view of the TV audience. It could not have been scripted better. But everyone, surely, must have a favourite period and mine was when McLaren and Williams were dominant. '89, with all but one race won by McLaren, was the season I remember and one race, in '87, at the British, was the most exciting race despite the two Williams lapping everyone up to fifth.Don't forget he presided over what many on here consider to have been "the good old days" as well as the present shambles. Seems to me that in many ways, the less power he has, the worse F1 has become.
I'm not sure what Ecclestone had to do with the excitement of those times, be they the 80s or the last few years. Presided over? I would think that Williams/Head and Dennis were the ones who put the effort in.
But I agree with you in that is would be better to have a visionary in charge rather than a half-arsed committee.
You say 'the worse F1 has become' yet it has been brilliant in recent years. This season we've had exciting racing all through the field, although out front we've been denied that due, in the main, to reliability. Russia could have been memorable if Rosberg and Hamilton had had to battle it out.
Ecclestone's influence on the sport is indefinable but it is his policies that have cut France, Germany and occasionally other classic races from the calendar. We have strange TV positions so that the empty stands in far away places with strange sounding names can appear modern.
For the majority of his time he worked as the stronger part of a pair in control of the sport and in that time we had the one car race in the USA, we've had dreadful PR, we've had all sorts of politics. Since his partner in . . what's the word . . . was unceremoniously dumped from the sport, Ecclestone's influence has been on the wane.
There does not seem to be any succession planning. The floating/buy out/ebay auction for the rights to F1 is hardly visionary.
Ecclestone's mantra has been to follow the dollar. It seems to me that if there is no profit there is no effort.
gl20 said:
He says what he thinks people want to hear ie in this case a Russian audience. Other things not listed above include his anti-US comments. I look forward to hearing some totally contradictory statements about a week from now.
That's a given as the Yanks will take him to task over it. Perhaps he'll drop Austen for a race in Moscow in retaliation 
I sometimes wonder how "global" it really is. There are over 200 nations in the world. How many of them have dedicated motor sport (let alone F1) fans.
Bernie has been trying to create brand new "markets" for the sport - in the assumption that it can
a) generate new audiences and income for him
b) replace the falling audiences elsewhere
However, he treats those who has to deal with with utter disdain. Ne wvenues can come and go like tyhe autumn leaves - deopending on how much they can stump up. Is that the eay to expand a sport - leaving the particiaptory venues totaly unsure of their future even if they have spent tens if nut hundreds of millions ona venue and paying Bernie.
Bernie has been trying to create brand new "markets" for the sport - in the assumption that it can
a) generate new audiences and income for him
b) replace the falling audiences elsewhere
However, he treats those who has to deal with with utter disdain. Ne wvenues can come and go like tyhe autumn leaves - deopending on how much they can stump up. Is that the eay to expand a sport - leaving the particiaptory venues totaly unsure of their future even if they have spent tens if nut hundreds of millions ona venue and paying Bernie.
Gaz. said:
Smollet said:
Nothing to do with us and beyond our control what others do so yes
I'm in two minds. On one hand sport should not entertain countries that are little better than barbarians with horrific human rights records, on the other hand if we start taking ethics into account where do you draw the line? India is an utterly shameful country and that's easy to point fingers at, but what about Japan, the USA & Mexico? How far back do you go? 5 years? 10? 30? 100? The other thing is that should the public go without because of the actions of their leaders, especially in undemocratic countries which have no say in their leaderships.Take the present record and don't go to those countries with extreme HR records. Bahrain, Russia, China would be a start.
Won't happen though. Too much money at stake for Ecclestone to care.
As said things are unlikely to change whilst he's alive. I for one hope that change comes soon.
Ecclestone bought a sport most us didn't even realise was for sale from his mate Mosley for £1.50. Despite a Don King clause the sport was pimped around and ends up being owned by people with no link to or interest in the sport . It is essentially a European sport as most of the fanbase is here(honourable mention to S America,Japan and Antipodes ), nearly all of its heritage, most of its drivers and all of its teams .
But for your typical kleptocrat or oligarch having a GP is buying bragging rights , regardless of the fact that none of your country has any interest in motor sport of any type and that only 3 people and a camel turn up to watch. But kleptocrats in joke countries have acquired enough wealth (let's not worry how ) to buy a GP and that is a far more money than a Silverstone or Spa can muster. And the rapacious terms of Ecclestone's deal mean that Silverstone can't actually make the money it needs from a GP as Ecclestone needs it to keep his family in Kensington mansions .
Ecclestone lost some of his interest in racing when Rindt died and the rest when he sold Brabham . I am constantly reading and hearing how sharp he is - and he must be considering the grotesque amounts he has made- but in 40 years of watching Grands Prix I have never heard him say anything that wasn't crass, toe curlingly embarrassing,nonsensical or utterly inappropriate.
Doubtless the real story will come when he shuffles off this mortal coil.
But for your typical kleptocrat or oligarch having a GP is buying bragging rights , regardless of the fact that none of your country has any interest in motor sport of any type and that only 3 people and a camel turn up to watch. But kleptocrats in joke countries have acquired enough wealth (let's not worry how ) to buy a GP and that is a far more money than a Silverstone or Spa can muster. And the rapacious terms of Ecclestone's deal mean that Silverstone can't actually make the money it needs from a GP as Ecclestone needs it to keep his family in Kensington mansions .
Ecclestone lost some of his interest in racing when Rindt died and the rest when he sold Brabham . I am constantly reading and hearing how sharp he is - and he must be considering the grotesque amounts he has made- but in 40 years of watching Grands Prix I have never heard him say anything that wasn't crass, toe curlingly embarrassing,nonsensical or utterly inappropriate.
Doubtless the real story will come when he shuffles off this mortal coil.
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