Bernie, please stop talking!

[Sixpackpert]

He really should just go and live on his money island and stfu IMHO!

http://en.espnf1.com/fia/motorsport/story/65712.ht...

[RacerMDR]

alzeimers

[Streps]

He does not actually care about the fans.. he just wants to make money.

He really is a greedy little troll.

[zaphod42]

Why? It's a global sport - with disproportionate number of races in Europe. Make sense to have 5 in the Americas, 5 in Europe and 5 in AsiaPac + Russia + an African GP...

I'd be happy with 5 in Europe as long as they were:
GB
Monaco
Spa
Monza
Hungary

...providing the replacements for the others were more like India and less like Valencia...

[Gold]

zaphod42 said:

Why? It's a global sport - with disproportionate number of races in Europe. Make sense to have 5 in the Americas, 5 in Europe and 5 in AsiaPac + Russia + an African GP...

Where are the teams based? In Europe. They don't want to spend all their time travelling.

[Henry Fiddleton]

Well he is not actually wrong is he?

Europe is on its back side, where as the Middle East, China, India and Russia are coming into wealth.

The big F1 teams are backed, heavily, by the middle east- Ferrari, Macca, and Merc.

Oil is still a cash cow, and will be many years.

So he is only stating what he see's.

If Europe wants races then the governments need to get behind them properly, Bernie and his gang are not lowering there prices any time soon.

[zaphod42]

Gold said:

Where are the teams based? In Europe. They don't want to spend all their time travelling.

Yes, and the 2011 calendar? A total of 6 races in sequence in Europe. So no great shakes to drop one or two races and save he teams halving out to Canada and back.

[rampageturke]

when's this old tosspot going to be gone from the f1 scene?

[RacerMDR]

he'll be dead soon........having said that......once someone non British takes over - the sport will be in trouble anyway.

[EDLT]

RacerMDR said:

he'll be dead soon........having said that......once someone non British takes over - the sport will be in trouble anyway.

Just like when a French bloke started running the FIA?

[rdjohn]

Who do you think that the 5 are:-

Barcelona
Monaco
British
Monza
round the streets of Paris?

Germany and Spa are under threat

[Panda76]

I seriously hope that Spa isn't under threat,it's one of my favourites.
Was I hearing things when they announced the deal for 2012 might be a bit shaky for spa ?

[MG CHRIS]

Hungary
Valancia

I wouldn't miss them but can't see valancia being dropped but i hope that the other european tracks stay the best races have been on the classic tracks anyway don't think ive seen an intresting race on the newer tracks all year apart from china but its not really a new track.

Im slowly starting to not be intrested in f1 bernie is just killing it.

[rdjohn]

I thought that Valencia was shaky as they cannot get enough spectators just 4 weeks after Barcelona. I am surprsed that Hungary can come up with the big-bucks required.

I am sure it must be Paris!

[Vocal Minority]

I don't think Bernie only cares about money.

I think he enjoys chopping and changing, screwing people around and ripping up long term contracts because he can and he feels powerful.

I would not wish going into business with him on my own worst enemy. He lead Donnington up the Garden path, using a man whose eyes were to big for his wallet, nearly destroyed a British institution - all as a bargaining tool with Silverstone.

[Derek Smith]

Vocal Minority said:

I don't think Bernie only cares about money.

I think he enjoys chopping and changing, screwing people around and ripping up long term contracts because he can and he feels powerful.

I would not wish going into business with him on my own worst enemy. He lead Donnington up the Garden path, using a man whose eyes were to big for his wallet, nearly destroyed a British institution - all as a bargaining tool with Silverstone.

One of his problems at the moment is adverse publicity over who he is and what will happen to him.

If you Google him then up come Gribkowsy or the suggestion that he might be ousted from the sport, after all he is just an employee of CVC at the moment. Now a Google will include him opting for loads of money from foreign climes which will pay a fortune to have the races so enhancing his credibility with whoever takes over from CVC.

This statement may or may not be what the old chap thinks but there has to be the suspicion that it is just a bit of search engine optimisation.

From some of his earlier pronouncements it appeared to me that the chap is living in the past, and some considerable distance back as well, in attitude and comprehension. It is easy to be your own man when you have his vast fortune but it is also easy to lose touch.

He's never cared for the spectator, nor the history of the sport. At the moment there is little risk of the sport disappearing from Europe but there is always that possibility.

There are other motor racing formulae out there and if Europe doesn't get its fair share of F1 then why not go for one of the others.

F1 one is not the sport I grew up with in my 20s and 30s and whilst I thought it would remain compulsive viewing until my end I do find that 19 races per season dulls the senses. In chatting to friends it would appear that most like motor racing. The specific formula is of little account.

Todt is in an all but impossible position. He must generate income otherwise the FIA will shrink to something of little account. He's going to push other formulae. It is already apparent in the increased exposure of WRC and the promise of more sports cars. If F1 does become a far east sport (let's face it, there are too many springs in the middle east) then its fan base will gradually erode. Five races in Europe might well be enough to kill it here.

F1 in China is there because it is such big business in Europe. If we lost interest then so will they.

[Cheese Mechanic]

rampageturke said:

when's this old tosspot going to be gone from the f1 scene?

Yeah, he's a tosspot alright. Self made Billionaire's really are dumb, eh?

[Derek Smith]

Cheese Mechanic said:

Yeah, he's a tosspot alright. Self made Billionaire's really are dumb, eh?

For any F1 enthusiast I would suggest the fact that he's a self-made billionaire has little to do with whether he's a tosspot. Is he suggsting taking F1 away from its natural home, where the vast majority of enthusiasts for the sport are? If the answer is yes then I refer you, Mr Cheese mechanic, to the statement the person you quoted made earlier.

Further, what Bernie did yesterday is one thing. What he's doing at the moment is another.

Whether Bernie was ever good for the spectators and enthusiasts of F1, at least after he sold off Brabham, is open to argument, as is whether he is a tosspot.

[Cheese Mechanic]

I suggest, that as a self made Billionaire,he is not a bleating loser.

Bleating losers, may think otherwise.

What he does is for a reason, if some are too stupid to see it, well, thats how it is.

Edited by Cheese Mechanic on Tuesday 29th November 21:17

[Derek Smith]

Cheese Mechanic said:

I suggest, that as a self made Billionaire,he is not a bleating loser.

Bleating losers, may think otherwise.

"No one has accused him of being a bleating loser.

"Alzeimers – from RacerMDR

"He really is a greedy little troll - Streps

"Bernie is just killing it – MG Cris"

I think he is making F1 less and less accessible to the enthusiast. This doesn't make him a bleating loser, nor poor. But it does not make him good at the job of 'running F1'. He doesn't 'run F1' of course, just touts the commercial rights around the world courtesy of his employer, CVC.