Bernie warns teams over profits

[sirtyro]

http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=44938

Why is FOM the only company allowed to make a profit in F1?

Surely all these 'cost cutting benefits' are costing more money to develop now then by not just sticking to old current rules?!

And then next year when they realise that it hasnt worked and they need to change it again?!

Sounds like rubbish to me. Teams provide the entertainment not FOM or BE. They deserve more money, esp now we have the credit crunch/downturn or whatever new name the media will make for it next!

[FNG]

Bernie wants to be able to pay less to the teams - that naturally means he can take less from the tracks to stage events, then. It's not like most of them even see a profit.

Later in the article he says his visit to a Ferrari media event in the Italian ski resort Madonna di Campiglio was "a cheap weekend for me"

How many billions has he got? How fking mean can you get?

Maybe Slavica's lawyers have been knocking and he's down to his last several hundred million.

What a nasty grubby amoral money-grabbing little man.

[Nick M]

Bernie has always liked to ruffle feathers in the past, but I think people used to think he was just saying those things for effect. But now I'm sensing he's losing a proper sense of where boundaries lie and when, frankly, to STFU.

His comments about Lewis and racism, suggesting JYS is senile, that teams can take less profit, etc., etc. - it all smacks of someone who no longer has the right sense of how he's going to be received by his audience.

I suspect there's a fine line between when CVC seem him as an asset to their F1 business, and when he becomes a liability and needs to go. I think it would only take one person, perhaps no longer as closely associated with F1 as in the recent past (Stoddard perhaps missed the opportunity) to go into bat against him and undermine his power, then it will all come tumbling down for BE.

[Plug550]

Bernie said:

Maybe now that we've managed to really reduce costs a lot we'll be able to pay (the teams) less money," The Daily Telegraph quotes Ecclestone as saying.

"They don't need so much money now."

He really does treat them (the teams) with the contempt of a senile old head teacher doesn't he. It's hardly a great negotiating tactic is it? I don't imagine it will endear the 'pupils' to agree with his point of view.

[Derek Smith]

I think it possible that compared to the loan repayments that CVC are required to make the teams are in better financial position.

It seems to me that Eccs is under pressure. His pronouncements of late, allied to his behaviour in general - such as his outrageous attack on JYS, suggest desperation. Or, perhaps, his mention of dementia was a case of the pot calling the glass black. I don't know but he does seem to have changed a bit recently.

He should go.

[DSM2]

Derek Smith said:

He should go.

+1

[35secToNuvolari]

I think the response was just Bernies typical off colour, impish sense of humor, said to avoid answering the question. Typical behavior of the priks in F1.

[toomuchbeer]

35secToNuvolari said:

I think the response was just Bernies typical off colour, impish sense of humor, said to avoid answering the question. Typical behavior of the priks in F1.

That's exactly the way I read it, he answered a difficult question with a 'joke' to avoid answering.

Still, I do think it's time for him to go.

[Funk]

How long until the teams form a breakaway racing series and do it on their own terms without the profiteering and meddling of Ecclestone et al?

I'd love to see Bernie and Max with no teams willing to participate any more. It would be a perfect egg-on-face moment.

[flemke]

Funk said:

How long until the teams form a breakaway racing series and do it on their own terms without the profiteering and meddling of Ecclestone et al?

I'd love to see Bernie and Max with no teams willing to participate any more. It would be a perfect egg-on-face moment.

They tried that once, but then Ferrari went back to Bernie and it was game over.
Not sure that the same would happen again, although the present economic environment makes everybody risk-averse.

[35secToNuvolari]

sirtyro said:

http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=44938

Why is FOM the only company allowed to make a profit in F1?

Surely all these 'cost cutting benefits' are costing more money to develop now then by not just sticking to old current rules?!

And then next year when they realise that it hasnt worked and they need to change it again?!

Sounds like rubbish to me. Teams provide the entertainment not FOM or BE. They deserve more money, esp now we have the credit crunch/downturn or whatever new name the media will make for it next!

AIUI, Bernie got control because the teams couldn't be bothered by the long-term things like tv rights or negotiations with race tracks. They just wanted to run their teams and win races. When they did try to get a bigger share it was too late. Bernie had been running FOM too long and had Max in power. I don't really feel sorry for the teams though; one prik out maneuvered all the other priks. c'est la vie en F1. If money is an issue, there are plenty of things CVC can tap to peel off a few extra bills for teams. F1 is the least innovative, most undermerchandised sport in the world.

[Derek Smith]

Funk said:

How long until the teams form a breakaway racing series and do it on their own terms without the profiteering and meddling of Ecclestone et al?

I'd love to see Bernie and Max with no teams willing to participate any more. It would be a perfect egg-on-face moment.

Be careful what you wish for. A considerable number of the faults with F1 can be laid at the door of the Mosley/Eccs twins because they have almost complete control between them. There is, or rather was until recently, no counter-balancing power base to restrain excesses. Max Rufus' idea for a common car that all teams must use - or really the exclusion of the manufacturers - would have been the ruination of the sport but it nearly came about because of his absolute control. However, his power was weakened by Indy, Stepneygate and Mr Whippy plus the alienation of Eccs.

Mosley has surrounded himself with people who owe him. This is the classic 'yes men' scenario. If Mosley did discuss his plans with them, then guess what his lapdogs said when he came up with the idea of KERS. Did they ask how much it would cost? Did they suggest that it would be a bad idea in the current financial climate? Did they suggest that it might make the sport even more dangerous? Or did they say that it was, as always o great one, and inspired idea?

The teams, at least the manufacturers, realising that it was cooperate or leave, formed FOTA and more sensible regulations resulted, although if BMW had any sense they'd have voted to ditch KERS. There is at present an equilibrium. How long it will last is, of course, unknown.

But if, as seems possible, the manufacturers do set up their own GP series then they will take with them a lot of the technology and money from F1 and will then become the de facto super formula. But that will mean it being run in the interests of the manufacturers. What's good for BMW, Mercedes, Ferrari, Toyota and Renault will be seen as good for the sport. I'm not sure that will be any better from a spectator's point of view than Mosley GP.

Further, independents would be excluded (I know it is virtually impossible for them to come in now, but that's the fault of the way the FiA/Mosley has organised the lower formulae) so when the big teams are fed up with the sport, it will collapse.

The worrying thing is that the battle is not over. Max Rufus is on the back foot at the moment after taking two or three big knocks and Eccs seems to be under pressure. But all it would take for FOTA to collapse would be for one of them to see an advantage by crossing the chamber. It's been done before. The present dreadful state of F1 can be placed at the door of the old Ferrari management with their decision to take the money. But the new team is made of stuff that takes the longer view.

This is not a good time for F1. Internecine battle strategy is not the preferred tactics at this time.

We need an FiA president who will work with the teams not confront them. We need someone in charge of the commercial aspects of F1 who will put the majority of the money earned by the sport back into it. We need teams who will cooperate in those matters where it is for the good of them all.

One out of three! Could do better. Must do better.

[flemke]

Derek Smith said:

We need an FiA president who will work with the teams not confront them. We need someone in charge of the commercial aspects of F1 who will put the majority of the money earned by the sport back into it. We need teams who will cooperate in those matters where it is for the good of them all.

One out of three! Could do better. Must do better.

Take heart, my friend. The sport has the law of mortality working for it, and even Thermometer Boy cannot talk his way out of that one.

[german tony]

I am tempted to wonder how long CVC can continue to countinence having a man approaching 80 doing the majority of their F1 related business for them.

Particularly as he seems to spend far too much of his time annoying the people who put on the show.

I suspect he'll go the same way he has been operating for so long, ie, somebody will wish to put more cash in their own pockets instead of in his.

Which will serve him right.

As for Max, the FIA is stuck with him until he starts dribbling & they have only themselves to balme for that too.