Bernie Loses His Grip on F1 20/11/2008 One of the things I forgot to mention in my post on Bernie's idea for medals rather than points was the sheer irrelevance of the matter at this moment in time. With enormous difficulties facing F1 in the near future, to be playing with ideas like a change to the points system seems like fiddling while Rome burns.Gilles Villeneuve Circuit, MontrealTake the latest trend for GP venues to be dropping out, for instance. As I have mentioned elsewhere, if Bernie cannot maintain the number of GPs on the calendar, his income dwindles and it becomes impossible for CVC to meet its loan repayments. Every GP that drops out means that another has to be found willing to pay the price and it takes time to get new ones up and running at the required standard.Although all hope has not quite gone for the Canadian GP, there being some rumors that the manufacturer teams might step in to meet the shortfall in payments, it is unlikely that we will see it back on the 2009 calendar. France has definitely gone and we are down to seventeen races, therefore. Donington is supposed to be ready by 2010 but Bernie threatens to do away with the British GP completely if it is not. And I would not bet on it ever hosting the race - apart from the delays in planning permission, the problem of funding has still not been solved.We are down to sixteen, the French race looking increasingly unlikely for the foreseeable future, now that Disneyland has bowed out, and Bernie must hope that India manages to get a GP venue sorted out quickly. The biggest shock was the sudden doubtful noises coming from China, however. Shanghai has become fed up with paying out such enormous sums for a GP that fails to catch the interest of its population and is talking about putting an end to it. Notice how that had Bernie sitting up and taking notice; he has been counting on Asia to pull him through the developing mess and now it seems he cannot rely even on that.Hockenheim, Melbourne and Hungary have all had their gripes recently and this, surely must be Bernie's biggest headache of the moment, not the minor detail of how the championship is awarded. If there are no races to be won, it will not matter whether points or medals are handed out - F1 will be a bankrupt mess. It really is time that Ecclestone stopped interfering with silly ideas for the "improvement of the show" and worked harder at his primary function: keeping sufficient races on the calendar to ensure that the sport remains viable.That will require a revolution in his business methods, however. From the Canadian negotiations, it is clear that the old stance of "This is how much I want and I don't care where it comes from" no longer works. This time it is Bernie rushing around, telling everyone that there is still a chance of the Montreal GP surviving - the organizers and politicians have made their final offer and given up in the face of Bernie's inflexibility.And that is the problem - inflexibility. As an old fart myself, I know how age brings inflexible difficulties, the mornings especially being times of creaking joints and aching bones. Bernie has well over a decade on me and it is inevitable that his thinking will be along the same old lines that have brought him success in the past. To be asking that he change the way he does things is probably too much at this stage and he will stay his immutable self while F1 cracks and falls about him. It is not just the venues that are dwindling, after all - the number of teams looks set to drop as well, with no obvious replacements visible. All this while Max sits in his ivory tower devising ever more ridiculous futures for the sport, turning it into something no one will want to watch anyway.If Bernie is that determined not to retire until he breathes his last, I suppose I must hope that he sees the light and becomes more reasonable before things progress beyond redemption. For the sake of F1, it must happen...
Clive
Steven Roy I really don't think I can add a single word to that. Date Added: 20/11/2008
Clive Thank you, Steven a compliment indeed! :) Date Added: 20/11/2008
Filipe Clive, this was really a perfect post. Since the medal story appeared again this week the only explanation I could think of was that Bernie was either trying to take his debts and divorce out of the news or trying to test if he still could put forward whatever crazy idea he had post-FOTA. Date Added: 20/11/2008
Clive And thank you, Filipe. What worries me is that Bernie seems to be quite serious about medals this time. You don't suppose he's caught Max's madness, do you? Date Added: 20/11/2008
donwatters All in all, a pretty scary scenario for the future of our sport. Date Added: 20/11/2008
Clive Agreed, Don - and it's getting far too close for comfort. Date Added: 20/11/2008
Pink Peril The problem with Bernie too, is that there doesn't appear to be anyone groomed to take over when he - as he surely must - bows to the inevitable one day and hangs up his hat.If there was someone younger being groomed to take over - with a more modern & realistic perspective then we might be able to rely on them to talk some sense into the old bugger. Date Added: 20/11/2008
Nick Goodspeed Ik think Ecclestone has a dream to deal with people like himself. Men who are divorced from any kind of democracy or transparency. He has chosen to snub his nose at the democracies of the world in exchange for dealing with people who believe money is no consequence. Dictators, sheiks and kings do not have to answer to the public and largely ignore them. These people are perfect for his way of doing things. They act like him and think like him. I imagine there is a good deal of fear in him and that any thought of not having ultimate control over F1, at least financially, must cause him to lose much sleep. I have strong doubts that the newer venues will want much to do with an organization that has put money ahead of prestige in importance, after all, to this kind of clientelle, it is all about prestige and being accept on the world stage. Without much of Europe and America involved a good deal of the intrinsic value of having an F1 race, in the eyes of a trillionaire surely fades Date Added: 20/11/2008
Clive That's true, Peril but it seems Bernie couldn't care less what happens after they carry him out. Date Added: 20/11/2008
Clive Good points, Nick, and I wish Bernie would read them. Sometimes I think Bernie doesn't look too far ahead because he figures he won't be around to worry about it. Date Added: 20/11/2008
Journeyer Pitpass reported that Bernie was on a Montreal radio show lately, and he said that he wasn't being unreasonable with the Canadians; it's just that he said that there were a lot of people who wanted to host an F1 race,In fact, he told the Canadians that they could go look at any other F1 country's contract, swap that F1 country's name with theirs, offer that as their own contract, and Bernie would sign it. I'm guessing that's Bernie's idea of flexibility. Your thoughts, Clive? Date Added: 21/11/2008
themark What I don't understand is why the other historic venues aren't banding together to say enough is enough. Surely, if they present a united front, and even if they don't, having more GP's drop out will be catastrophic for Bernie at this point. As you mentioned Clive, he needs them, much more than they need him at this point. And it would be a wonderful Karmic turnaround for the shoe to be on the other foot for once. Date Added: 21/11/2008
Clive Journeyer: The trouble with Bernie's statements is that it's almost impossible to separate fact from fantasy in them. He says there are a lot of people wanting to host GPs - well, I'm sure there are, but very few have the money and the necessary circuit to do so for a couple of years at least. That is a gross exaggeration to start with.Then he says he said the Canadians could swap their contract with any other of the existing country's - and that is another exaggeration. We know, for instance, that Monaco has a rather special agreement whereby it keeps the revenue from the circuit advertising and no other country is allowed that. If what Bernie says is true, he was offering the same to Montreal; do you believe that? I don't. Then there's Silverstone's contract, probably the cheapest of them all, so much so that Bernie has arranged to get some suckers from Donington to sign a much more expensive one. Once again, I cannot see Bernie offering Silverstone's terms to Canada.What he means is that he offered a price a bit less than the Asian nations are paying, since he sees that as the going rate these days. And it is no surprise that Montreal cannot afford it.In Bernie's eyes, he is being reasonable; in the eyes of anyone who loves F1, he is forcing the price beyond reasonable and into the realms of fantasy. F1 needs GPs and Bernie is pricing them out of the market. Date Added: 21/11/2008
Clive The Mark: Agreed that the European circuits need to band together to present a united front. Why they don't do it is probably that they have not seen the necessity before. Race organizers are as secretive as Bernie when it comes to the exact terms of their contracts and it runs against the grain for them to act in concert when dealing with Bernie.The irony is that Bernie's ever-increasing demands may well force the organizers to unite for survival. Date Added: 21/11/2008
Lonny I believe part of Canada's problem is they have to pay travel expense money to the teams that European races do not. When they could split this with Indy it was bearable' but now, it is the straw that breaks the camel's back. I wonder that the manufacturers do not sit down with Bernie and ask that he restore the North American races, since they say they want to be here badly. Maybe not though, I read that last year GM sold more Buicks in China than in the US; perhaps the interest has waned a bit? Date Added: 21/11/2008
Lee What I also find quite funny is how Slavica is divorcing Gollum and the majority of his business interests are in Her name! This means that he is guaranteed to loose a hell of a lot of control as she owns the shares. He will obviously get a settlement but it will be him fighting for her money rather than the other way around and it I am sure I have never heard of the shares themselves being awarded to the other party in a divorce case (Presume he will simply be given a percentage of the future dividends). Now I presume he put it all in her name for some sort of tax reasons which just goes to show that greed will get you in the end. Date Added: 21/11/2008
Hezla Journeyer : On a Danish website where they also mention the Canadian radio interview and they write that it was any overseas contract he offered to swap with Montreal.Monaco, Silverstone was not included in the offer according to the website bmf1.dk Date Added: 21/11/2008
Alianora La Canta If Bernie is talking the truth, then Canada should take him up on his offer and swap with Monaco's contract. From what I understand from old copies of F1 Racing, they not only get to arrange their own advertising (and keep all income stemming from it, though they also pay the expenses involved in getting that advertising), but they have no race fees to worry about either. That's how important Monaco is seen to be on the calender. They wouldn't be paying travel expenses either, since it's a European race and therefore wouldn't have that clause in the contract.Somehow, I don't think Canada would say no to that little arrangement. I also suspect Bernie might have the odd reservation concerning it. Date Added: 21/11/2008
Alianora La Canta Lee, you are correct about Bernie using Slavica's non-British-domicile status, combined with their marriage, as a tax dodge. The trouble is that the money is legally hers. Bernie has other sources of wealth, so we won't be seeing him at the Jobcentre claiming Income Support any time soon, but it will be a big blow to him to lose that money. It may also make CVC question the wisdom of having F1 led by someone who, you could argue, lost a large part of his fortune through inadequete people skills. If Hezla's modification is true, then it is Brazil they need to swap with. Unless their recent contract renewal is a lot worse than before, they were paying $9.5m in 2006 plus travel fees. I don't think Canada's offer was quite that good. Date Added: 21/11/2008
Alianora La Canta That said, the shares aren't really a problem, since Bernie's power at this time doesn't stem from his shares (he and Slavica combined only own about 8% of F1). The power is because he is CVC's representative. Though it is true that he will now have only one nominal share in F1 (i.e. the one in his own name). Date Added: 21/11/2008
Clive Lonny: Every now and again, someone says something that makes it clear the manufacturers are putting pressure on the FIA to reinstate North American races. Regardless of the Chinese market, The US remains the biggest market for Honda, Toyota, Mercedes, BMW and Ferrari, so they have to care about the lack of races there.I would not get too excited about Buick doing so well in China, either. It is hardly GM's top selling brand in the States, most Americans preferring their Chevys, Pontiacs and Caddys. It may well be that there is something about Buicks that the Chinese really like - perhaps their rather Russian-looking grilles... ;) Date Added: 21/11/2008
Clive Lee: I have pondered doing a post on Bernie's divorce but decided that the implications are fairly obvious and will probably not interfere with his running of F1 - apart from making him even more fixated on money, if that is possible. We'll see how it develops and maybe have our say in due course (not that it's any of our business, of course - we all know that a man's private life doesn't affect how he does his job, don't we?*).*Sarcasm, just in case it's not obvious. Date Added: 21/11/2008
Clive Hezla: It was true what I said then - that Bernie really meant any of the Asian GP contracts. And it's not as if we didn't know he charges enormous amounts for those races. ;) Date Added: 21/11/2008
Clive Alianora: Ali to the rescue again! Excellent additional information yet again - thanks Ali! Date Added: 21/11/2008
Steven Roy Just to pick up on Ali's point that ownership of shares is not transferred during a divorce only a financial value. I wonder if Slavica has chosen now to get divorced because the markets are so low that she will be able to pay of the poisoned dwarf with a smaller cheque and with the certainty that over the next couple of years her 'half' will recover a lot of its value and could end up with a value of several times his 'half'. Makes you wonder who in that house has the busines brain. Date Added: 21/11/2008
Alianora La Canta That is interesting thinking, Steven. If so, it displays a certain amount of monetary savviness on Slavica's part. Date Added: 22/11/2008
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