Tag: bernie ecclestone

F1 2014: US GP Preview – Formula 1 Goes Country

Judging by the harmonious blend of NASCAR and beer the Americans have a pretty good idea on how to spend most of their weekends. More recently they struck on another golden combination by bringing the world’s premier racing serious to the lone star state of Texas.

Dubbed the Circuit of the Americas, or COTA, Formula 1’s return to the US was celebrated with a rowdy return in 2012. This circuit too was designed by Herman Tilke but unlike his other occasionally tedious attempts at modern circuit design COTA has been lauded by drivers and fans. “Hand on heart, this is probably the date on the calendar I look forward to the most,” says Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. “The Circuit of The Americas, in my opinion, is the best of the new breed of circuits. The nature of the corners is interesting. It’s also a very busy track where you don’t get much respite. The first sector is very special and that first turn, blind up the big hill is like nothing else in Formula 1. It’s also a good example of the excitement a late apex can create: you can have a really good lunge there. They’ve done a very good job.”

A storm is brewing towards the back of the Formula 1 grid as two teams in particular are having a difficult time in coping with the new turbo-charged-money-pit-era of the sport. It has led to the announcement that neither Caterham nor the Marussia team will be taking part in Texas this weekend. The great hopes once held for Caterham now lay in shards as administrators Smith and Williamson, who now own the team, set out to look for a possible buyer. Its debut in 2010 and the following season for Caterham seemed to suggest a lot of potential. They were the team most likely to be snapping at the heels of the mid-field and possibly score a point or two, such was their progression. However, in the last two seasons the team seems to have hit a brick wall and was overtaken by main rivals Marussia. Caterham’s absence, with permission from Bernie Ecclestone, will also include the team missing the Brazilian GP. At Marussia financial woes have meant that team cannot run either.

This should make for an interesting qualifying session. Along with the four cars already missing from the line-up Red Bull has already announced that Sebastian Vettel will not take part in the qualifying session. Vettel has chosen not partake as he will incur a ten-place grid penalty for using a sixth power unit, one more than is allotted for a season.

Not that long ago the announcement that Formula 1 would transform to hybrid, turbo-charged cars for 2014 was met with serious speculation as to the cost involved. Several teams, some of the big-wigs too, had genuine fears about the financial implication of such an imposing transformation. With two teams not making the trip to Texas or Brazil; a few others like Lotus and Sauber are in quite a fight to keep their head above water; and with Vettel missing in action from quali you have to wonder if those who pushed for the comprehensive rule changes are still as boisterously confident as before.

Formula 1 is a sport of extremes and over on the other side of the grid Mercedes is making merry and raking in the prize money. The circuit in Austin, Texas isn’t as power-hungry as Russia’s Sochi track but this will do little to eat into the colossal competitive advantage that Mercedes wields.

America – the land of opportunity so goes the famous saying. With three consecutive victories Lewis Hamilton has been making the most of his and now sits seventeen points clear of teammate Nico Rosberg. What can Rosberg do to break the ominous momentum of his champion teammate, more importantly; does he have the mental fortitude to beat an extremely confident and ridiculously comfortable Lewis Hamilton on an equal playing-field? There isn’t a doubt that Rosberg is a quick driver with some savvy skills. As this championship draws to a climax he’ll need to call on all of it to prove that he has what it takes to be the 2014 world champion. How deep can Nico Rosberg truly dig?

October 29, 2014
Azerbaijan layout for Baku street circuit revealed

The layout for the Baku European Grand Prix in Azerbaijan has been unveiled by Bernie Ecclestone and Azad Rahimov, the country’s Minister of Youth and Sport.

The Baku European Grand Prix will join the Formula One race calendar in 2016 and will see Formula One cars racing around on the streets of Azerbaijan’s capital city, Baku. The Hermann Tilke-designed anti-clockwise street circuit features sharp right-angled bends, a long high-speed section and a tight and twisty section through the town.

“Azerbaijan is the latest addition to the Formula One calendar and I am pleased to see they have designed an innovative new street circuit that will definitely help to create a world class event when we race there in 2016,” said Bernie Ecclestone

Azerbaijan’s Minister of Youth and Sport Azad Rahimov says the country is looking forward to becoming one of the most exciting venues on the Formula One Calendar. “We have been working very closely on the circuit layout with Hermann Tilke and his team since early 2013. Our brief to Tilke Engineering was simple – create a circuit that is unique, one that will help the Grand Prix in Baku quickly establish itself as one of the most exciting, thrilling venues on the F1 calendar, and one that the fans and teams alike are excited about. Most importantly, we wanted a track that would showcase the best of Baku, our capital city, and I am delighted that the circuit the F1 teams will race on in 2016 has achieved exactly that aim.”

Hermann Tilke told the official F1 website that the design incorporates a number of unique features.

“Obviously street circuits present a number of challenges, in terms of circuit design, but we have been able to incorporate some unique features that will provide the teams and fans with fascinating racing. For example, there will be an extremely narrow uphill section at the old town wall that will reward pinpoint accuracy and courage, and we have an acceleration section of almost 2.2 kilometres along the promenade which will see the cars running flat out at very high top speeds – something that will create an incredible spectacle for the race fans on track and the viewers at home.”

Image Credits:

Baku streets – Creative Commons – Public domain

Street circuit layout – F1.com

October 8, 2014
German bank rejects Bernie Ecclestone’s $33m settlement offer

F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone may have been able to make a deal with the courts to bring his bribery case to an end, but according to reports, not with the German bank BayernLB.

The German bank BayernLB which is at the centre of his bribery scandal has rejected Bernie Ecclestone’s offer of a $33 million settlement. Ecclestone was on trial for allegedly bribing banker Gerhard Gribkowsky in order to influence the sale of their major stake in Formula One back in 2005. The case ended without any conviction last week after Bernie made a $100 million payment to the court using a loophole in the legal system.

Bernie Ecclestone may have thought his legal woes were over but unfortunately for him BayernLB has rejected his $33 million settlement offer.

“BayernLB has rejected Mr Ecclestone’s settlement offer,” a spokesman for the bank told Reuters on Friday. The bank’s next step remains to be seen, though options available include civil proceedings or negotiating a higher settlement from Ecclestone.

It is however believed that BayernLB turned it down on the basis that it paid Ecclestone a consultation fee of no less than $41 million after the rights sale. Added to that, the bank was previously seeking a mammoth $400 million in damages due to Ecclestone and Gribkowsky’s alleged undervaluing of the shares.

Ecclestone told the BBC that he feels like “a bit of an idiot” for settling the matter with the German court.

“They really didn’t have a case,” he said. “The judge more or less said I was acquitted, so I was a bit of an idiot to do what I did to settle because it wasn’t with the judge, it was with the prosecutors.

“Anyway, it’s done and finished, so it’s all right. I’m content – it’s all fine. This now allows me to do what I do best, which is running F1.”

August 11, 2014
Melbourne to retain Australian GP until 2020

Melbourne will continue to host the Australian Grand Prix until 2020 after a new five-year deal was finalised. After a year of negotiations a new contract from 2016-2020 was signed with Formula One Management in London last week to keep the venue on the calendar.

Albert Park has hosted the Australian GP every year since 1996 when it switched from Adelaide and has established itself as a firm favourite amongst both fans and drivers alike.

State Premier, Denis Napthine, seems keen to capitalise on the success of Australia’s home-grown hero Daniel Ricciardo who celebrated his second Formula One win in Hungary last week, and is is hopeful that it will continue to entice large crowds and TV audiences.

“This is a terrific announcement that reaffirms Melbourne and Victoria as the sporting and events capital of the world,” he told the 3AW radio station. “We’ve secured another five-year deal for the grand prix and we’ve secured a great deal for the people of Victoria that’s a better deal than the existing deal.

“The new deal is on the same terms as the existing contract in that it will be the first race of the season, it will be in March each year.”

“Within this contract we hope to see Australia’s own Daniel Ricciardo win the Formula 1 Australian GP and become World Champion.

“Formula 1 is a key pillar of Victoria’s major sporting events strategy. This calendar is unrivalled worldwide, commencing with the Australian Tennis Open and Asian Football Cup in January, followed by the ICC Cricket World Cup in February, the Formula 1 Australian GP in March, the AFL Final Series, and the Spring Racing Carnival,” Dr Napthine said.

In recent years F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has threatened to axe the race, but in a press release he was supportive of the event. “I congratulate Melbourne for the excellent way in which it presents Formula One to the world.”

The Australian GP has become the traditional opening race for the F1 season since 1996 – except for 2006 and 2010. The new deal also means Albert Park will become one of the longest-serving venues on the F1 calendar.

August 3, 2014
Ecclestone threatens to drop Monza after 2016

F1 supremo, Bernie Ecclestone, has hinted that the Italian Grand Prix may not be staged at Monza after the 2016 season.

Monza has hosted the Italian Grand Prix every year aside from when the race went to Imola in 1980 but Ecclestone is unhappy with the current set-up and has suggested that renewal is unlikely when the current Monza contract expires.

“I don’t think we’ll do another contract, the old one was a disaster for us from a commercial point of view. After 2016, bye bye,” Ecclestone said of Monza to Gazzetta dello Sport.

His comments around Monza follow a dramatic drop in Formula One television viewership in Italy which he feels may be due to Ferrari’s lack lustre performances.

“TV ratings are lower in Italy than they are elsewhere,” he said. “TV channels have split with digital broadcasting, and there’s also Twitter, Facebook and other communication means, so young people are more distracted.

“How can Italian ratings be improved? If Ferrari started to finish first and second in qualifying and races… TV ratings would improve everywhere. Ferrari is a worldwide passion.”

Ferrari, more than any other team, would hope to keep their home race at Monza. The track is also a favourite with the Tifosi and F1 fans worldwide. Perhaps Bernie is trying to stir things up at Ferrari a little and push for better performance from the team.

Should Monza be unable to put in place a financial package that better suits Ecclestone, Mugello has been suggested as an alternative. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, whose company owns the track, has talked about wanting the Italian GP switched there.

But Ecclestone has stated that there have been no discussions about that as yet.

July 2, 2014
F1 2014: Austrian GP Preview – Formula 1 Re-opens Austrian Chapter

History is nothing new to Formula 1 and it re-opens one of its oldest chapters this weekend at the Austrian grand prix.
The Formula 1 world championship returns to Styria, at the foot of the Alps, for the first time in a decade. The Austrian grand prix has featured on the F1 calendar in several different forms; from the one-off airfield in Zeltweg in 1963 to the Österreichring throughout the 80s to its current guise of the A1-Ring in Spielberg.

The A1-Ring was purchased by Red Bull who agreed with Bernie Ecclestone to reinstate the circuit as part of the championship. The last meeting in 2003 was won by then Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher who was well on his way to title number six.

It was during the now infamous 2002 Austrian GP where the contentious issue of team-orders took centre stage. It was here that the Ferrari team instructed Rubens Barrichello to give way to teammate Michael Schumacher. The move was met with much negativity and the unprecedented jeering of Schumacher on the podium. Schumacher would lift off the throttle in the final few meters of the 2002 US grand prix handing victory to Barrichello.

The renamed Red Bull Ring’s layout remains unchanged and its 4.326km length is dominated by several straights. Therefore, it requires a medium downforce set-up with a particular emphasis on braking which translates to a high rate of fuel consumption. Similar to Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit the Red Bull Ring’s middle sector is dominate by medium speed corners. Pirelli’s analysis of the track has reveals a moderately abrasive surface suitable for the soft and supersoft compounds.

The circuit’s high altitude venue will place serious demand on the 2014 power units which will have to cope with a lap spent at full throttle for nearly 70%. The track only has nine corners but its character is derived from the significant undulation throughout lap and four opportunities for overtaking.

The Canadian grand prix demonstrated how quickly fortunes could change and proved that Mercedes are not bulletproof. A failure on both cars revealed their fallibility and gave Nico Rosberg a significant advantage in the driver’s championship. The hammer-blow in Monaco and a bit of luck in Canada has Rosberg on an ominous high. The German won’t have any difficulty with the Ring which suggests that Lewis Hamilton will need to be on top of his game to begin recouping his losses. “I caught up before and I can catch up again,” says Hamilton. “It’s going to take another four wins to make the difference so I’m going to do my best to get those results.”

Ferrari’s abundant struggles in 2014 would suggest that recovery is the main aim. However, the latest rhetoric from the team seems almost defiant. Only new team Principal Marco Mattiacci has pointed to an ineffective trend of development as the reason for the team remaining “behind the curve.”
Contrastingly, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo went so far as to suggest that the Italian team could quit the sport altogether. Yet, something suggests that this lamenting of the new F1 rules would most likely not have seen the light of day if Ferrari were leading the 2014 field. It is rather silly of di Montezemolo to throw his toys of the cot because of his team’s woeful season. The fact remains that all teams are bound by the same set of rules and some simply did a better job of interpreting them than others.

It seems obvious that Red Bull will be in the spotlight this weekend. But how much of that spotlight will transfer to the track in the face of the mightily dominant Mercedes team remains to be seen.

June 18, 2014
Ayrton Senna – An Enduring Legacy

The 1^st of May will mark twenty years since the death of the great Ayrton Senna – The last driver to die in a Formula 1 race.

Before the fateful day and for many years afterwards Professor Sid Watkins was at the forefront and leading the vital charge towards a safer sport. His desire was to make the sport safe so that no driver would ever again lose his life in a racing car. Twenty years after one the darkest days in the history of the sport Prof Watkins is no longer around to see the result of his and many other’s groundbreaking work.

The evolution of safety in Formula 1 is brilliantly documented in the film 1: Life On The Limit. It starts with Martin Brundle’s crash at the 1996 Australian grand prix. Despite looking horrific from the outside Brundle jumps out of the car, uninjured, and runs down the pitlane to his spare car; a seemingly ordinary occurrence in modern Formula 1.

The film spans the 1950s, 60s and 70s – the most dangerous era of the sport. Three-time world champion Jackie Stewart was just one of the pioneers of making Formula 1 a safer sport. He describes getting out of the cockpit after the 1968 German GP:

“We had a driver die every month on the same weekend for four consecutive months. And we were racing on the fifth weekend in circumstances that we should never have been allowed to go out in. You couldn’t see 60 metres of visibility because of the fog and heavy rain. And the very first question I asked when I got out of the car was, “Is everybody OK?”

It is a tragic reality that because of those who lost their lives in this deadly era of the sport improvements to safety became paramount. Throughout the film Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti and Niki Lauda recount how they strove to make the sport safer.

Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley feature heavily in the film as well. The link between Ecclestone and the decrease in fatalities after he takes control of the sport is unmistakable. Several instances are depicted where Ecclestone refuses to race at certain tracks if the necessary medical facilities were not available and up to standard.

The film includes some unsettling footage which includes the fatal crash of, amongst others, Jochen Rindt. From these painful scenes the film starts to build on the incremental improvements in safety. Medical centres and medical helicopters became mandatory at every racing track, barriers and circuit are re-designed and helmet technology is completely transformed.

The film creates a stark contract between the first three decades of the sport and what we know it as now. Drivers getting into their cockpits had no idea if they would survive the race or which of their friends might die that. In stark contrast Lewis Hamilton said during his interview that he has never feared or worried about death and that “it’s almost like you have control of the danger.”-An astonishing statement in relation to those early years.

On the 1^st of May as Professor Sid Watkins attempted to assist the injured Senna he recounts that as the clouds parted over Imola he knew there was nothing that could be done for his great friend. Since that day and thanks to pioneers such as Prof Sid Watkins, who delivered four decades of unprecedented service to Formula 1, no driver has lost his life since.

As we remember the day Formula One lost Ayrton Senna, you can read our special tribute to Senna here. Or watch the full 1994 San Marino Grand Prix here.

May 1, 2014
What is wrong with F1 at the Moment?

The short answer is not much. Apart from the hideous looking noses on the 2014 cars. I can’t really see much wrong with the sport at the moment.

Some would say the changes to the sporting regulations, are a welcome change. Others think it’s the spawn of the devil himself. Personally, I feel that these changes can only benefit the sport in the long run. The change to smaller, lighter engines for example, is a natural progression from preceding years. Especially considering the fact that car manufacturers are becoming every more environmentally aware and are on this whole ‘reduce carbon emissions because it’s bad for the climate’ thing. A lot of pressure was being placed on Formula One to make the sport more environmentally friendly. But it was inevitable.

If you ask any of my friends or colleagues here at F1 Madness, they’l tell you that I hated the idea of 1.6l V6 engines. No one liked the idea. There was nothing wrong with the previous roaring V8 engines (which were already limited to 18 000rpm). But that is old technology. Yet KERS was there from 2010? Yes it was, and it was a small a technological jump, a platform for the engines we have for this season.

This season we have a lot more electrically assisted power in F1. It’s called ERS. The engine is smaller, but it has a turbo. But wait, that means that F1 is turning into a hybrid racing formula. In fact, that is exactly what it is now. Formula Hybrid. But is that such a bad thing?

Again. No. If you look at some of the top hyper cars that we’re getting from Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche, you’ll see that their flagship hyper cars are all hybrids. The LaFerrari from Ferrari, the McLaren P1 and the Porsche 918, all hybrids. All those cars have similar DNA to the F1 cars we are seeing now. Battery power to supplement the power from the engine, brake energy recovery etc. All from Formule One. And that is what F1 is meant to do. It’s meant to bring the technology used on the track to the cars that we drive.

Upon hearing the cars in testing I was admittedly a bit surprised. I was expecting the sound to be much louder. But I quite liked the sound. It was very raw and hoarse and there was the turbo whistle on gearing down. I knew this would be different in the race when the full field of 22 cars are going around at full chat.

On race day, I’ll admit I was slightly disappointed at the sound of all the cars on the starting grid. For the first time we could hear tyre lock ups. I don’t think that has happened before.

Good old uncle Bernie himself doesn’t like the sound of the new cars and the Australian Grand Prix organisers reportedly threatened to sue due to the fact that it was less of a spectacle than previous years. I don’t blame them. One of the big marketing draw cards of F1 is the sound of the cars.

The thing is though that everything is still very new. It will take a while to get used to the sound of the new cars as well as the new regulations. Remember how weird it was back in 2009 when the cars suddenly had very narrow rear wings? We got used to it. The same with the new noses. It will just take time. It’s only been the first race of the season. I don’t think we need to make snap judgements and decisions. There are going to be some purists out there that love the sound of the old V12’s or even the V10’s. I’ll be the first to admit that if they went back to the V10’s I’ll be the happiest guy in the world.

But let’s give this new era a chance, before we all jump on the band wagon and slam it. The first race of the season was after all, spectacular, to say the very least!

February 12, 2014
Ecclestone steps down from F1 board pending April bribery trial

Formula One supremo, Bernie Ecclestone, has been forced to step down from his role on the F1 board following confirmation by German prosecutors that he will stand trial on bribery charges in April this year.

Prosecutors confirmed that criminal proceedings will be launched against Ecclestone after he allegedly bribed German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky with £27 million in 2005 to ensure that F1 would be sold to a private equity group of his choosing – CVC Capital. Gribkowsky is currently serving an eight-and-a-half-year jail sentence for accepting payment from Ecclestone and Bambino, the Ecclestone family trust.

Ecclestone will face charges of bribery and incitement to breach of trust which would almost certainly result in a jail term if he were to be found guilty but he continues to vow that he’s innocent and has made it clear that he will “vigorously defend the case”. The F1 chief claims that payment to Gribkowsky was never a bribe, but rather a payment made in response to being “shaken down” by the German, who Eccelstone claims threatened to report him to the British tax authorities.

A statement released by F1’s holding company Delta Topco Limited said: “After discussion with the Board, Mr Ecclestone has proposed and the Board has agreed that until the case has been concluded, he will step down as a director with immediate effect, thereby relinquishing his board duties and responsibilities until the case has been resolved.

“It is in the best interests of both the F1 business and the sport that Mr Ecclestone should continue to run the business on a day to day basis, but subject to increased monitoring and control by the Board. Mr Ecclestone has agreed to these arrangements.”

The statement went on to say that, ‘The approval and signing of significant contracts and other material business arrangements shall now be the responsibility of the Chairman, Mr Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, and Deputy Chairman, Mr Donald Mackenzie.”

Ecclestone has ruled the sport for over four decades now and remains the commercial rights holder of F1. He will be obliged to attend the trial or face further charges.

January 16, 2014
Ecclestone says Raikkonen was the star driver of 2013

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has come out singing the praises of Finnish Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen in a foreword to his Official 2013 F1 Season Review.

Raikkonen took victory in the opening race this year in Australia, took eight podium finishes and battled his way to finish fifth in the World Drivers’ Championship with 183 points on the board, despite missing the final two races of the season in order to have back surgery.

“This year I suppose I have to call Kimi the star driver, with the equipment he had,” he said of Raikkonen. “I think he was motivated on hope that he was going to get paid.”

Raikkonen with his no-nonsense, “Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing” attitude is a favourite amongst F1 fans but as Ecclestone says, he’s a good racer too and a great character to have in the sport, “He’s a good guy to have in a team, good for us, good for the team. He’s super, he’s a racer.”

After a tumultuous time at Lotus, including not being paid a salary for racing for the team, Raikkonen is heading for Ferrari next season where he will race alongside Fernando Alonso.

December 5, 2013