Whats people opinions? I personally think he needs to go, have just been reading, If donnington is not built to his standard in time Britian would probably lose its GP forever, what is his problem?? I mean we are one of the biggest F1 nations and we have had a round of formula 1 since the champoinship started. Is he deliberately trying to annoy the british fans? but again, its not just us, he is doing it to the F1 heartland that is europe, why try and annoy the biggest fan base in the sport?

Opinions.......

 

Its not the biggest fan base, china etc is.

Also our country doesnt allow ciggarette advertising, some others do, so it makes sense to have another GP there instead.

Bernie is doing what any good businessman would do, maximising the return on his investment.

 

they had to give away free tickets to fill up the main grandstand in china so how have they got a bigger fanbase?

 

Its not just about the current fanbase, its about the potential fanbase in an up and coming country of 1 billion people.

Plus just cause people couldnt afford to make it to the race and pay for the seats, doesnt mean they arent fans.

 

Old Bernie openly surports Ferrari over British teams and Schumacher when he was racing. He doesn't care about the British GP just money, the greedy little dwarf!
Rich

 

there are only 2 weeks to go before the openeing race, so i don't think he's going to step down now guys

 

but surely thats my point, if they are fans but cant afford tickets why would that give F1 more money? china was sold out the first year, then since they havent managed to fill quarter of the circuit. none of the teams run tobacco sponsorship anymore anyway, I understand that going to places like abu dhabi he is making alot of money from the governments subsidising the events, but is just seems like we are getting s**t on when silverstone has pretty much sold out the last 3 years.

 

so which team do you support then? or should you not have an onion ebcause you are from birmingham and there aren't any teams there?

 

unfortunately so Dojj, but the sport has been lead by 2 corrupt and fickle men for far too long, look at bernie and max over recent years, supposedly good friends who need each other to keep the sport running the way they want, but as soon as one of them does something wrong in the media the other is calling for them to step down!?

 

He's a penis.

I hate all this overtaking shit thats been going on for about 10 years.

Overtaking in f1 is hard, so it makes it exciting when people do it. However, the more often it happens the less special it will be. It would be the same if they made the goal posts in football 3 times the distance apart, it wouldn't make the sport more exciting because 50 people scored a goal per match.

Lewis hamilton last season did lots of overtaking when he was down the grid etc.

If he wanted to make overtaking happen he should have done qualifying then flipped a coin if you were going to be at the front of the grid with "pole" or the very back.

On another note, car's etc look cool this season.

 

if your advert is going to gain potentially another 1,000,000,000 viewers, how is that a bad thing? even if only 1% of them are in the position to buy that product, it's still a damn sight more than you've got in the uk or america, and with the indians getting in on the act, you ae going to potentially double that figure to 2,000,000,000 people

even if you subtract yje uk population of less than 70,000,000 you are still left with 1,930,000,000 more people to look at your product

makes sense to me

 

i would watch more footbal if there was more chance of a goal being scored

and i would watch more f1 if there was the chance of overtaking happening out of the track rather than in the pits

 

Dojj, I totally agree with what you are saying from a business point of veiw, but I think you are missing my point, F1 has always been a bit special shrouded in an aura of high life and history, legends and the like, Im not saying dont go to these countries cos at the end of the day its nice to go to newly designed circuits and different places, what I am saying is he needs to stop threatening us with loosing our GP just because hedoesnt like our money anymore.

 

I would watch F1 more if there was more overtaking, it would enhance the spectacle.

 

Bernie obviously has decided that 1 billion people, are best not ignored commercially.

 

Do what now?
I don't really suport a particular F1 team rather the driver Mansell, Hill, Button, Herbert, Irvine, Coulthard, Hamilton. All of which have driven for totally different F1 teams
Whats wrong with being Patriotic?
I surport Birmingham City Football Club by the way just incase you think I only surport the winning team/people/driver!!

Rich

 

So essentially our money is not good enough, and we should forget the history and spectacle of F1 (this includes Mosley trying to slow the sport and standardise everything which makes financial sense but surely its not the pinnicle of motorsport anymore).

 

Its a business that is presented as a sport IMHO

 

I would agree with that, interestingly when would you say that change over occured?

 

IMHO when decisions started being made for the direction of the sport based on what would make it the most money I guess, I dont know what the first one was, but it was many decades ago Im sure.

 

Theres lots of overtaking in the lower formula's because there all in the same car etc.

With f1 you qualify, and the fastest car sets of first, so chances are the car in 2nd 3rd 4th, will be slower the day after, so strategy comes into it. Unless the person in second makes a mistake on his qualifying lap.

 

you've got 2 main areas i supoose, one is in the 70's when sponsorship came in and probably the 90's I would think, when there were less and less teams lining up on the grid, remember the days when ther were more than 30 cars in qualifying trying to get a spot on the grid!?

 

With the 107% rule. IIRC that was scrapped in the 90s?

 

so you think bernie is not being patriotic by supporting ferrari and schumaker?

rather than looking after his best businiess intrests and forging links with the biggest and the best and the most contriviersial?

 

qualifing should be based on the resluts of the last race, with the winners getting to eh back of the grid and teh lossers going to the front

simple and effective and wuold make better racing

still keep fastest qualifiing to give you an extra point, plus fastest lap and another one for most vehicle overtaken wold give an added incentive for the drivers to make a go of it rather than just sit around thinking "this'll do"

 

Yup

How is surporting Ferrari in his best business interests?

Rich

 

Who the hell want to see a slow car with a inexperienced paid driver at the front of the grid. It would not make for better racing, unless you term better racing as danger. All that is needed to change the attitude of drivers going for the win is to make the difference in points great enough that a win matters, you do not need to change qualifying.

The biggest issue with Forumula 1 at this time, is that it does not have by large human error any more and it was this which separated the good from the great. Gone are the days when a driver could miss a gear or suffer by large a long brake pedal. This is what formula one needs and everything else will fall into place.
F1 needs tyres that go off and are well past their best earlier so that the driver who looks after his tyres has more options, than the driver who has to make an extra pit stop because he destroys his tyres.

This is why devices such as the KERS device and the incar adjustable front wing is so exciting for F1 as it brings in greater human interaction which allows for mistakes and poor judgement.

The most recent device in F1 which required massive human interaction was the traffic light system used by Ferrari for most of last season, the errors made were human not because of the system, mechanics got run over, pit stops were messed up, equipment such as fuel rigs hoses got ripped from its location and dragged down the pit lane, human interaction cost Massa the championship, yet every pit stop prompted the question is it going to go wrong again, it was great to watch even though it contained no over taking.

 

Soo many ill informed opinions.

Bernie is the COMMERCIAL RIGHTS HOLDER. It is is responsibilty to do the deals with the circuits, make sure they run to the agreed schedule and that the teams will turn up to every round. In return he gets the trackside advertising rights and the fees from the circuits to hold the race. He has NO control over what the rules are what the technicial regulations are.

He supports every team and will put out press releases designed to stir up media interest. So in Germany he'll support Michael in England Lewis etc etc. He's a very smart man of the opinion no publicity is bad publicity

The FIA set the rules and regulations. One rule being no team can have techical documentation from another without written consent. hence McLarens $100M fine in 07. If they want to change the regs under the concorde agreement they have to get consent from ALL the teams. Overtaking or lack thereof has been difficult of late so the FIA formed the "Overtaking Working Group" from a representative from each team. the OWG then came up with the new tech rules which were then rubber stamped by the FIA. The only time the FIA can introduce tech changed is in the interests of safety. Example being higher cockpit sides following the events of Imola 94.


The Silverstone thing is just bullshit! Bernie said the BRDC (owners of Siverstone) 8 years ago after the muddy fields nonsense sort it out of you lose the GP. Rightly so IMO. So they did the car parks. Then he said "Sort out Silverstone up to a decent standard in terms of pits and the like". So they fannied around for 8 years unveiling "artists impression" after "artists inpression" of what the propossed new compelx would look like. In the end they rebuilt the pit wall! It's embaressing in the newer corporate world that the current buildings are over 25 years old! No ones saying they need to change the track, just update the place. As they have been increasing the entry fees every year anyway. How much for a 3 day pass this year!?! And there argument is always "Well its not the worst facilities" which may be true, but surely they should be aiming a little higher!

Year on year the fees for hosting a GP have increased. Bernie said to the BRDC you can go in my office choose any deal that another circuit gets and you can have the exact same terms. The BRDC choose NOT to do this and then keep whinging that the Gubberment should pay for everything. Why should they? It's a privately owned facility, with shareholders that are combined worth over a $500m. Who should really be paying to improve Siverstone? Interesting that when they lost the F1 and secured MotoGP, they can find several million to change the track layout.

Eventually Donington stepped in and offered to rebuild and improve if they could have the same deal. Bernie said "yes"

The BRDC seem to be under the misapprehension they should get preferential treatment because Bernie is British. In a commercial environment where other countries are offering to build facilities and throw money towards FOM it's a miracle the BritGp has survived this long! So don't think he's out to screw it over. He said if they just did what they said they would it would have been fine.

 

Everytime old Brundle did a pit walk he'd come across Bernie and ask him who he want to win, he'd come out with some political crap and then stump for any Ferrari!
Rich

 

Agreed, Bernies interest is focused towards F1 rather than anything else, this was the reason why he liked Shumi and Lewis as champions they did a lot to promote the sport.
Likewise Bernie was not supportive of Kimi and Alonso who after winning the championship did very little promotional work as champion.

Although I am a dedicated Mclaren fan I do believe that F1 needs the history, passion and legend associated with one team and that team is Ferrari. Bernie is also aware of this as such when their was the possibility of a manufacturers break away Bernie focused on keeping Ferrari who now get a greater percentage of the TV revenue of any team and that's a fact openly admitted by Bernie.
Although I believe F1 needs Ferrari I do believe this unfair financial advantage provided to them is wrong.

If Bernie had any influence over the rules the drivers would be racing for medals this year

I totally agree Silverstone is not a shining example for the country which homes the majority of the F1 teams, its facility's are simply second rate and the circuit is a pale comparison compared to what is available else where, how often were they advised and warned.
I think Bernie tried to get Silverstone to pull their socks up but I do not think they met him even close to half way.

The failing is by the BRDC who did not realise that better tracks are available, it saddens me that Silverstone could not put on the show, and I wish the very best for Donnington.

One of the very best F1 race's ever was at Donnington in 94 imho

 

Ok so why has bernie said that if donnington is not ready he doesnt see the british gp ever returning to the f1 calender, this was not a rant about silverstone inparticular this was the fact that bernie seems not to want a british gp anymore, donnington are having to pull a miracle out of their ass to be ready in time, which it looks like they will do so bernie has hit them with a blow of, if it aint ready you wont ever have any invlovement, whats the point in that?? why add that extra pressure? more chance to make mistakes, get things wrong under pressure.

 

Which kind of proves my point. What's best for the global audience? Ferrari have been in F1 the longest of any team. to make the point with Football. if Man Utd win. Millions around the world (though I guess very few in Manchester ) are happy. It generates media interest. If Wiiliams won a few races, realistically only the F1 fans would care. Less headlines. That's just the way the media works. But I repeat, he has no direct influence to make them win by bending rules.

The deal is with Donington. If they can't meet their responsibility. It doesn't just revert back to Silverstone by default. And part of the concorde agreement is 18 races (poss 19 though) so Bernie then has to find another circuit to host a race. Hardly any circuits are going to spend millions to make them "F1 spec" without the possibility of a multi-year deal. So unless another circuit then drops out there isn't any space for the Brit GP. It's not fair to make other places pay out when Siverstone/Donington won't meet the same criteria, just because they are British. Afterall there was no Imola in 08 and thats a fairly iconic circuit which was doomed by financials.

Personally I think the 2010 at Donington will be OK. There will be problems but I think they will get 85-90% of the way there.

 

IMHO He's over the hill and is out to set his personal agenda that he's come up with over the years. I think he has made the sport what it is today and has done an excellent job over the years, but He's too far gone now and should step down so we remember him for the good he has done and not all the crap he's come up with in the last few years.

JAmes.

 

It's Max Mosely who's Ferarri biased not Bernie.

Without Bernie there wouldnt be F1 as we know it, the guy is a legend. Some of you guys need to do a bit of research and see what he did for the sport and the teams.