Just turned 86 years and his influence in the Formula 1, even being huge, is not what it used to be, but Bernie Ecclestone continues to be the center of attention every time he opens his mouth. The magnate of Formula 1 is still aboard the ship in a sort of coexistence with the new owners that, for the moment, will be extended during this 2017, and Ecclestone, faithful to its style, you don’t want to go unnoticed.
In an interview with the middle German Sport Bild, Ecclestone has returned to expose the main problems of the Formula 1 present under their point of view, and the solutions that it believes should be put in place. In the recent past, their ideas have had a strange balance between a receiving medium to favor and great opposition, as what happened with the proposal of the two sprint races, radically rejected by the teams.
Ecclestone still believes that his proposal makes sense on the basis of the current television market and the profile of the young audience that the Formula 1 is designed to attract: “The attention span of young people is lower than in the past. Therefore, it makes sense to split the races in two sprints. 40 minutes of the race two times, it is more appealing to a television audience that a boring Grand Prix“.
of course, the format of the races is not the only thing that the ‘supreme’ of the Great Circus would change. The dominance of Mercedes during the last three seasons it has been impossible to counter for the rest of the teams, and Ecclestone is of the opinion that the change of regulation which will enter into force this 2017 not serve to fetch them. Argues that the problem are the power units hybrid, and advocates to eliminate them, in addition to having engines more attractive for the viewer:
“Red Bull believes that he can beat Mercedes with a better aerodynamics; I’m not so sure about it. The advantage of Mercedes in the theme engine is still great, that’s why we have to introduce a new regulation for the engines as soon as possible. No matter which, the important thing is to throw hybrid engines. Jean Todt believes that you are the spirit of our times, and perhaps that is true for cars on the street, but in the Formula 1, people want to see something special. Want to have powerful engines and noisy that they can only be handled by the best drivers in the world. Just because they are popular in the everyday life, they are orthopedic shoes for footballers“.
Ecclestone is also re-aligns with the critical sector of fans that considers that the current Formula 1 has an excess of regulation in certain matters. The british put as an example the battles to gain position, and affirms that the regulation should be completely changed: “The rules should be changed, all of them. Are too complicated. We are in the entertainment business, how are we supposed to entertain the people when the audience no longer understands a single thing? Not even the pilots know that they can or cannot do in the track. At times, I think the regulation says: “don’t compete!”, but let them have contact. Let the pilots manage it themselves”.
After having talked to Mercedes and Red Bull, Ferrari could not stay out of the equation. Ecclestone says bluntly that the Scuderia, which has closed its second season with no victories in three years, has returned to how to proceed prior to the arrival of Michael Schumacher and technical director Jean Todt in the second half of the nineties. Blames what he considers a excessive italianización of the team, as well as the little paper that, according to him, has Sebastian Vettel in the organizational chart of the team:
“Ferrari has fallen back in the era before Schumacher and Todt. There are too many italians working at the computer. I don’t have anything against Italy, but have firm rules in a computer does not fit with an Italian DNA. Ferrari needs new blood. I am sure that Sebastian does everything he can to succeed, the question is how much they are willing to let him do. It is not your fault that you will not win, is because of the car and the team. The mission of Sebastian is Ferrari; knowing you, you’ll want to finish this mission first“.
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