Great news this morning with it being confirmed that Bernie Eccelstone has been replaced as CEO of Formula 1 brining to an end an amazing era of F1.

Don't get me wrong- Bernie is the one who has made F1 what it is today. He had the vision to unite the teams together and commercialise the sport and did an amazing job.

Unfortunately, he stayed around far too long and dragged things backwards over the last decade. That suspicious deal he did with Max Mosley and the FIA (buying the F1 commercial rights for 100 years for a grand total of $350m- more a stain on Mosley than Bernie), the disdain with which he has treated the traditional races and the manufacturers are all black marks in my book. He has failed to understand modern media and how fans today want to engage in the sport...and perhaps he didn't really care so long as the corporates were happy. I feel that he took for granted the passion of traditional F1 fans and never repaid that loyalty.

But if you look at his contribution in its total, it's fair to say that no-one has impacted the sport more than B.C.E and that in itself is worthy of thanks from all F1 fans...it just would have been a bigger "Thanks" if he'd left a decade ago!

 

2011 Shanghai Grand Prix

 

http://m.carandbike.com/news/its-of...lestone-promoted-as-chairman-emeritus-1652929

 

Maybe not goodbye completely... Several F1 journalists have hinted that Bernie isn't walking away and still owns the rights to GP1 which he secured a while back as part of a threat against the manufacturers to create a breakaway series.

He's not bound by any non-compete or anything, he's a free man and also has Alonso's manager Flavio Briatore as a close friend along with all of the business relationships from F1 and with the tracks.

 

Really all he has to do is find someone to make him an old style F1 spec engine, say a 3L V8 / V10 which Cosworth still has in mothballs, then get Dallara to knock together a good spec chassis, and the teams like Manor, maybe Sauber, some of the Indy teams or GP2 teams like ART would make the leap. If he had those engines, 20,000rpm and 900hp+ again in a good lightweight chassis it'd remedy all the complaints about the show, and potentially if it were a spec chassis they could design it specifically to allow other cars to follow better to make for an even better show.

He's not going gardening that's for sure, he might be 86 but the man's up to something and doesn't like being unceremoniously dumped from the sport he built. If they put a bit of development into it a 3L could easily surpass the current hybrid power units, and if he had GP1 as not only a louder and more impressive event but a faster event for less money there will be a lot interested in that.

He'd have effectively solved the cost problem just by removing the manufacturers and a handful of the most expensive drivers.