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Calibre11
·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!
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!
