German GP is Bernie's Failure

[lkjohnson1950]

All excellent points and very true.The problem is Bernie is only interested in the very wealthy. He doesn't really care if the masses watch or not.

[Scott]

Bernice's race fees (the bit that most affects ticket prices) are high to service CVC's debt, or so he has to claim.  I, of course, blame the whole thing on Max's selling the commercial rights to Bernie and all the filthy transactions that followed.

Bernie's legacy will be that he has practically bankrupted F1.  Max's will unfortunately be him spanking SS dressed prostitutes.

[Jericoke]

Bernice's race fees (the bit that most affects ticket prices) are high to service CVC's debt, or so he has to claim.  I, of course, blame the whole thing on Max's selling the commercial rights to Bernie and all the filthy transactions that followed.

Bernie's legacy will be that he has practically bankrupted F1.  Max's will unfortunately be him spanking SS dressed prostitutes.

Bernie's story is quite a bit more complicated than that.  He's the one that turned the F1 brand into something of value.

When F1 was at the very pinnacle of its success he sold it.  Yes, there ws a time where Bernie decided he wasn't the man to run F1 anymore.  However, the company he sold F1 to (some German media company whose name escapes me.  They also bought The Muppets from Jim Henson's family at the same time) had no idea how to run the sport and the debt they incurred buying the sport crushed the company.

As the banks took over F1 they wisely understood they had no business running F1.  This is when Mr. Eccelstone decided he missed F1 and invited his friends at CVC to buy F1, installing him as both supremo, and employee, as he saw fit for publicity purposes.  (Of course, this was the same time he ended up doing whatever it was that caused him to go to trial in Germany)

So, we actually see that Bernie leaving F1 was the beginning of the path we are on today.  My question has always been:  did Bernie sabotage the sport so he could line his pockets by 'saving it'?  Or was he truly the only person who could run F1 successfully?

[Scott]

No, I interpret history differently, that's all. 

Sure he turned F1 into something of value, but he subsequently sucked most of that value out of the sport.  Between his profiteering move to buy and then flip the Commercial Rights, and his running of FOM and his spin-off companies raking in money from the Paddock Club etc, he has more than been paid for his 'turning F1 into something of value'.   

Bernie never left F1, or was I asleep for some part of the last 20 years?  Oh, he didn't own it for some time, but he was always F1 Supremo if my memory serves.  I can't for the life of me think of what other individual ever held that title, even when EM.TV and the Kirsch Group owned it.  Even up against Lehman Brothers and JP Morgan, Bernie swapped out some board members and took control back before it was then sold to CVC.  Bernie made money every step of the way.

If Bernie had actually left F1 in someone else's hands, we may have a very different and probably profitable F1 today (that's my take on history anyhow).   

[Jericoke]

No, I interpret history differently, that's all. 

Sure he turned F1 into something of value, but he subsequently sucked most of that value out of the sport.  Between his profiteering move to buy and then flip the Commercial Rights, and his running of FOM and his spin-off companies raking in money from the Paddock Club etc, he has more than been paid for his 'turning F1 into something of value'.   

Bernie never left F1, or was I asleep for some part of the last 20 years?  Oh, he didn't own it for some time, but he was always F1 Supremo if my memory serves.  I can't for the life of me think of what other individual ever held that title, even when EM.TV and the Kirsch Group owned it.  Even up against Lehman Brothers and JP Morgan, Bernie swapped out some board members and took control back before it was then sold to CVC.  Bernie made money every step of the way.

If Bernie had actually left F1 in someone else's hands, we may have a very different and probably profitable F1 today (that's my take on history anyhow).   

Don't get me wrong, every step of what Bernie has done was good for Bernie, anything good for F1 was a mere stepping stone.

I do believe that when EM.TV took over that Bernie was disengaged from the sport.  He had is pile of money, he had already grown bored of the sport itself. 

Then he discovered he had no interests outside of F1, not to mention a bit of a disatrous home life that cost him his pile of money, and he dove right back in.

We can suspect that others would have put F1 into stronger circumstances than we now find it, however if you look at open wheel racing in North America (IndyCar, CART, IRL, ChampCar, IndyCar) and their successive ownership/management changes, it has not gone well.

I'm not saying that having Eccelstone as the one constant in F1 has been good, but I am saying that without him it's not hard to imagine things being much worse.

[lkjohnson1950]

It's doubtful F1 would have stumbled into worse management than Indycar. They could not have done worse if they had been trying to destroy it.

[Jericoke]

It's doubtful F1 would have stumbled into worse management than Indycar. They could not have done worse if they had been trying to destroy it.

Not trying to re-open that one!  Just pointing out successful series don't necessarily thrive after a change in management.

Though I've heard that Bernie himself thought that CART was getting too big and had a hand in killing American openwheel racing.

[cosworth151]

They could probably save F1 the same way they saved Indy racing. Dump Roger Bernie & put Tony in charge. 

[lkjohnson1950]

Not goin' there.

[Dare]

Not goin' there.

me neither.There may be several ways to save F1 but
I don't think Tony is one of them.