Bernie Goes Mental, Vol. 1

Enja

isn't dead.
Valued Member
From this interview on formula1.com

On points..
Q: Are there any ideas that you’re considering to boost excitement?
BE: I stick to it - let’s have medals instead of points. Drivers want to win and they are not racing for second, third or fourth place. So let’s have a system where wins count. Last season it would have worked pretty well. Vettel and Alonso would have been even after the last race with five gold medals each, and the same number of silver and bronze medals. Vettel would have won the world championship because he had more fourth places… I call that a thriller!

On excitement..
Q: Any more ideas?
BE: Yes. Look at the races we have now. Overtaking is almost impossible because in the dry there is only one line good for maximum speed because of the rubber on the track. You have a completely different picture when it is wet. We always had the most exciting races in the wet so let’s think of making rain…

Q: Making rain?
BE:
Yes. There are race tracks that you can make artificially wet and it would be easy to have such systems at a number of tracks. Why not let it ‘rain’ in the middle of a race? For 20 minutes or the last ten laps? Maybe with a two-minute warning ahead of it. Suspense would be guaranteed and it would be the same for all.

On women..
Q: So the phrase ‘money makes the world go around’ is a fact?
BE: Sex and money make the world go around. That is why I am sure that not so long from now 50 percent of the decision makers in the economy and politics will be women. Women have always had a strong influence, and have probably been in the background for too long. Isn’t there the saying that behind every successful man there is a woman?

Q: That suggests that you think women have a different approach to making decisions…
BE:
Yes, I do. I think that women don’t get trapped so easily in their own ego. Women don’t have to play golf to make deals, they simply have to work harder to get the same acceptance as men. As their egos don’t stand in their way they decide things less emotionally and in the end that serves the cause.

Q: That all sounds as if you could imagine women running Formula One racing?
BE:
Absolutely. Probably in three to five years.



Discuss.

Also, Brogan or whoever reading, it's irritating to copy and paste something into here and have it come up in the same font as the original, my words in between quotes then also become that font creating a disparity between my initial words and the words used after copy and pasting. I can see why this would be useful but unless I switch fonts myself it's a little bugging.
 
Hmmm...

So the medal system works because we would have had the same result as we ended up with using the new points system? Go figure!

Artificial wet races? Just no, as daft as his short cut idea. If marbles are a problem then talk to the tyre supplier you just appointed Bernie.

As to his views on women, I'm not sure what to say. I suppose there is some truth in his commenst but the glass ceiling is there and will be there for much longer than Bernie's 3 to 5 years, unless he plans to hand FOM over to one of his daughters.
 
I think the 3-5 year comment is the most interesting. Does that mean that we will only have to put up with BE (curse him) for three to five more years?
 
Also, Brogan or whoever reading, it's irritating to copy and paste something into here and have it come up in the same font as the original
This is a function of the WYSIWYG editor - it is designed to do exactly that.
If you want to remove formatting from the source text, you can do one of two things:
  1. Switch to the plain text editor before pasting content - click on the
    switchmode.png
    in the top right hand corner of the editor toolbar.
  2. Highlight the text and click on the eraser button in the top left hand corner which will remove all formatting.
 
One of the biggest obstacles to more overtaking are the marbles. Maybe Bernie should concentrate on this, and give the benefit of his wisdom and advice to Pirelli in how to get rid of them. After all, he must be an expert as he has shown enormous skill in this area in getting rid of all of his.
 
The greatest minds in Formula One all bow down before this man, and worship his authority and vision...

It makes you wonder if having a great mind, technical ability or superior intellect is overrated, doesn't it? :thinking:

Or perhaps being bright just means you're more likely to follow loons willingly for some weird, freakish reason...
...Nature can be cruel.
 
Lets analyse quote 1...:
  • Drivers are not racing for second, third or fourth places so we should introduce the medal system
  • Vettel would have won the championship because he had most fourth places so we should introduce the medal system
Anyone see an incongruity there?
 
Lets analyse quote 1...:
  • Drivers are not racing for second, third or fourth places so we should introduce the medal system
  • Vettel would have won the championship because he had most fourth places so we should introduce the medal system
Anyone see an incongruity there?

Beats me comepletely.I will just have to admit that I am in hands of intellectual abilties that are way beyond my comprehension.
crazy.gif
 
Bernie has created a monster that he can no longer control - he seems in charge, but I suspect he knows he's not - hence all sorts of spin/ gobble-de-gook/ dissembling. Spiralling out of control and he doesn't like it.
 
Pirelli agree with Mr. E's suggestion :

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89706

"I thought Bernie Ecclestone's comments were quite interesting," Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery told AUTOSPORT.
"Straight after our recent successful [wet-weather] Abu Dhabi test I saw him and said, 'why don't we do an artificial wet race?' The technology is such that you can wet a circuit with a sprinkler system, so the idea is not as daft as it sounds.
"Having seen what it was like in Abu Dhabi, certainly with a wet element it would look spectacular - and visibility shouldn't be a problem because there would be no clouds.
"From a tyre makers' point of view, there is no difficulty in making suitable tyres. We have seen great races in the past when you have had an extra variable like the weather, so why not?"
Although the introduction of artificial wet races could be viewed by some as too much of a gimmick for F1, Hembery believes that the sport should be looking at avenues where it can increase entertainment - and he thinks there are other gimmicks that have become accepted as the norm.
"At the end of the day you want people to watch what you are offering," he said. "F1 ultimately competes for entertainment space with other sports - so people need to see something that is interesting.
"From that point of view, an artificial wet race would add to the show - and you want something people will watch.
"A good example of a radical idea in the sport that have been accepted is the Singapore Grand Prix. You could argue that running at night under lights is a gimmick. But it has turned out to be one of the most spectacular races of the season. It is stunning.
"Couldn't you in fact argue that a street circuit itself is gimmicky? After all, you have created a circuit out of normal roads."
He added: "I would agree that something fake like throwing in safety cars frequently to close the field up if they got too spread out would be going too far, but in terms of throwing something of a new challenge, like an artificial wet race, at drivers, tacticians and engineers, it would be great."


I'm sorry, has the rest of the world gone mad while I went to bed last night?
 
Good grief!

In addition to all the equalisation to artifically put teams on an equal footing, we now have silly video game boost buttons and adjustable wings, and now this!

I'm just about to give up on F1.
 
Couldn't you in fact argue that a street circuit itself is gimmicky? After all, you have created a circuit out of normal roads.

That just shows a crass ignorance of history. Grand Prix racing developed from road racing, it is purpose-built circuits that are the artificial aspect! Racing under floodlights is hardly a gimmick either, its not as if it was designed to spice up the racing, just allow BCE to schedule the race when folk would actually watch.
 
"A good example of a radical idea in the sport that have been accepted is the Singapore Grand Prix. You could argue that running at night under lights is a gimmick. But it has turned out to be one of the most spectacular races of the season. It is stunning."

Stunning, eh? So are the Las Vegas style, colour-changing hotels at AbuDhabi, in their own way. But the race track there is still crap, as is the 'corporate go-kart track inside a multi-storey car park' that is Singapore. Bring back proper circuits, in daylight, I say!
Grrrrr!>:(

Oo-er! I'll have to change my name to Grizzly II (or maybe Ned Ludd) at this rate. :whistle:
 
I just want to see racing - not spectacle, shouldn't that be confined to amphitheatre - and I wouldn't care if they went round the M25, but did it in their own inimitable style.

This is a very special sort of racing - best man and best car - if you're lucky the two coincide.

A true Luddite, perhaps.
 
Oo-er! I'll have to change my name to Grizzly II (or maybe Ned Ludd) at this rate. :whistle:
Get in line!

I think I rank fairly high when it comes to the moaning stakes :D

What we're witnessing is a gradual erosion of all the key elements which made F1 what it once was.
Come back to this thread in 10 years and I wouldn't be surprised if there are people saying things like:

"What do you mean, race during the day?"
"But F1 has always had sprinklers on the circuits, it spices the races up. Imagine how boring it would be just driving around a dry track for 50 laps."
"I can't believe they actually tried to race without triple self-adjusting wings in those days, how old-fashioned is that!"
etc.
 
Get in line!

I think I rank fairly high when it comes to the moaning stakes :D

What we're witnessing is a gradual erosion of all the key elements which made F1 what it once was.
Come back to this thread in 10 years and I wouldn't be surprised if there are people saying things like:

"What do you mean, race during the day?"
"But F1 has always had sprinklers on the circuits, it spices the races up. Imagine how boring it would be just driving around a dry track for 50 laps."
"I can't believe they actually tried to race without triple self-adjusting wings in those days, how old-fashioned is that!"
etc.

Exactly, although i prefer the word change to erosion because if that is the case, the F1 you fell in love with was an erosion of what preceded it. F1 has been through many eras now, of continued change and evolution and will continue to do so... That's just how it works, surely. For every great idea that you've enjoyed, there will always be 2-3 you hate, but life F1 goes on.
 
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