Ecclestone: Vettel and Rosberg ‘not good for business’

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In the round-up: Bernie Ecclestone says Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel do little for F1’s popularity – citing the cancellation of this year’s German Grand Prix.

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In conversation - Bernie Ecclestone and Nico Rosberg (F1)

"Unfortunately you (Rosberg) don’t have the German fans on your side. As the cancellation of the German Grand Prix indicates, Germany is a terrible market for Formula One. On the contrary Lewis (Hamilton) is a hero in the UK. The British love Formula One. Sebastian (Vettel) is also not doing much for F1."

Fernando Alonso criticises 'random' Monaco GP penalty (BBC)

"To give penalties randomly like this is strange but it is what it is."

FIA wants more notice of engine reliability upgrades (Adam Cooper's F1 Bog)

"Changes can be made on that basis without the use of tokens, and clearly the governing body has felt the need to make the process as open as possible – and at the same has tried to ensure that it has adequate time to deal with requests for changes, which at times been very last minute, by introducing a lead time of eight days."

Brief use of VSC was correct - FIA (Autosport)

"Motor sport's governing body, meanwhile, has also made clear GPS is available around Monaco, despite Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff's claims to the contrary."

Bernie Ecclestone unhappy McLaren failed to send drivers to event at Prince Albert’s palace (The Telegraph)

"There is a wider tension between Ecclestone and the teams over a drastic reduction in the number of passes available to bring sponsors in the paddock."

Formula One brings out the 'grid boys' (Reuters)

"A spokesman for the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) said the decision had been taken by Michel Boeri, head of the organising Automobile Club de Monaco and of the FIA Senate."

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Comment of the day

Until it all went wrong, was yesterday Hamilton’s strongest race as Rosberg’s team mate?

Look at the lap times of Hamilton and Rosberg: apart from the period where Hamilton was managing brakes (where he was equalling Rosberg), Hamilton was pretty much 0.2-0.3s faster almost every lap. He benefited a bit from backmarkers (probably around two to three seconds) but he was well over 20s ahead of Rosberg before the safety car.

I think this was Hamilton’s most dominant race relative to Rosberg since they became teammates. Shame about how it ended.
@Polo

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69 comments on “Ecclestone: Vettel and Rosberg ‘not good for business’”

  1. Nathan (@il-ferrarista)
    25th May 2015, 0:59

    This is certainly one of the more ridiculous statements from little Bernie in a while, maybe whole 2015. You agree?

    1. I reckon if F1 was cheaper to watch in Germany, more people would. A wild notion I know.

    2. Bernie evidently fears being ignored and thus feels compelled to make extremely bizarre and totally obtuse statements on a frequent basis. He hopes to have a Rorschach ink blot named after him someday. Those exposed to it will make randomly generated nonsensical derisive statements in response.

    3. No no no, the Germans couldn’t possibly be staying away from F1 just because one of the principals has no principles.
      On the other hand it’s hard not to like Bernie when he does a little self mockery, charm being one of the necessary talents for people who accumulate power and wealth well beyond their apparent worthiness or skillset, George W. Bush comes to mind as another likeable person whose tenure was a disaster.

      1. NO. Hohum I tend to agree with most of what you say and tend to rally behind it but I cannot sit idly by and let you say that George W. Bush was a likeable person. As an American I can tell you that we are still suffering from Bush era politics (No Child Left Behind/Patriot Act/Bailout/ETC.). He was a terrible person/puppet.

        1. The sad part of it all is that Obama essentially continued with most of it. Clinton/Bush/Obama: the trinity of malarkey.

          1. @alanmiller, I don’t think you should blame Obama for choosing not to pick fights he cannot win, the Republicans are masters of the art of blame transfer, half of America blame Obama for the GFC and the Iraq situation amongst other things.

        2. @julianwins, that is my point, W was a total disaster but I bet in total privacy without or before the teetotal/bornagain stuff he would be an interesting and amusing guest to have over for a cookout.

          1. I can confirm this @hohum from first hand experience. If you could forget what he represents and what he’s done, he is actually a fun person to converse with. Clinton is also charming in person, but W comes across more humble.

    4. Neil (@neilosjames)
      25th May 2015, 1:50

      Not sure. The standard has been incredibly high over the last year or so…

    5. He’s simply saying that Rosberg and Vettel aren’t popular enough to make a German GP a possibility (even with massive subsidies) while Hamilton is fully filling up Silverstone.

      Seems pretty accurate really.

    6. @il-ferrarista I think Bernie is right, people are as simple as he says people are. Seb and Nico want to be loved but they don’t do anything but beg for love. Senna was a controversial character but to the fans he was everything, he was dating supermodels as well, Lewis is the same although I don’t think Lewis is completely incapable of understanding that there is more in the world than himself. Lewis is the troubled character that F1 needs to promote itself as every poll seems to show that the wider audiences, the casual fans are lured by the drivers rather than the teams or sponsors.

    7. After being forced to pay 100 million pounds, dont think he like it aye?

    8. Its a bit rich coming from Bernie. In a lot of ways he has been the most unpopular figure with F1 fans for the past 30-odd years. Actually make that motorsport fans in general. There are still many people (especially here in Australia) who blame him for sabotaging the 1987 World Touring Car Championship.

  2. OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
    25th May 2015, 1:17

    So Vettel has to leave his established family and date some top model in order to “do something” for F1? Stupid old man.

    1. More horrible sunglasses and three gold chains. Then he’ll be Bernie’s chach golden boy

      1. Spot on! Seb and Nico need to bling it up! And they need tats too, lots of them!

        But I suspect what they really need to do is not come from a country where a certain someone had to pay lots of money to keep out of jail.

        1. @charleski
          If you were the advertising executive for a large company, who would you rather have as the face of your next big marketting campaign, Lewis, Seb or Nico ?

          I’d bet most people would pick Lewis as he’s the one with the biggest public profile, and that’s what Bernie is talking about. Lewis is the better WDC from FOM’s position as he makes headlines, is known all over the world and kids love him while Seb was an almost anonymous WDC and Nico is virtually unkown outside of the motorsport bubble.

          1. @beneboy Not everything has to digress into cheesy pop-culture (read: lunch with Kanye – /facepalm) to be current or in demand. Keep it classy F1.

  3. I don’t get Alonso’s whining – he was clearly overly optimistic of his grip levels and lost ocntrol of his car, before sliding into Hulkenberg, basically using him as brakes. That was a totally legitimate penalty.

    As was Verstappen’s – whatever Jan Lammers says with the slightest hint of patriotism. Grosjean braked later than Hamilton did on his pole lap there. On older tyres and with a heavier car (albeit on a more rubbered-up track).

    1. yes, that penalty was as clear as they get IMO, no reason to complain for Alonso @atticus-2

    2. Alonso wrecked someone else’s race, so I thought he got off quite lightly. But I do like these time penalties, as the driver has a chance of making amends on the track (even if McLaren only seemed to tell him about it much later!)

      1. Penalties are given due to breaking rules, not because of the consequences.

    3. It’s an interesting debate, I think. Should a driver be penalised for losing control of his car accidentally during an overtaking manoeuvre? It’s a similar one to Hulkenberg and Hamilton in Brazil 2012. I think under the definition of “causing a collision” it’s fair enough that the driver losing control should be penalised, but that a 5-second time penalty (as opposed to a drive-through) is enough.

      I watched the Verstappen accident again and it actually looks like Grosjean got his wheels on the yellow pit exit line, which caused the car to slide a little when he braked. The previous lap, all of his wheels were on tarmac. I think that might have caught out Verstappen.

  4. Well Bernie it’s thanks to you and your ridiculous fees that Germany can’t even afford a Grand Prix, and your influence over the sport has brought nothing but bad news for the last decade or more. Bernie isn’t “best for business”.

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      25th May 2015, 7:23

      BE might have a $100m reasons to hate Germany, @colossal-squid.

      But wait until he has to pay his $1,600m UK tax bill ;)

      1. OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
        25th May 2015, 16:57

        @coldfly start saying bye to Silverstone then

    2. Doesn’t every track pay those ridiculous fees? Silverstone is doing fine even without subsidies like Melbourne and Hockenheim are/were receiving.

      1. Silverstone is doing fine because they also have the WEC, the Blancpain GT Series, World Superbikes, BTCC, British GT, the BritCar 24h… the list just keeps going ;)

  5. Seriously, you all need to grow up and stop blaming Bernie for the problems in Germany. Facts are Germans are not too crazy about Vettel or Rosberg. The problem is Bernie made that comment. Vettel and Roserg are bad for business. Don’t forget this is the “entertainment business” and people like Rosberg and Vettel are boring for this sort of business. I’m sure they are nice and respectable people. They dress conservatively, nothing about is outside the norms. It’s not meant to be an insult, its business.

    Everywhere around the world the cost of everything is going up. This is not limited to Germany alone, yet the other venues have managed to survive. The race tracks in Germany and their organizers have always been very volatile. This year we race in Nurburgring, next year Hockenheim. Why? Because the tracks did not have adequate private investors. I know its easy to criticize Bernie but think about what is going on at the management level in Germany. What are they doing wrong that they don’t have a viable venue to host an F1 race. And why is attendance down even when Vettel is winning? Because Vettel just wanted to collect championships and attend fancy upscale functions. Same with Rosberg. You have to put your self out there in the world of entertainment. You have to be polarizing to be entertaining. Model citizens like Vettel and Rosberg just don’t cut it. The ring was sold then investors backedout…Bernie offered to buy…but he was denied…Mercedes tried to chip in their own money to save their home GP, but still nothing because it’s all tied back to whoever owns the tracks and their Management. All of the other tracks are struggling too to hold F1 races, yet they somehow managed to stay afloat except for Germany. I guarantee you Italy will still have a GP even if its moved to Mugello. Why? Because there is excitement there for Ferrari and F1 in general despite the naysayers.

    1. @sudd, fact is Germany has 2 viable venues to hold a F1 race, they choose not to because the deal they are offered is not viable, sensible and practical people the Germans.

    2. Monza is close to being off, Spa was gone for a year until Bernie compromised, France is long gone, the Spanish races are in trouble too. And the Silverstone race was very close to it to only a few years back. I don’t think we should blame that on the German promotors.

      If Bernie sees a lack of popularity of Vettel and Rosberg as reasons for a lack of F1 interest FOM as the first interested in making more money from F1 should do its best to promote the series using these guys, or work with Mercedes to do so. Talking the guys down is going to do as much good as bashing the engines did last year.

      Yeah, BE offered to buy the Ring, but its not clear how serious he was, and he was offering a far lower price than anyone else, requesting the state to make up the losses. In other words, put the loss on the plate of the people once more. And then you wonder why F1 is not having a great time in Germany?

    3. One could argue that Spain held two races at some point because they had a winning and super popular driver in Fernando Alonso but blame Seb and Nico for the lack of interest from German public is a stretch.

      1. It’s not to hard to see the difference from when there still was a popular German driver. We actually had 2 races in Germany at the time. Now they can’t even make one race happen.

  6. You have two drivers of a particular nationality – one a four-time world champion, and one fighting for the past two years against a two-time champion considered to be one of the best of the current crop. You have a world-renowned, top-level manufacturer leading the charge in the constructors championship in the new hybrid era in the strongest economic market in the historical continent of the sport, and you still can’t get people interested – maybe you and your crackpot logic is the issue, Bernie. You have an ever-tightening stranglehold on broadcasting, and a prehistoric point of view regarding new media access. Any other CEO would have been booted long ago.

    Retire. Now. You can’t take it with you.

    1. Now this guy speaks sense. Good post, @bluestar77 . More than can be said for @sudd ‘s post.

      1. @david-a, @bluestar77 is actually making my point. The problem for F1’s lack of success in Germany, one of the strongest economies in the world, is NOT economic. As @bluestar77 pointed out, we have ticked all the boxes for why F1 should be huge success in Germany. Blaming Bernie just doesn’t cut it when all the other venues are managing to still host events with weaker economies.

        People will always complain about entrance fees. I personally would love to see the lower prices, but even that won’t get people to attend races in Germany. They’ve got a winning constructor and drivers to cheer for and yet they still don’t show up. You can’t blame Bernie for everything just because you don’t like. The reason you don’t like him is exactly why he is successful. He doesn’t concern himself with being liked. He is a businessman driven by results. Complain about the state of F1 all you like, the facts are the sport won’t be where it is today without Bernie.

        Think of any organization or team, there is always that polarizing, hated character. Ironically, remove that character from the equation and the whole organization or team crumbles. I don’t care much for Bernie. I can’t even believe I’m defending him. But I know he has a major role to play. People won’t realize how much we need him until he is gone.

        1. @sudd

          @bluestar77 is actually making my point.

          No, he’s actually making the point that Bernie is a part the issue, not the drivers as you claim.

          Blaming Bernie just doesn’t cut it when all the other venues are managing to still host events with weaker economies.

          And several of those have struggled in recent years. No French GP since ’08, Spa removed twice in the mid 2000s, Montreal removed in ’09, Suzuka & Fuji alternating for a few years, Monza struggling, Melbourne constantly threatening to pull out, etc.

          The reason you don’t like him is exactly why he is successful. He doesn’t concern himself with being liked. He is a businessman driven by results.
          […]
          But I know he has a major role to play. People won’t realize how much we need him until he is gone.

          Yes, and those results are coming from places like Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Azerbijan and Russia. He’s brought F1 to new markets, and he clearly has done a lot for F1, but F1’s marketing needs fresh ideas, not someone who talks down the current regs, when it’s his job to talk up the sport, or blames drivers for being themselves.

        2. You know, I don’t have all the answers @bluestar77,@david-a, @sudd, but I do have to say: I was at the Formula E-prix in Berlin (where I live), and it was fun, relaxing, and welcoming.

          Of course, prices are much, much lower, it is in the middle of the city (electric makes that not a planning-problem), and you could go out- and get in again, with no fuzz.

          Compared to the prices, checks, and wringing me out of money at an F1 race, it is much more easily worth the money of trying it out.

          And that I think is important, especially when you see how many families and fathers with their children there were at the Formula E event in Berlin Tempelhof (great historic site and background too) – people that enjoyed low-barrier motor-sport on a nice Saturday in Berlin. Perhaps they only decided that morning they wanted to go – getting in there and back (home) again? Easy. All those kids enjoyed a great event, and they might be the audience of tomorrow. But will they even be able to see F1?

        3. the facts are the sport won’t be where it is today without Bernie

          You’re right, without Bernie F1 wouldn’t be losing TV viewers, struggling to fill grandstands, struggling to fill the grid and have teams on the verge of bankcruptcy in a sport that generates over £1 billion of profit a year !

  7. Hey is this some kind of joke. Drivers first and second in the Monaco gp are not good for business? What a comment! Wow.

  8. Re CotD the irony being if Hamilton wasn’t so far infront Mercedes never would have even thought about pitting him and he would’ve coasted to victory.

  9. Was that really the best-looking trophy you could find at Williams? Plastic corporate-logo garbage? /sad-face

  10. Judging by the above tweet, did Lewis tried to do what Senna did at the ’88 race?

  11. thatscienceguy
    25th May 2015, 9:15

    Hey Bernie, do you know what else is bad for F1’s business? You.

  12. I wonder if the problem with Germany’s shrinking fanbase is that they’ve been so successful for so long? They had Schumi for all those years, then Seb, now Mercedes F1. It’s kinda ‘what is there left to achieve?’

    Just musing really, since they still have it live free to air so it’s not that, and it’s viewership not just the attendance. Whereas for Mexico who sold out in 20 minutes it’s all new.

    1. @lockup I think there is some truth to that suggestion. German fans might be a bit tired of seeing their drivers win. However, I think the whole picture is much more complicated. For instance, their free-to-air coverage is really unimpressive.

      As for Mercedes, I think the German fans do not see it as “their” team – the base is in England and the title sponsor is a Malaysian company. The team is lead by a British driver, an Austrian team boss, a British Technical Director, an Austrian Non-Executive Chairman and a British Managing Director. Mercedes is really an international team so it cannot fill the grandstands at Hockenheim or Nurburgring.

      1. And also @girts, Schumacher is/was really, really popular. I met quite a few Vettel fans here too, but they are also often fathers with a family and less time/money to spend on F1. Possibly a lot of erstwhile Schumi fans are now in that situation, where they have to divide attention, while others stopped watching when he retired.

      2. Seems to me the only thing German in Mercedes is a Fin.

  13. If David Beckham was interested in driving in F1, Bernie would have him. He’s after ambassadors of the sport, representing the paddock among the glitzy and glamorous. I Lewis Hamilton, Bernie has the David Beckham of F1.

    Why don’t more drivers do what Lewis does? Because it’s difficult. Watch The Class of 92 on BBC. The likes of Scholes and Giggs are amazed that Beckham managed to maintain the standard and consistency of his game although he has his various celebrity lifestyle commitments.

    Some athletes need 100% focus to maintain their performance while others, like Lewis, can be seen partying with Kanye West one weekend, but could stuck it on pole a couple days later. Does that mean he’s naturally more talented than his peers? Possibly.

    So imagine how good he’d be if he was as relentless as Senna or Schumacher? I don’t think he would be better, he probably can’t perform if he put that much pressure on himself… But we will never know..

    1. Hogwash, marketing F1 is not partying with celebs. it’s being effective in putting more money in the bank and for that, you have to go to ave joe/jane. HAM does no more, probably less than many other drivers. Having tattoos and wearing D&G and appearing in the Kardasians doesn’t do it. That’ why HAM has virtually no personal endorsements.

      Comparisons are funny, David Beckham achieved what in football exactly (1 CL medal)? his class of 92 achieved more than him, was he great player in an average team or was he average player in a great team (including Sir Alex). The latter, average player (good free kicker) who was used to sell more T- Shirts, when he went to Real it was then same.

      DB will be remembered more for his commercial success than as a player (average as profi go) – now his replacement at MU is a great player, the statistics say so

  14. “Grid boys”??? This issue went too far…i’ve got a better idea, let’s bring the “grid dogs” to F1, one canis lupus representing each driver’s nationality…just picture a cute bulldog sitting next to Lewis, or an anoying barking little Chihuahua next to Perez…you would attract dog’s lovers to the sports, and get to sell more ads…it should only work for Bernie!

    (Sarcasm…)

    1. Don’t see how it “went too far” …

    2. I welcome our future canine totty.

    3. Then we could start a furious discussion about grid dogs vs grid cats…

      Seriously, grid boys are nice but the WEC handled the situation better by getting rid of “grid hotties” completely. Grid girls will always make F1 look sexist and grid boys have so far only lead to silly jokes. F1 drivers want to be seen as macho men so you will never hear them say “Yeah, I like that hot guy in those tight jeans, who is standing in front of my car. It was a great idea to put him here.” You will hear more or less serious complaints instead.

      F1 should simply state that it is about racing, the grid is for racing people and if someone wants to look at some sexy boys or girls, there are thousands of other ways to do that.

      1. F1 finally arrives the 21st century shocker!

        I think it was high time something like this happened. I value the increasing prominence of women in F1, and the ‘dolly birds’ feel terribly old-fashioned.

        What about using other groups to fill the role? Maybe it would be nice to use it as an honour for worthy groups of people. Motosport Engineering students, charity workers, disadvantaged kids or maybe disabled folks.

        Whilst thinking about this, it also struck me that I cannot recall an openly gay driver in F1. Am i correct in thinking that?

        Think of the sponsorship opportunities!

  15. To be honest, Bernie is not really a POSITIVE promoter of F1! All he seems to do is make contradictory statements to rival media so that there is a storm over what he said. Then he talks the rules and regs down! How about Promoting the sport? You want the drivers to say good things about F1 – you start it! He has done marvellous things for F1 but has let it down over the last few years. Money, money, money…

  16. Apex Assassin
    25th May 2015, 14:43

    Def “random” considering Ricciardo is just as guilty… both of them should have gotten an equal penalty to Verstappen.

    And grid boys? Utter UNWANTED nonsense.

  17. So can we take it that the British GP is safe as long as Hamilton continues to race? You know it isn’t. This is just more of Bernie’s smokescreen to hide the fact that it’s his outrageous greed for money that’s killing the sport.

  18. The more I look at the onboard from Verstappen’s car, the more it looks to me like it’s on Grosjean: he put his car right in the middle of the track and slowed up way early.

    1. It looks that way because of the way track is, marks/lines on the asphalt etc. He actually did brake late.

  19. A major problem with both Seb and Nico is their almost total lack of the sportsmanship we’ve seen from other successful drivers in the past. While I’m certain that those previous drivers often only outwardly feigned that sportsmanship in their public comments, while fuming inside, they at least made the effort and understood how important it was.

    A case in point was Nico’s attitude after being handed the win at Monaco via a stupid mistake made by his own team, to a teammate. A bit of humility, fake or not, would have gone a long way in that situation. instead, Nico acted as if he’d actually won the battle, rather than have victory handed to him. It’s easy to imagine how differently someone like Stirling Moss, or Schumi, or Fangio would have handled it.

    1. When has Vettel lacked sportsmanship? At least with Rosberg, you could also argue the case of him celebrating after his “error” (which so many thought was deliberate) in qualifying last year.

    2. A major problem with both Seb and Nico is their almost total lack of the sportsmanship

      The former makes it a point to always thank his team no matter the result, and the latter was one of the first to congratulate Hamilton on the title last year. And Rosberg did that without any bitterness or resentment.

      If that’s not sportsmanship, then what is?

    3. Vauw that’s one biased view…

    4. I dunno, Senna and Schumacher, probably the two most famous and popular names in F1 and both were known for dubious sportsmanship. Far more than Vettel or Rosberg!

  20. It is very sad to note that F1 is considered just as an entertainment business and not a sport. This is supposed to be the pinnacle of the Racing Sport and nit just an entertainment show like WWF. I feel very sorry when people look at F1 that way.

    As far as Bernie’s comments are concerned, it is hard to agree to the fact that there are F1 fans in UK because of Lewis. UK has been the Mecca for all racing business and it carries the highest number of natural F1 fans who watch the sport beyond the reason of watching a fav driver. In fact I would not be surprised if the statistics say that there are more Jenson Fans in UK compared to Lewis.

    Regarding the Race in Monaco, While it is my dream to watch the Monaco race in person atleast once in my lifetime, I don’t think it provides any super exciting racing. Many times it is just a procession of cars disrupted on odd crash/event or Safety car. I believe it is great package as a race weekend to be in Monaco. The Sea, the Sun, the beauties and the race. But as a TV audience I don’t get to see an interesting race out there. Add to this the Camera angles and the TV coverage by FOM at Monaco is disappointing. If I were to choose between Monaco and Monza if one of them had to be dropped, I would choose to keep Monza and drop Monaco . Nothing much to think over that .

    1. I agree with your first 2 paragraphs. Agree with the general gist of 3rd, but why do we have to drop Monza or Monaco? Dropping Monza is the weirdest illogical thing really…
      For example, I miss Imola fiercely…

      Especially this comment: “sad to note that F1 is considered just as an entertainment business and not a sport” very true.
      When I watch press conferences before/after races, I personally always find Vettel the most interesting of them, along with Button and Raikkonen. They are fun to watch on and off-track. I am F1 fan for years, and I support the sport not the teams/drivers really. But if it wasn’t for Ferrari/Vettel this season, I would be watching without any zeal at all. And from me, that says something…
      Why the hell sportsmen have to commercialize themselves for the good of the sport? They are all part of a brand anyway because of their teams and have PR responsibilities. Problem is with how Formula 1 itself is promoted. They could use drivers for that, but drivers themselves don’t have the responsibility to do that. Especially on their own. They are participants, contestants, sportsmen. All the other drivers conduct themselves quite nicely, I don’t care what Hamilton does, his life outside of Formula One doesn’t interest me in the slightest. Same with the others.

      Some people here talked about how dividing and controversial Hamilton is and how that is what’s needed in F1. Now I think about WDCs on grid, Vettel must be the most controversial of them all. This is the guy everyone’s been arguing about for years now. It doesn’t get much controversial than that. This fake controversial teammate situation with Hamilton-Rosberg is that: fake. I guess British press doesn’t want people to think Hamilton is boring like they insinuated/thought for years with Vettel. This fake team drama bores me to tears. That is not what I wanna watch. I want to watch racing, which means nowadays I follow Vettel’s quali laps, his races etc. Since no one else is racing for wins. Not even Hamilton really…

      Real story is in Ferrari. They have a couple of drivers who have been getting along well for now. But why were they not together at driver’s parade this week as usual? That is the first time I can remember. Is something going on there? That would be fake team drama. But we have no idea on really what’s going on, because of lack of proper media coverage for people other than Hamilton’s immediate circle. On the other hand, Ferrari-Vettel relationship since 2008 was an interesting one. Investigate that! They were serious rivals! Half the tifosi disliked-maybe hated Vettel. Now people adore him. Look at Monaco podium ceremony and press conferences and interviews, Vettel is the high/focal point of each weekend. People have been irritated about his finger for years, but did anyone ask him if it had anything to do with the finger being almost sliced off? Why not talk about that, but talk down the most successful guy on grid labeling “arrogant”? I think he looks like the most down to earth among them, and he can do stand-up. Maybe he should actually. Now THAT would promote F1 like nothing else!

      If you are looking for controversy, Alonso is another guy. How many gates have been there now? Or how many times was it Alonso went for Raikkonen’s seat and in the end none of them benefitted from that…

      ->Does Ron Dennis hate Mr.Button?
      ->Do people realize Checo Perez is the same age as Bottas and Ricciardo? Or that Hulkenberg and Vettel are only 2 years older than them? Who are these people on weekends, how do they drive, what makes them different, can we really compare teammates with each other, why Raikkonen-Massa-Kubica were hailed as future WDCs while the guy who beat them all -Heidfeld- was forgotten? Is he the source of their bad luck? When was the last time Heidfeld won a race, did you see the first ever Formula E race, that is the curse of being Heidfeld. Why Trulli started a race in pole but finished dead last? What is the truth behind the phenomenon called “The Trulli Train”???
      Now those are some interesting questions…. There’s so much going on in F1, it really doesn’t need to create fake drama and actors.

  21. I think Bernie himself is bad for F1.
    Time for a new boss.
    Greed has overtaken Bernie.

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