Ecclestone Rules Out British GP and sues JYS! (merged)

[PaulSands]

From BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...ne/3742034.stm
Yet more sabre rattling (surely it must be falling to pieces from all the rattling) or the final death rattle?

[Heebeegeetee]

Just heard on Radio 4 that The Times this morning is reporting that the Brit GP will now definately not take place next year.

Bernie is apparently reported as saying that he has spent more time now discussing the Brit GP than any other, and for various reasons he has now ended negotiations.

Sir Jackie Stewart gave a short interview, basically saying it's not over yet.

He also says that Bernie has been paid for the Brit GP through to 2010.

[Super Tourer]

Becoming a total farce now, and more apparant by the day that a national event has just become a power struggle between two old foes.

Incredible.

[PeterJohnstone]

http://www.grandprixmagazine.com/petition/ardguest.php

The new petition to save the GP has been launched, please sign it and tell all of your friends !!

We must get this show on the road to save the GP

[Stephen Green]

As JYS says, Ecclestone has been paid by Octagon for the BGP until 2010 so surely anything BE could get from the BRDC for the next few years would have been a bonus. No one has picked up on this, least of all the national and international press and it's about time they (the press) started to make their voices heard in the loudest of ways to help save the BGP.

[Super Tourer]

Originally posted by Stephen Green
As JYS says, Ecclestone has been paid by Octagon for the BGP until 2010 so surely anything BE could get from the BRDC for the next few years would have been a bonus. No one has picked up on this, least of all the national and international press and it's about time they (the press) started to make their voices heard in the loudest of ways to help save the BGP.

Quite, Interpublic have already paid Bernie for NOT having to hold the race, now he want's more.

Apparently BE say he has "a country knocking his door down for a race who are prepared to invest to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into a state of the art circuit for F1 in the 21st century"

He adds " I can't make a sensible business case to turn them down in order to give the BRDC a two year deal at a significant discount"

Here lies the root of the problem BE (and the FIA) has got giddy with countries throwing money at F1, each one building a more elaborate venue to out do the other and become the new 'state of the art venue'.

Look at Bahrain, not only did the government spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the circuit, they also paid a massive fee to hold the race and picked up the tab for the shortfall in attendance.

If BE wants to talk about a 'sensible business case' then none of these new circuits are in any way viable, they are status symbols for 'emerging' countries' to promote themselves, they will never turn a profit or be used for more than a few days per year.

It's not beyond the wit of man to reason that when it has doen it's job for them, and the governments move onto the next big thing that will ingraciate themselves with the world at large, BE and F1 will not be given a second thought.

[PaulSands]

Not to be too mean but I'm sure once you reach a certain age your goals tend to be a lot more short-term

[ASCII Man]

That's not an excuse, solutions should be sought for the benefit of the sport in the long term, not short term solutions for some whiney old bat who's only trying to fill his own pockets...

[Stephen Green]

ST I agree but by then BE won't be around to see the mess that has been left due to his greed. I sincerely hope that the manufacturers and teams see sense and put pressure on BE to reconsider although I somehow doubt it. As you rightly say once the PR benefit of hosting a GP in these countries wears off, they will pull out and leave F1 as quickly as they entered it. Then will F1 come crawling back to their historic homes pleading for a race?

[Super Tourer]

To see a housing estate and retail park there instead....

[Super Tourer]

I would hope that the old stagers on the grid who are still racers at heart, like FW and RD, would make Bernie see sense.

Although they are immersed in the PR machine as much as anyone, even they know you don't REALLY need a stainless steel pit complex with an IT room, meeting room, kitchen/showers and lounge per garage - you need 4 walls and power point.

Having a smoked glass lounge above the garage doesn't make the cars go any faster, or the racing any better.

We need some urgent 'thinking back to our roots' amongst some of the teams IMO.

[ss_collins]

At silverstone? no chance

[DougK]

Answer is simple the UK based teams should just say enough is enough and tell BE where to go. If I were them I would threaten to refuse my entry to the series until a sensible solution is found. The Teams have the power - no teams no F1 at all!

[ralf fan]

Bernie is such a
first he says no British GP... then its on again giving hope to millions before saying no British GP.... thatgs like a daggar in the heart of millions.... twice

[fosheti]

The thing is the teams will not stand up and fight for the grand prix at silverstone, for the simple reason they will not bite the hand that feeds them.
Sadly it seems that some team owners have forgotten there roots and what it was like to strugle on the way up, F1 has made them very wealthy and that wealth can be contributed mostly to bernies promotion package.
The teams will only start bickering amongst themselves and start making a noise when it hits them, in there pockets when sponsors start to leave because there products are not being marketed in the areas of the world they wish.

[Hungary 89]

If his motivation was to force through upgrades to the Silverstone circuit to make it a state of the art fecility befitting a country which was one of the founding fathers (and some say spiritual home) of the sport I could help but support him. However I have been watching this sport for too long to believe that Eccelstone doesn't have an ulterior motive

[Stephen Green]

The ulterior motive is (I believe) to destroy the BRDC

[R]

Originally posted by Heebeegeetee
He also says that Bernie has been paid for the Brit GP through to 2010.

Originally posted by Super Tourer
Interpublic have already paid Bernie for NOT having to hold the race

Isn't this called fraud?

[Asa]

Interpublic paid to get out of the contract they had with Bernie.
Not to stop the British GP from being held. That's the money JYS is talking about.

I guess Bernie's case is that he has 17 countries paying him $10 million and then Britain is asking to pay less because of their traditional status.

If the teams fight for the British GP then Bernie will tell them they are going to get a smaller pay check cos another country is willing to pay more for the show.

[Stephen Green]

In my dictionery it's called GREED

[Super Tourer]

Originally posted by R
Isn't this called fraud?

It's a complicated story...

In a nutshell Interpublic bought the old BHL circuits and the rights to hold the British GP, they then leased Silverstone from the BRDC for IIRC £4M per year.

Interpublic wanted out of motorsport and to cut their losses, they sold their circuits to Jonathan Palmer at an alleged knock down price , certainly a fraction of what they paid for them.

They then decided to pay BE to tear up their contract to promote the British GP, I think it was about £90M, which was substantially less than the sost of hosting the race for the duration of their contract. I beleive they also paid the BRDC off for the remainder of their lease.

This left £90M in the kitty for Bernie and the race free to be sold to another promoter, but being the promoter of a Grand Prix is a fast way to lose money virtually all the money (TV rights/Advertising/Hospitality) from the event goes to BE/FOM, leaving only the tickets sales for the promoter - hence the current predicament.

The contrast is that China, Bahrain, etc are not interested in making the race pay, so they are happy to pay Bernie $40M to hold the race and agree to a 10% rise in fees per year.

Competing with that is impossible.

[Stephen Green]

very eloquently put sir!

[chezza]

So hes had $90M i don't know how many GP's that was to get out of but if you divide $90M buy 7 (the amount of GP's they're arguing about at the moment) thats $12.85M for each GP...thats more than enough money and anything the BRDC is willing to give Bernie he should consider a bonus. If the others are paying $10M then he's had his money and should now be quiet and let Silverstone get one with orgainisng the GP.

[Mike_Wooshy]

well im not watching f1 again have fun watching formula boring and greed o/.

[Super Tourer]

Originally posted by chezza
So hes had $90M i don't know how many GP's that was to get out of but if you divide $90M buy 7 (the amount of GP's they're arguing about at the moment) thats $12.85M for each GP...thats more than enough money and anything the BRDC is willing to give Bernie he should consider a bonus. If the others are paying $10M then he's had his money and should now be quiet and let Silverstone get one with orgainisng the GP.

It was probably up to 2008, I think most of the contracts that were signed up before the new venues came on board end around then, this ties in with the end of the Concorde Agreement, after which time the rules, format and even existence of F1 in it's current guise are uncertain. But this is another whole issue.

BE considers the BRDC have a substantial discount as it is, he is basing this on the fact that he can achieve $30M to $40M per race from the emerging countries and add a 10% increase per year for good measure.

The BRDC argues this is hardly a fair comparison, but while there are govenments with blank cheques sitting on their desks, BE will always quote 'market forces' and 'business cases'. The viablity of this gravy train in the medium term has to be questionable, but as often mentioned, BE is interested in here and now and where the best current deal can be done.

It may well be that the London GP scenario raises it's head again, it's rumoured that BE has had Ron Walker's people look over the potential 'circuit' to assess viablity for a street race.

Undoubtedly taking the race to London would unlock a golden chest of different funding from various goverment quango's, the London authority and tourism bodies, that's before we consider the prospect of holding the race under the nose of possible city investors.