F1 ownership - Bernie & car makers?

[Super Tourer]

Now that the Kirch empire is crumbling their stake in F1 will be for sale. It is very likely that whoever buys it will get it for a fraction of the price that Kirch paid Bernie for it.

This makes for a perfect win, win situation for Bernie as its is believed that Fiat, Renault, Mercedes & BMW are looking at potentially buying the stake. This is great news for Bernie as would remove the risk of the manufacturers forming a break away series and diluting F1.

If they don't choose to buy Kirch's stake - then Bernie can simply buy it back for substantially less than he received for it - knowing that the car makes will remain in F1 , with the pay TV deal that Kirch was proposing (and they were against)removed.

As it said in one of the Sunday papers - you could get all the people that have come off better in a deal against Bernie - into a phonebox.......

[alesi95]

I questioned the whole selling out to Kirch.
Its like Bernie realized he was getting on a bit and passed the responsibility on. Very un-Ecclestone like. ("If I make any plans to die I'll tell you about it." Ecclestone in 2000.)
But now I realize its a win win situation for Bernie and talk of this Manufacturers break-away series can be stopped.

[f1manoz]

It must either be Bernie or the car manufacturers that buy back the Kirch stake. Therefore, the sport will again have that stability that has been missing since the Kirch deal considering all the rumour and innuendo surrounding the breakaway series.

The whole deal was sour as soon as pen was put to paper.

[Maxmil]

Originally posted by f1manoz
It must either be Bernie or the car manufacturers that buy back the Kirch stake. Therefore, the sport will again have that stability that has been missing since the Kirch deal considering all the rumour and innuendo surrounding the breakaway series.

The whole deal was sour as soon as pen was put to paper.

I think it makes a world of difference who acquires the SLEC shares from Kirch. If Bernie gets them, everything moves back to where it was "ante Bellum" which is not going to be satisfactory to the car manufacturers. Their stated goal is that they want a larger share of the TV revenues, and this requires either share ownership, or, a deal with the owner. If Bernie acquires the shares and will negotiate a new deal which is satisfactory to the manufacturers, all's well and good; if not, then I think the breakaway series is a real possibility. I also believe the negotiations will be very tough, because the manufacturers' unstated goal is to phase out Bernie before he dies in harness which would be a real trauma for F1 and their interests.