Bernie WARNS Ferrari & Schumacher

[freud]

FINALLY... sane words coming out of F1 top man... Bernie Ecclestone has warned Ferrari not to repeat the Austria GP fiasco again.

"Ferrari would be ill advised to do such a thing in the future,” Ecclestone was quoted as saying in the Sun. "The only time I would condone it would be if the world championship hung on it. But Michael is 27 points clear. It was the way they did it that upset me. They could have performed it more elegantly or disguised it. But the way they carried it out insulted people. I am not surprised by the reaction. What happened wasn't good for Formula One but I don't see why the sport should be punished by an incident from one team. If they were to repeat it, that would not go down well with the fans - nor me. So many people want to see someone beat Schumacher but in Austria they were cheated out of that."


Though I still have a question.. can Bernie be trusted?

[alfasud]

So reading between the lines he is saying "next time you should disguise it - we don't want F1 to lose any money over this issue".

[SevenGrain]

If Bernie feels this way, then perhaps a rule banning team orders should be considered.

If not, Ferrari breaks no rules and Bernie's statement that it would "Not go down well with me" is an empty and hollow threat that he is incapable of backing up.

Can Bernie be trusted? Of course not...

[z2252314]

There will be a huge scandal if the FIA penalise Ferrari for their actions. According to the rules, they have done nothing wrong. Even Ron Dennis admitted that Ferrari behaved within the rules!

[Lee Janotta]

Two possible interpretations:

1. Bernie's doing damage control, trying to make it looking like the FIA and FOCA are actually taking a stand, hoping to avoid legal action and the wrath of the fans.

2. Even Bernie's ****ed off by Ferarri's audacity and Todt's completely reprehensible attitude, bordering on contempt of the fans. If anyone can afford to burn some bridges, it's Bernie.

[Valve Bounce]

I grudgingly agree that Ferrari did nothing wrong with their team orders. However, it is no good for the FIA or anyone related to it, including Bernie to guts-ache about it. We all (well 85% of us) were ashamed of the way Rubens was shoved aside. However, the point regarding team orders should be cleared up once and for all. Spell out that team orders within a team can be carried out. End of story. That way, no one need to pussy foot around the subject anymore or get upset when it happens, no matter how subtle it might be.

Valve[img]http://www.**************************/smilies/bouncy.gif[/img]

[Liz]

That's what Jacques said. Tell everybody at the beginning of the year that TGF has won the championship, and then just give him the damned trophy and get on with the racing.

What Ferrari have done wrong is brought the WWF1 into disrepute, which is certainly against regs, and made it impossible for anyone else to be disciplined for doing the same in any way shape or form -- since it is impossible to imagine anything more egregious than what Ferrari did -- until something is done about them.

Incidentally, I think what Bernie is saying is "Go back to doing what used to be called 'conspiracy theory' and let people guess if you are fixing the races, don't actually come out and say WE ARE FIXING RACES."

[calais]

Originally posted by z2252314
There will be a huge scandal if the FIA penalise Ferrari for their actions. According to the rules, they have done nothing wrong. Even Ron Dennis admitted that Ferrari behaved within the rules!

huge scandal???
i doubt it.
they have already created a huge scandal on their own accord

[Stephen Green]

We have to accept that as Ferrari enter the cars and not TGF or RB, they have the right to decide which of their drivers win or lose. I don't like it, the fans don't like it either, but it's a fact of life and there is very little we can do about it other than switch off our televisions. Even that will have little or no effect as the overal numbers will be minute compared to the global viewing figures.

What I do object to is Eccleslug telling Ferrari to do the self same thing in an underhanded manner, ie to bugger up Rubens pit stop or give him extra fuel etcetera. Eccleslug has one goal and that is to protect the viewing figures and television income money, which in turn means he retains his own income. Outwardly it appears he is condemning Ferrari, inwardly he is merely saying 'don't make it so obvious Jean Toad and Ross Brawn'.

I must say here that I am not a Ferrari nor Mickey the Shoe fan, but that they haven't done anything that hasn't been done before nor, that breaks the current rules within Formula 1.

[RussianFriend]

My interpretation is: " This time you are forgiven. Next time don't do it so obvious. Just disguise it better".

Ferrari will not get any serious punishment for Auestria. Alas!

[Jonny Apex]

Remember: team orders are nothing new.

Ferrari did it at Imola 82, only Pironi stuck two fingers up at them.

Likewise, Renault at Paul Ricard the same year, and Arnoux stuck two fingers up at them, too.

[Glen]

I do think that a telling-off from Bernie is takenseriously - remember last year when he reminded Michael that he wouldn't be WDC until the authorities said so. Sure, he can't make the same threat this time but it will be taken seriously nonetheless.

The need in Ferrari's eyes to switch things around by strategy is a small but significant burden on their race day operations, so they will pay a price, albeit small, for incurring Bernie's wrath.

[Stephen Green]

All Ferrari have on their mind at the moment is winning the WDC and Constructors Championships to help with their floatation from Fiat later this year. One can't help but wonder in these days of reductions in drivers salaries and sponsorship, how long Fiat can continue to pay the exorbitant salary that Mickey the Shoe enjoys? Not forgetting Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne and Jean Toad.

[Glen]

When (if) the day comes that the number two Ferrari driver finishes second virtually every time then it will be clear that a lesser driver could get them the WDC with the same car. As it is, this has never happened. I think that Ferrari definately need Schumacher to keep on winning so resoundingly. And provided they do win, the salary is no big deal.

[Stephen Green]

It is when you look at how much Fiat are losing each year!

[Glen]

They'd be losing even more without the number one F1 team. My point is that they might not enjoy that status without the very best personnel. Certainly it is far from certain that they would have WDC without Schumacher.

[Stephen Green]

It would be interesting to know just how many Fiats they sell as a result of running Ferrari F1.

[alfasud]

Originally posted by Glen
When (if) the day comes that the number two Ferrari driver finishes second virtually every time then it will be clear that a lesser driver could get them the WDC with the same car.

True, they would also need to give that number two driver a car that can finish virtually every time. But on current form (both race and qualifying), where would Rubens be in this years championship if his car had the same reliability as Michael's has had this year?

[Tristan]

Back to the question of "whether Bernie can be trusted", I would say that if he's got any business sense he will keep this pressure on Ferrari. I don't see it as Bernie being "a lying toad" or whatever, more that he is a very shrewd businessman. He HAS made F1 more of a mainstream sport and I'm sure anything that dents this hard faught position is going to be looked at very carefully by Bernie et al. We shall see if Ferrari repeat this.

[Liz]

Let me see if I understand this. There is a reprehensible "law" on the books that is ruining the sport of Formula One. Because people are legally allowed to behave in an immoral way that brings disrepute on the sport, we are supposed to just suck it up and say "That's the way it is"?

Boy am I glad you lot were not the Sixties generation or women would still be property, Blacks would still be in the back of the bus, and you'd all be fighting in Vietnam.

[Glen]

If the political process was responsive and fair then no-one need have died in Vietnam at all, never mind eventually succeeded in stopping the war!

[RT]

So Bernie is basically saying it's OK to fix the race as long as you're hypocritical about it.

I've said the decision to give Schumi the lead was logical, legal and necessary since all those points to cushion the current WDC lead may not be enough in case of an accident, etc (e.g. you-don't-have-enough-soldiers -until-you've-won-the-war kind of thing)

I also think the whole thing was extremely unpleasant and it did thoroughly stink.

The one redeeming value was that Luca and Jean and Ross had the guts to do it openly and in a way were upfront that Rubens had been faster.

And now Bernie is chirping in and this moral midget (I do mean it on moral terms....really) comes to say that it would be better to do it through pit stops, etc, etc. ("elegantly" I believe he said). What hypocrisy !!.

If all the indignant forumers thought if it was not possible to go lower than the Austria decision...well now you have Bernie.

And no, I guess I wouldn't buy a used car from the guy....

[J.McClane]

WOW a warnin' eh?
That will teach them.

[J.McClane]

The above post was in fact sarcasam.

[freud]

Originally posted by alfasud
So reading between the lines he is saying "next time you should disguise it - we don't want F1 to lose any money over this issue".

I see, so now the strategy is that Ruben's pitstop will be 15 seconds compared to Michael's 7 seconds. Some mechanic will be at loss of a tyre in the pitstop for Rubens or the fuel hose will get stuck... Great warning Mr. Ecclestone.. no wonder you are a genious!

After reading your posts, I think I had exactly the same intuition as most of you guys when I read the statement by Bernie. And I cant find better words than Alfasud's above.

So the game is all set. FIA, Max, Bernie, Ferrari and Michael have decided that following would be the agenda/plan to handle the current backlash of fans:

1. Same day as Bernie, Toad also issues an statement in which he admits that decision was wrong and had negative impact on fans. What timing! Bernie and Toad are working with perfect correlation to calm the f1 viewership.

2. NO POINTS will be taken off Ferrari & Schumacher on June 26th.

3. NO RACE BANS for Ferrari & Schumacher on June 26th.

4. Most probably a warning, a 'suspended' race ban and a fine(peanuts) would be imposed on Ferrari.

5. Race fixing is allowed but JUST TREAT FANS AS STUPID. AS IF THEY DONT REALIZE WHAT IS HAPPENING. Disguise it a little bit so that they dont have any proof to blame you.