Ecclestone: F1 doesn't need 'big changes'
Bernie Ecclestone has urged F1's new bosses to resist making radical changes.
"The last few races were like Formula 1 should be," said the sport's former supremo. "If it stays like that then I see no reason why it can't be as popular as it used to be."
Liberty Media took over from 88-year-old Ecclestone in 2017, and is now looking to implement big changes for 2021.
But Ecclestone told Auto Motor und Sport: "I see no reason for big changes. If so, then they should go back to naturally aspired engines. But there's no courage for that."
Actually, Liberty plans to introduce a budget cap, and further cut costs by limiting the teams' technical freedoms.
"We don't need a budget cap," Ecclestone insists. "If the technical regulations are well written, there's no reason for that."
As for limiting freedoms, Ecclestone insisted that "technical competition is the DNA of Formula 1. If we lose that, we lose Formula 1. If you cannot afford Formula 1, you should stay at home," he added.
The Briton is also opposed to the continuing expansion of the F1 calendar. There are 21 races in 2019, 22 in 2020, and there could be 24 or 25 in 2021.
"Definitely too many," Ecclestone said. "16 is enough. The more races there are, the more the product is devalued.
"If there were 16 races, the organisers would have to pay more, but they would. Because their event would be all the more exclusive."
What Ecclestone does support is the reduction in driver penalties for on-track clashes.
"Let them race! If you stop them, they are no longer racing drivers," he said. "I think the stewards relaxed a bit recently, but they could relax even more."
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I often read very anti-Bernie comments and sentiments.
People love hating Bernie for being outspoken.
It would be interesting to see how many of his ideas contained in this article could be coherently, logically argued against?
I pretty much agree with everything he said.
I'm not well versed with Mr. Ecclestone but read numerous negative comments about him however, like Mr. Saivil noted, Bernie's comments above appear practical.
OK, he made a vast amount of money out of F1, but here is no-one in F1 nowadays who has the experience that Bernie had. He was a former highly successful team owner who knew all the problems involved in running a team, he knew all the main F1 teams intimately, the personalities involved, he 'knew where all the bodies were buried', and all that experience enabled him to get agreements between the teams. If a team was in trouble, he was able to negotiate purchases on favourable terms, as he did with Tyrrell, and if a team folded he made sure that mechanics and staff were placed with other teams. He always spoke to the point, rather than spouting 'Corporate' BS. And you always had the feeling that he was a motor racing enthusiast at bottom. Had Niki Lauda lived, he would have been the ideal no-bs 'insider' successor to Bernie if he'd wanted the job. The current US corporate 'outsiders' in charge of F1 are now discovering just how difficult it is to get agreement firstly between the manufacturers, then between all the teams, and then between the manufacturers, the teams and themselves, about the next set of F1 regulations. And as a result they may already be regretting easing Ecclestone out of his job - after all, he had some forty years of experience of making deals between some of the most aggressive and competitive personalities in F1.