Ecclestone: FIA helped Ferrari to win
Oct.28 - Former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone who turned 87 today, has admitted he, the FIA and rival teams would often "help" Ferrari to be more successful in formula one.
"F1 is Ferrari, and Ferrari is F1," the Briton, told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
After the Austin stewards controversy, Max Verstappen's father Jos furiously suggested on Twitter that the FIA should stand for 'Ferrari International Assistance'.
When asked about that charge, Ecclestone admitted: "Helping Ferrari has always been the smartest thing to do. It was always done through the technical regulations.
"The teams are important to F1, but Ferrari is more than that. So many things have been done over the years that have helped Ferrari to win," he added.
Asked if current F1 race director Charlie Whiting may still be biased, Ecclestone said: "No, Charlie has always done what he has to do.
"But Max (Mosley) has often helped Ferrari, and I too wanted them to win. There can be a season won by others, but even the other teams have an interest in challenging a competitive Ferrari," he insisted.
"It's one thing to win against Sauber and quite another to win against a red car."
Asked if Ferrari has had help to suddenly be so competitive in 2017, Ecclestone said that because he is no longer in charge, he cannot be sure.
"But certainly at one point they had help with this engine," Ecclestone charged.
"It's the same for Mercedes as it is for the others -- a world championship win against Ferrari is always worth more.
"If Mercedes decided to transfer technology to Maranello, I say it was a good move," he said. "What is certain is that this friendly situation between the two teams is the best thing for Mercedes.
"It means Red Bull did not have the most powerful engines and Ferrari was competitive enough to be a credible rival to beat," Ecclestone added.
Mercedes has utterly dominated F1 throughout the 'power unit' era, and Ecclestone said that's because the German team got a head-start with its turbo V6 design.
"At the key time, Ross Brawn was in the engine group deciding the rules and he knew exactly what was going on," Ecclestone. "Not because he was a good engineer, but because he was with Ferrari.
"Then he went to Mercedes and took that info with him."
Meanwhile, Ecclestone said he did not enjoy the Indy 500-style driver introductions organised a week ago by F1's new owners Liberty Media for Austin.
"Maybe it was great for the Americans, but not for F1," he said.
"I built a five star restaurant and they are turning it into McDonald's," Ecclestone added.
"At one point I saw drivers dressed in pink. If I had anything to do with it, I would have told them to go back and dress appropriately," he said.
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He has absolut right in the matters he write about here
We all knew this. "The Red Car Rule". The FIA giving unconditional support to FIArrari (excuse me! Ferrari). Biased stewards. Technological systems banned in favour of the Maranello team. Sporting regulations changed at Ferrari's will. Drivers penalized and/or teams disqualified in favor of the Prancing Horse. You name it. The list is INMENSE. Intrestingly enough, the only ones who are totally "unaware" of such favoritism are the tifosi themselves. They have always asured and believed their beloved team has not only NOT received support from the FIA, but instead has been object of a witch hunt from F1's governing body, always being extremely hard on them and their drivers. Well, I'm sure the FIA was "extremely tough" on Raikkonen at the USGP. Maybe if the FIA was not as tough as the tifosi say, it could have even disqualified Hamilton and stripped him off his points advantage in order to make this championship conclussion "more competitive".
I find it offensive to both teams and fans that this has happened the sport is supposed to be fair for all teams with the regulations imposed on the them , but it seems not no wonder Ferrari gave Mercedes a good run beginning of the season, but hey I'm sure Mercedes's blue prints and specs for next year will help Farrari win both Constructors and driver Championship over the next decade ,why spend millions on R&D when you can just ask the FIA for them.I'm looking forward to Christian Horner' s take on things when he finds out where red bulls designs and specs for next years car has ended up wasn't Flavio Briatore kicked out the sport for a similar issue
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