{"id":290811,"date":"2023-09-22T00:35:04","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T00:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/?p=290811"},"modified":"2023-09-22T00:35:04","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T00:35:04","slug":"bernie-ecclestone-the-new-races-in-america-are-mad-not-pure-f1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/racing\/f1\/bernie-ecclestone-the-new-races-in-america-are-mad-not-pure-f1\/","title":{"rendered":"Bernie Ecclestone: The new races in America are mad, not pure F1"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>POLE POSITION: &#8216;The new races in America are mad, not pure Formula One. They follow Netflix too much&#8217;: Bernie Ecclestone&#8217;s still going strong at 92&#8230; and ex-F1 supremo is as outspoken as ever!<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Bernie Ecclestone says there should be 18 prestigious races on the F1 calendar<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>He also claims reigning world champion Max Verstappen is &#8216;best driver ever&#8217;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We spoke to Bernie Ecclestone packing for his next trip. He was en route from Ibiza to the place he now calls home, Gstaad, Switzerland.<\/p>\n<p>London in many ways is still his truest habitat, and always will be, and he\u2019ll be back, but he is limited for tax reasons to 90 days a year on the terra firma where he made his name and his fortune, and created modern Formula One.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I thought the only time I\u2019d leave would be in a coffin,\u2019 says Ecclestone, 93 next month, who moved away on a semi- permanent basis during Covid. He is also conscious of where his 46-year-old Brazilian wife Fabiana wants to be, along with their son Ace, Alexander Charles Ecclestone, aged three. The little one is fluent in English and Portuguese, and is learning German.<\/p>\n<p>I ask if we can do a bit of work \u2014 to discuss Formula One, a tour d\u2019horizon of the sport he was involved in all his life. \u2018Whatever you want,\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n<p>On owners Liberty Media: \u2018My opinion is that 18 races is enough. We did 20 and I often thought that that was a bit too much. Because you have to think of the teams. Before long, they will have to employ double staff. With 22 or 23 races there will be too many divorces. It is a matter of when.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/22\/00\/75708815-0-image-a-26_1695338231054.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Bernie Ecclestone says there should be 18 prestigious races on the F1 calendar<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/22\/00\/75709853-12547371-image-a-41_1695340072880.jpg\" height=\"355\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Former F1 supremo\u00a0Ecclestone has voiced concerns about the races in America<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/22\/00\/75708769-0-image-a-25_1695338162246.jpg\" height=\"439\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Stars Tom Cruise and Shakira on the starting grid at the\u00a0Miami Grand Prix this year<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I can understand the commercial people because they can say they are signing long-time agreements and that apparently makes the company they work for a lot more money. They can say they have 10-year contracts or whatever. So what they are doing is 100 per cent right for them at the moment commercially.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018But without any shadow of a doubt I would stick to 18 prestigious races. That\u2019s because we don\u2019t know, however long-term the contracts are on paper. We don\u2019t know whether they will suddenly decide that it isn\u2019t working too well and stop.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Singapore were about to stop. They phoned me and asked me what I thought. I said they should see how it all works out but don\u2019t stop now. I moved it from 18 to 20. I don\u2019t want to make excuses for myself, but that was at a time we were moving it out of Europe to the rest of the world.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>On his successor but one, Stefano Domenicali: \u2018Stefano called me when he got the job. I told him that when I was running it as chief executive that I made the calls. Nobody from CVC (the private equity firm who owned F1) ever complained about that \u2014 they let me get on with what I thought was best at the time. I don\u2019t know what Stefano\u2019s position is. I think he is a little bit more aware of what the people in America think (F1 being owned by US conglomerate Liberty Media).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I think you can see that with the races in America that they are doing \u2014 which I think is completely mad. The one in Miami \u2014 the way they ran that was mad, trying to be American rather than the way I did it, which was trying to be pure Formula One as it was, rather than as it could be.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Maybe they are completely right; maybe I was wrong trying to keep it more Formula One. I watch every practice session and every race and I look and I think, \u201cMy God are we trying to show Formula One or are we trying to show other things?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Netflix has captured them a little bit and they follow that a bit too much. Netflix is in the entertainment business as long as it suits them. It\u2019s not like our old broadcasters who have been with us for ever.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>On the best driver he has seen: \u2018Max is the best driver ever. No doubts. I used to say Alain Prost. Now I would say Max. He\u2019s the greatest. He is brightest with regards to getting the best out of the car. He doesn\u2019t muck around. He gets right on the programme. In my list he is above Lewis Hamilton.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Lewis is obviously super-super bright, super-super talented. Lewis understands people and gets the best out of them, whereas Max gets the best out of the car. He\u2019s very different from Max. When Lewis stops racing, he can get into a different world \u2014 entertainment or whatever \u2014 but that won\u2019t be the way Max could go.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I\u2019ll tell you Max is one of us. In our sphere of Formula One nobody is like Lewis, nobody is. I think in the early days he was a bit different from other people. At school, I was a bit under-sized, so it is a bit different, too. As it was with Lewis. He had his dad\u2019s support.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/22\/00\/75709149-0-image-a-27_1695338530264.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Ecclestone claims reigning world champion\u00a0Max Verstappen (above) is the &#8216;best driver ever&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>\u2018When you are a little undersized, or whatever, you have to have a bit to look after yourself. You have to be a fighter, perhaps. You see that a lot in business generally.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>On Lewis Hamilton\u2019s Mercedes team-mate George Russell: \u2018I can\u2019t make up my mind about him. I like him. He is super-talented.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It is a matter of what he is prepared to do to win. He was hoping Carlos (Sainz) would run out of road at the last race. He was pushing very, very hard. I don\u2019t think he thinks his race through, something Lewis does do.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018If I were a team owner, I think I\u2019d get hold of the Australian kid (McLaren\u2019s Oscar Piastri). He\u2019s very good. But Max is the best I have ever seen.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/formulaone\/article-12547371\/POLE-POSITION-new-races-America-mad-not-pure-Formula-One-follow-Netflix-Bernie-Ecclestones-going-strong-92-ex-F1-supremo-outspoken-ever.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>POLE POSITION: &#8216;The new races in America are mad, not pure Formula One. They follow Netflix too much&#8217;: Bernie Ecclestone&#8217;s still going strong at 92&#8230; and ex-F1 supremo is as outspoken as ever! Bernie Ecclestone says there should be 18 prestigious races on the F1 calendar He also claims reigning world champion Max Verstappen is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290810,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bernie Ecclestone: The new races in America are mad, not pure F1 - Sports Life Tale<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/racing\/f1\/bernie-ecclestone-the-new-races-in-america-are-mad-not-pure-f1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bernie Ecclestone: The new races in America are mad, not pure F1 - Sports Life Tale\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"POLE POSITION: &#8216;The new races in America are mad, not pure Formula One. 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