THINGS GET DICEY FOR BERNIE'S GREED CIRCUS.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

Detroit. Bernie Ecclestone, the grand supremo of Formula 1, is in a quandary. The sport has grown stale, yet again. I say "yet again" because the sport has basically been on a roller coaster of staleness for going on at least a couple of decades now. With the Mercedes team dominating the sport like the Red Bull team did a few years ago and Ferrari before that, Ecclestone is more than a little concerned, because despite the gaudy global viewing numbers, Ecclestone knows that the sport has lost its luster, and that despite its stature as the world's most glamorous form of motor racing, the writing is on the wall that the "buzz" is no longer there for F1. And he is blaming Mercedes and its domination of the sport as the leading culprit for F1's declining status.

But then again only Bernie could make the distinction between the domination by Mercedes and previous eras. Ecclestone suggested to the German newspaper Die Welt that the current dominance by Mercedes was the sport's biggest issue, saying, "It is basically nothing new because we've seen it before with Ferrari. But it was different, actually. Mercedes' domination is now so overwhelming that there is hardly a chance for anyone else. Ferrari had a different feeling, a different presence. That is not to say that Mercedes has done anything wrong, but it is not good for the sport. It makes it boring. Their dominance is so great that many people watch the start of a grand prix and then switch off the television."

First of all, yes, I'm happy to admit that I am one of those people who often tunes in for the start of a Grand Prix and then checks back at the finish to see who wins. Why? Because whoever leads into the first corner inevitably wins the race 99 percent of the time. The rest is a monument to tedium akin to watching paint dry, with the added bonus of listening to the announcing team strain to make the whole charade seem exciting. So he does have a point there. But wow, Bernie. Really? I'm sure Mercedes loves hearing that its dominance is somehow worse for the sport than when other teams dominated.  This after the German manufacturer has dumped upwards of a billion and a half dollars into F1 over the last four years. Think about that for a moment.

Although I fail to see the distinction between Ferrari dominance and Mercedes dominance, in Bernie's twisted mercenary mind it all makes perfect sense and in turn presents a timely excuse to introduce an independent engine supplier to the proceedings asap. I get where Bernie is coming from, at least to a certain extent. After all, his fondest memories of F1 (he's not alone in this) were forged in the Ford-Cosworth DFV era, when multiple teams had access to a wonderful sounding engine that made prodigious amounts of horsepower and didn't break. That the grids were made up of Ford-Cosworth runners and Ferrari seemed okay back then. But now? Well, to say the sport is different is an understatement.

Thanks to Bernie, the sport has become a sanitized facsimile of what it once was. With the regimented weekend schedules, the orchestrated sameness of the pit garages and colorless "new" tracks paid for by governments and states that should know better, the sport is slowly but surely losing touch with its history. Add in stupefying amounts of technology for technology's sake and even more ludicrous amounts of money spent by manufacturers to achieve a technical advantage and the whole thing adds up to a greed circus of unimaginable proportion. And Bernie insists on running headfirst into this fray, courting the idea of a new independent engine, which goes against everything the manufacturers stand for? What a mess.

The manufacturers, predictably, are none too impressed with Bernie's latest thought balloon and is it any wonder why? They (Mercedes, Renault, Honda, Ferrari) collectively spent well over a billion dollars over the last three years to develop new turbocharged engines - responding to rules that Bernie insisted upon let's not forget and that he now loathes because the F1 engines don't sound good - and now Bernie not only wants to court an independent engine supplier, but he wants to give the new engine package horsepower and cost advantages so that the lesser teams at least have a fighting chance? I said "none too impressed" earlier, but who's kidding whom here? The manufacturers are livid.

Look, F1 has been about the team with a winning engine/chassis combination for decades. Add the best driver-of-the-moment to that equation and dominance ensues. There have been long periods of domination in F1 because of this, the most recent being (in order) Ferrari, Renault and now Mercedes. But at the same time it's hard to have sympathy for the manufacturers at this juncture because they chose of their own volition to play with a carpetbagging mercenary who likes to change his mind on a whim, especially when it involves other people's money.

As I said last week, everyone is complicit with the dismal state of F1. The manufacturers are especially guilty for trying to orchestrate control over the rules to their benefit and for spending obscene amounts of money and shoving incredibly expensive technology down people's throats with no appreciable benefit to anyone. The hosting venues for the races are equally guilty for allowing Ecclestone, the King of the Carpetbaggers, to hold them up for offensive amounts of money for the "privilege" of hosting an F1 race, knowing full well that there's a real chance that Bernie will become bored with the venue and move on to the next flavor du jour, leaving them on the hook for millions (see Circuit of The Americas and the imminent demise of the U.S. Grand Prix). And of course the drivers, who, though they know they're participating in a sport with an ever-diminishing rate of return, refuse to do anything or say anything that might offend anyone.

But as always, Bernie Ecclestone deserves the most blame. He created this mess and nurtured the F1 greed circus over decades. And if the participating automobile manufacturers had half a brain, they'd collectively walk away and leave Bernie to pursue his "independent engine manufacturer" thought balloon on his own.

But reality suggests that the manufacturers won't do that. They seem to be quite content dealing with Ecclestone, the shit disturber they know, rather than brace for an unknown yet possibly more rational future with someone they don't know.

And that's the High-Octane Truth for this week.

Editor's Note: For more racing news and photos, check out "The Line." -WG 

Check out the latest episode of The High-Octane Truth on AutoextremistTV below. -WG

Editor's Note: Many of you have seen Peter's references over the years to the Hydrogen Electric Racing Federation (HERF), which he launched in 2007. For those of you who weren't following AE at the time, you can read two of HERF's press releases here and here. And for even more details (including a link to Peter's announcement speech), check out the HERF entry on Wikipedia here. -WG

Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD
(Courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)
Anderstorp, Sweden, June 17, 1973. Ronnie Peterson (No. 2 John Player Team Lotus/Lotus 72E-Ford Cosworth DFV) leads Emerson Fittipaldi (No. 1 John Player Team Lotus/Lotus 72E-Ford Cosworth DFV) and Jackie Stewart (No. 5 Elf Team Tyrrell/Tyrrell 006 Ford Cosworth DFV) in the first-ever Swedish Grand Prix at the Scandinavian Raceway. Peterson led the whole way but encountered a slowly deflating tire on the very last lap of the race, which allowed Denny Hulme (No. 7 Yardley Team McLaren/Mclaren M23 Ford Cosworth DFV) to slip past for the win. Peterson held second and Francois Cevert (No. 6 Elf Team Tyrrell/Tyrrell 006 Ford Cosworth DFV) finished third. Watch a really cool video here.

Publisher's Note: Like these Ford racing photos? Check out www.fordimages.com. Be forewarned, however, because you won't be able to go there and not order something. - PMD