Bernie Ecclestone concerned he will be forced out F1

[Furinkazen]

Over long running bribery claims. Thoughts?

 

[LewyOs]

I would comment but Bernie paid me not to...

 

[gogatrs]

Can't wait for TheF1Slate's response to this.

 

[Samus]

In all seriousness would anyone care? As long as his daughter doesn't take over I'm really not too fussed.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

He said they would only force him out if he was behind bars, which wouldn't be a bad place for him to go after the Sky deal.

 

[LancerEvo7]

Can't wait for TheF1Slate's response to this.

This. 👍

 

[RTSolvalou]

It's the way he would have wanted to go.

 

[Northstar]

I don't think he would be around much longer even without the bribery thing. The dude is 82 after all and only The Rolling Stones know the secret of immortality.

 

[RTSolvalou]

There was also some contract clause thing about Mercedes having to leave the sport if he was convicted (Mercedes will end any business dealings with persons or entities convicted of crime/fraud or something), but I can't see them following through on it.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

In all seriousness would anyone care?

Uh, pretyy much everyone.

See, CVC is steadily rolling back their investment in Formula 1. I believe they have sold off bits and pieces here are there to the point where they own just 40% of the sport. And while they still control the largest portion of the sport, they don't control a majority. If they were to force Ecclestone out of his position, the power vaccuum that it would create would likely trigger a war between factions trying to gain total control of the sport. It would be a political crisis to make the FISA-FOCA dispute of 1982 ans the threat of a breakaway series in 2009 look like arguments between toddlers.

He said they would only force him out if he was behind bars, which wouldn't be a bad place for him to go after the Sky deal.

Except that his hands were completely tied by the BBC. Ecclestone fielded a pretty serious offer from Channel 4, but he couldn't do anything about it unless the BBC totally relinquished control over the broadcast rights. FOM were actually getting paid the same amount in 2012 as they were in 2011; the only difference was where the money was coming from. The BBC were the ones who made a profit on that, because they were the ones spending less money.