Just thinking about this, is Bernie not on trial for bribing someone, when the recipient was already found guilty of accepting a bribe - and jailed? I really don't see how Bernie can escape that, but I'm sure he will!
oh it's simple, he's very very rich. on a side note, I'm glad to see he's admitted what the most cynical of us (or, the most realistic of us, depending on your view) already knew. Nothing has changed.
it's a civil case rather than a criminal one (that comes later in Germany), and I guess the plaintiff didn't prove they lost out, although considering how awash with money the controllers of F1 are, I'm surprised.
On the subject of Ecclestone and whether he is the right person to lead F1, apart from all the financial shenanigans and revenue sapping greed of course, there is another angle, another reason he should go. There's an interesting article on Autosport about how the way people want to watch F1 is changing. The trouble is that Bernie has got where he is by knowing how to market F1 on TV, and how to make a lot of money as a result. But this is the 21st century and TV is simply not the only medium anymore. This is the world of video streaming, YouTube etc. There are any number of devices people can use to watch sport. And Bernie is simply too out of touch to realise this, he only understands TV coverage, and treats all these other avenues as the enemy. It's not unlike the reaction of the music industry to online downloads, when they spent all their energy and money trying to shut down sites like Napster when instead they should have realised the potential and got involved in online technology. Unless F1 embraces it, falling TV audiences and revenues will kill them. http://plus.autosport.com/premium/feature/5885/time-for-f1-to-embrace-alternative-media/
ahh yeah I forgot about the other case. So the judge for this case has pretty much wrote the footnote for that case.
Bernie (or rather his lawyers) will have their work cut out in the German court then, seeing as he's effectively already been found guilty. No doubt he'll squirm his way out somehow though. No idea why the teams are so loyal to him, any good he's done was well over five years ago now, if not more depending on how you argue it.
He shouldn't be able to squirm he was out, what with the German being convicted of accepting a bribe and the English judge saying that he paid a bribe etc. But he has too much money so he will walk. As for the teams, well he has info on all of them. I bet he knows every rule each of them has and are currently braking. It would be so easy for him to 'anonymously' tip off the FIA. Teams have way too much to lose! Judging by Christian Horners statements Red Bull seems to have most to lose!
I doubt Horner would want all that arse-licking to have been in vain. He has tied his colours very conspicuously to Bernie's mast; I can't help thinking that this was rather short-sighted unless he believes he really has a chance at taking over the reins from Ecclestone, as Bernie has suggested.
I think that was Bernie just being facetious, rather than an earnest response! Would much rather we had a businessman take over (someone who won't show bias towards certain teams!), but someone who's prepared to realise his limited knowledge and employ some decent advisers. Ideally the businessmen would then maximise the revenue streams F1 generates, without diluting the product to achieve that. Ideally passing a healthy amount of said revenue onto the teams!
I doubt he was being earnest! Facetious, dissembling or disingenuous, maybe, but I wondered whether Horner had perhaps been seduced by any of that because, otherwise, it strikes me as less than shrewd to ally oneself so intimately and publicly to Ecclestone when Bernie cannot possibly have much longer left in charge. I don't believe it would be out of sincere loyalty on Horner's part; wouldn't it have been politic to have kept his options more open?
Bernie could be out in days? http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/26289470 CVC did say they would kick him out if found guilty of bribery. So will they stand to their word? Also Bernie was going to buy the nurburgring in a way to sweeten the deal. He has now pulled of that deal? What do you reckon the significance of this is?
Bernie is looking at the option of selling his and CVS's stake in F1... (While he can get a good price before getting convicted.) http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ecclestone-willing-sell-f1-stake-along-cvc-exit-1440554
I'm surprised that CVC didn't stick to their word then. The judge at the civil case said the paid a bribe, and CVC said they'd kick him out if he was found to have paid a bribe. Then again, they're a big business, and big businesses like using false promises
So the trial started, his defence is he was blackmailed into bribing him. Although pretty much everyone knows he's guilty, how much is Paddy power offering for an acquittal, it must be odds on.
