F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone has been "plunged into a row" over whether he described F1, which he has run for nearly 40 years, as "crap," according to Kevin Eason of the LONDON TIMES. Ecclestone is "famous for not mincing his words but they were reverberating in the paddock" after Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix. F1 majority shareholder CVC Capital Partners Chair Donald Mackenzie was in Austria for the race accompanied by F1 Board of Directors Chair Peter Brabeck-Letmathe. F1 "has been deluged by a torrent of negative publicity of late" and having Ecclestone criticize his own business "will be seen by many as a step too far." The AFP published an interview with Ecclestone that quoted him saying, "I was talking to some engineers the other day and I told them that I was always pretty good at selling used cars and I still am. But I told them they have given me a crap product to sell. All people want is to be entertained. We are, first and foremost, an entertainment company. But when Lewis starts a race, we already know he will win by 20 seconds." By Saturday, Ecclestone was "rowing back." He said, "The problem is not the people who are winning, it is the people who are not competing with them. We need to have a very, very good look at all our sporting regulations" (LONDON TIMES, 6/20).
SIMPLER RULES: REUTERS' Alan Baldwin reported Ecclestone said that the sport "needs simpler rules to make it easier for fans to understand." His comments came after "grid penalties made a muddle of Saturday's Austrian Grand Prix qualifying." Ecclestone: "Don't go over the white line, don't do this, don't do that, if you change your engine you go back 20 places ... They (the fans) don't understand." Ecclestone said the main problem was the "complex V6 turbo hybrid power unit and a rule allowing drivers only four engines for the season" (REUTERS, 6/21).
