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Formula 1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone Warns Against Tame Racing, Calls For Walls

F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone has called on the sport to abandon its "overbearing health and safety culture and warned superstar drivers that they were in danger of offering fans tame racing," according to Kevin Eason of the LONDON TIMES. Ecclestone "dipped his toe in hazardous waters in the build up to this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix by pining for a past in which danger was an essential element of the sport." Crashes and "daring overtaking moves are the lifeblood of F1, Ecclestone believes," but he said that the FIA "seems to introduce a new rule at every grand prix that curbs the racing instincts of many drivers" -- often in collusion with the stars on the grid. He said, "In [the old] days -- and it can’t happen again -- people would come to a race and think somebody could get killed. [They would think,] 'He’s a bloody lunatic. He’s going to get it.' Today they know they come to a race and nobody is going to get killed -- which is good. But if somebody is running a circus and they have a high-wire act that is 15 meters up, people go there and say, 'Crikey.' If it was a meter off the ground, they’d say, 'I can do that.'" Ecclestone "is also infuriated by vast safety run-off areas, which allow drivers to make mistakes and rejoin the race unhindered." He wants mistakes "to be punished, just as they would at street circuits where walls and barriers lurk at every corner." Ecclestone: "I wanted to build 40cm [15.7 inches] walls around the corners. They keep saying drivers mustn’t go off the road. I promise they won’t. They didn’t go off the road in Baku this year and I rarely see them go off in Monaco or Singapore. And if you think about it, they are probably some of the good races." There is "no suspicion that Ecclestone wants to harm drivers, whom he regards as surrogate sons." He "triggered many of the widespread reforms that have made F1 safer" than at any time after the deaths in one weekend at the '94 San Marino Grand Prix of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger (LONDON TIMES, 10/27). REUTERS' Alan Baldwin reported in Austin, FIA Race Dir Charlie Whiting "reminded drivers that, for safety reasons, they could not change direction suddenly in the braking zone when defending against a fully committed rival." Ecclestone: "What Fernando had in Australia ... you wouldn’t think he was going to walk away." He then came up "with another provocative suggestion with no chance of being implemented." Ecclestone said, "What we ought to do immediately that happens is have big sheets all the way around, bring the ambulance in ... and take him away. He’s gone to the hospital and later on you announce that, thank God, he’s out. A bit of showbiz. People like that" (REUTERS, 10/27).

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