Bernie Ecclestone: Eco-friendly equals loss of TV revenues
Formula One supremo, Bernie Ecclestone believes that a greener F1 would greatly hamper television broadcasting if or once the radical change is implemented in 2013.
A fan of the sport himself, it is Ecclestone’s view that the good ol’ petrol burning and rowdy engine-d sport would no longer be deemed interesting if the eco-friendly practices are adopted in the near future.
Ecclestone’s contrasting analysis is based on the sport’s controlling head and former Ferrari team member Jean Todt’s insistence that introducing 1.6 litre 4 cylinder turbocharged engines would not only keep the environmentalists happy but also lead to a
healthier balance sheet.
Ecclestone commented, "I meet people worldwide in all different walks of life - sponsors, promoters and journalists and I think there are two things that are really important for Formula One. One is Ferrari and second is the noise."
The commercial supremo merely reminds of the six-decade-year-old sport’s ability to attract a diversified audience. There might be people who have been motor-heads since the beginning and are interested in the sport’s technicalities and intricacies. However,
there is also the lot that solely believes in speed. They might not know the story under the hood but regard the activity as the perfect way to ‘blow off some steam’.
Turning his attention back to the potential change that awaits the motorsport, Ecclestone was quick to express his disappointment and felt that the ‘greener approach’ was merely FIA’s way to please the environmentalists that disapprove of burning rubber
and fuel.
He added, "I'm anti, anti, anti, anti moving into this small turbo four formula. We don't need it and if it's so important it's the sort of thing that should be in saloon car racing. The rest of it is basically PR - it's nothing in the world to do with Formula
One."
The commercial supremo also believes that Jean Todt could afford to bring about such changes since he isn’t under pressure to ‘promote’ the sport – Interestingly, it is still unclear to pick out the businessman in this equation from the third perspective.
However, the proposed alteration might not be all bad. Owing to contrasting spending patterns and disparities in income, the sport has been a monopoly for quite some time. There was the age of the Ferraris, followed by McLaren Mercedes and Red Bull Racing
buying their way to success. However, everything comes with a trade off. In this case however, only time can better decipher the affect it could have on the bigger picture.
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