Bernie Ecclestone biggest controversies

[rchelm]

https://www.carkeys.co.uk/news/bernie-ecclestone-the-ex-f1-boss-s-biggest-controversies?76542rh

Worst thing is I'm not surprised these came out of his mouth! :rolleyes:

His comment on women drivers - "If there was somebody that was capable, they wouldn't be taken seriously anyway, so they would never have a car that is capable of competing."

Can't wait to see this be proven wrong and we see a mixed grid, Susie Wolff is an incredible addition to the sport.

[Koz]

One of the greatest shames for F1, which has been largely ignored, is that they didn't put Susie Wolff when Bottas was injured.

What was the point of Williams even having her?

It was really a big joke you see...

[Tazio]

About women drivers Bernie also said:

What I would really like to see happen is to find the right girl, perhaps a black girl with super looks, preferably Jewish or Muslim, who speaks Spanish
Oh, and let us not forget that Bernie told a Brazilian publication in regard to Senna:

the publicity generated by his death was so much...It was good for F1
:rolleyes:

[N4D13]

One of the greatest shames for F1, which has been largely ignored, is that they didn't put Susie Wolff when Bottas was injured.

What was the point of Williams even having her?

It was really a big joke you see...
The only point was sponsorship, nothing else.

Susie Wolff would be an absolutely dreadful driver for F1's standards and had she got a drive, she'd probably have looked ridiculous. Mind you, she spent six complete seasons in DTM and she only got to score points in 2 races out of 62 entries. "Mediocre" does not even begin to describe her results.

It would be awesome to have women competing in F1 - but let it be people who get there because of their driving ability alone, not because of their gender or being in a relationship with one of your team's shareholders.

[Jag_Warrior]

Susie Wolff in an F1 car would make Bruno Senna look like Ayrton Senna.

Apart from her gender, there is/was absolutely nothing remarkable about her as a driver. Nothing. We will see (legitimate) women racing in F1 after we see girls participating in the lower formulas and being successful. And that's the way it should be. IMO, the last thing F1 needs is for gender or identity politics to pollute the sport that most of us love.

I hope that Liberty ramps up the marketing of F1. To me, one of Bernie's more ridiculous and short-sighted quotes concerned his lack of understanding of younger consumers, and their value in building a brand.


"That's what I think. I don't know why people want to get to the so-called 'young generation'. Why do they want to do that? Is it to sell them something? Most of these kids haven't got any money.

"I'd rather get to the 70-year-old guy who's got plenty of cash. So, there's no point trying to reach these kids because they won't buy any of the products here and if marketers are aiming at this audience, then maybe they should advertise with Disney."

And yet he was squeezing some despot to hold a race in a place where the average person *might* be able to buy a $5000 car ONE OF THESE DAYS. Using his logic, races in places like Monaco (or near Beverly Hills) would make sense. But apart from the big check written to F1 and Bernie's fee for cashing the check, what sense did many of the other races make? The average American kid likely has a disposable income that rivals that of the average citizen of many/most third world countries. I mean, they're buying those $300 sneakers somehow.

No, hold onto the nursing home crowd, that can afford to buy Rolex Daytonas now. But that 24 year old MBA student who is driving a Honda Civic, wearing a Casio and cheering for Red Bull now, might be shopping for a Mercedes, wanting a Rolex and drinking Chandon in a few short years.

[Koz]

Susie Wolff in an F1 car would make Bruno Senna look like Ayrton Senna.


What difference does that actually make?

It was just one race when a driver was unavailable after all.