I respect him as a team manager but do you think that the talents needed for the two jobs are the same? Besides according tho Speed TV he's considering a new job as a swim suit model.
Flavio - like Ecclestone - is primarily a very talented organizer and manager. He established the Benetton brand in the US and made millions for the company, then he became a F1 manager, knowing nothing about the business, picked up MS and made him a double WDC. Then he took Renault to a 2 WDC, something they never managed back in the days of Arnoux and Jabouille. As far as I'm concerned, the man walks on water. My only problem with guys like Flav or Todt is, that they have been F1 team managers. That gives them the knowhow, but also makes them somewhat partial. Bernie had it easier because his team eventually went belly up, so there was no nepotism. Not sure how independent Todt or Flav would rule. And even if they did, somebody would always accuse them of bias.
He definitely was/is successful as F1 zampano, like him or not. Was he succesful as Brabham's team manager? I think so, after all they got some WDCs with Piquet. Sure enough as he turned his interests elsewhere the team went belly up. Not sure I'd call that a failure. Maybe a management error in not picking/building up a successor, but then again that was a hard time for all the garagistes. Not many survived. In my book, Bernie hasn't made too many mistakes. USGP 05 was probably his worst performance. He should have stayed his ground against Mad Max and his henchmen. And if he doesn't give in now to Tony and bring back the USGP, then he really has a screw loose.
As long as Kimi stays at Ferrari I don't want Alonso. Two #1 driver's is just asking for trouble. I hope Massa picks up the slack so Ferrari won't have to go shopping for a new driver at the end of the season.
I would much rather see Hamilton at Ferrari.. sadly, I think he loyalty lies with a team from his own country.. damnit
Spell better, Shakespeare. I saw what you wrote. I don't care. Look up the word CONDITIONAL. I will read better when you comprehend better
I'm sorry. You almost made me mad. That's how I think about Alonso. And ofcourse I stay a fan, homeboy. Ferrari is the best. Forza Ferrari. bye
You dont speak for him, and you most certainly do not speak for me or others on this forum. I am a Ferrari enthusiast and have been my entire life. That does not mean that I will blindly support them or follow them to Hell should they decide to go there. Cheating, stealing, breaking laws and rules, those are things I will not tolerate very far. Absolutely I can accept some gentlemanly spying or sneaking around the rules. But Alonso stood there at McLaren knowing full well they were working with huge "volumes" of highly classified stolen information, and worked with people within McLaren to utilise that information to gain an advantage. It pales in comparison to MS using TC. It pales in comparison to Ferrari bending rules to gain an advantage. What Alonso was a part of was full scale espionage, corporate theft, and cheating on a level that has never been seen in ANY sport. So let me join others in saying that if Ferrari hire Alonso, I will not be a fan. Certainly I will still be a Ferrari enthusiast, but my interest lies more historically, from back when Mr Enzo Ferrari ran the company. Winning, just for the sake of winning and using every tactic good or bad, even theft, is not really winning. Just like in the Pixar movie "Cars", the winner didnt get the kudos in the end, Lightning McQueen did. Anyone with a brain and an ounce of passion should understand that. If all thats important to you is the trophy, with no regard to sportsmanship or ethics, count me out. At least Pete Rose was sorry for his actions. But like Pete Rose, Alonso should be stripped of his racing license and not allowed to race competitively. And what Pete Rose did, doesnt come even remotely close to what Alonso did.
I think you are wildly overreacting. Alonso should be stripped of his license? What about Hamilton? Him too? How about the guys at Renault who stole information from McLaren? Or Toyota? What do you think of Harvey Postlethwaite leading a team of Ferrari engineers in breaking into the Williams garage to conduct a late night inspection of their car? What do you think of Ferrari disguising an engineer as a press photographer to take close-up photos of competitors in pit lane? Save you "morality" speech. This is F1. They are all guilty of cheating at one level or another and Ferrari, just like every other team, is as guilty of coroporate espionage at various times as any other. As far as equating Alonso with Schumacher's use of an ilelgal traction control device? Please. That one is ridiculous. I love how some here like to occupy the moral high ground with a selective eye. Your outrage seems to be as conditional as your support of Ferrari. Oh really?!? The exact same thing was done by Renault and Toyota within the past two years. hardly seems unprecedented, does it? Another self-proclaimed Conditional Fan. Sorry, but some of us support the team even if we don't support their choice of driver. People like us are called Tifosi. I don't know what they call you other than Fair-Weather Fan. Ummm...are you seriously using a cartoon as the basis for your moral foundation?!?
Really? Wasn't he popular amongst the drivers though? Other than Senna of course. And wasn't driver safety at the top of his to do list?
Who are these "us" you speak of, and by who's authority do you include "them" with YOU? Speak for yourself. Any true Tifosi would hold thier head in shame if Ferrari EVER did something even remotely close to what McLaren pulled.
An update from Blick's Benoit: http://www.blick.ch/sport/formel1/kimi-r-braucht-keine-stallorder-87077 He believes that Massa won't loose his seat this year, but thinks that for 2009 all bets are open. He continues to hint that Alonso goes to Ferrari. This is more or less consistent with his reporting: It shows that he doesn't have any inside proof that a) Massa gets sacked and b) Alonso has a contract/option, but that it is likely that Massa is being removed from the Ferrari seat for next year and that Alonso might get it. Being so up in the air, there is hope for the Massahaters as well as for the Alonsohaters.
Balestre was not a very smart man and made lots of foolish decisions. He was an arrogant prick with the media and the drivers. He was highly unpopular. Just because he died doesn't mean he was a great guy. Jacques Laffite is completely wrong and only saying this because Bala just died. Bala as a French man had a big bias for the works teams, which included Ferrari, Alfa and <drum roll> Renault. His decisions were always against the "garagistes", which were all the British teams. They were represented by the FOCA's Bernie Ecclestone and eventually the entire sport almost broke apart with the pirate races, caused over the issue whether skirts should be allowed further for the garagistes or not. Eventually they settled for peace, the Concorde agreement was born (near the place de la Concorde in Paris) and the rest is history. Eventually the FISA became the FIA, Balestre went, Mad Max came, the FOCA became the FOA and Fidel Castro, err Bernie Ecclestone is still in power. But make no mistake: Balestre was not loved by the drivers. He did a bad job as head of the FISA.
If it weren't for Balestre's dismal legacy Bernie would never have been given the free reign to accomplish/pull off what he did. Say what you will about him but he made the sport the commercial success it is today, and made a lot of money for a lot of people.
The big money came with the TV rights and IIRC that happened during the MadMax years in the nineties. We can blame Bala for a lot, but probably not for that.
Right. BusinessF1 had a lenghty analysis, which I'm too lazy to dig up, but in essence it went like this: MadMax gave carte blanche to Bernie to buy the F1 TV rights for a small amount. Once in possession of one of the many Bernie companies, he started to negotiate the deals with the TV stations and rising the bar sky high. All of a sudden there were millions and millions of $$ to distribute back to the teams, who liked the new found wealth. Along with the money Bernie introduced professionalism of the highest degree to the show, which had some nasty side effects like excluding fans from access unless they fork over 5k for a paddock pass. Long gone are the days where yours truly could go to a GP solely armed with a letter of recommendation from his lowly local newspaper and get full press credentials and total access to drivers and cars for free. <sigh>
Given the crowds they attract today I'm not sure I'd want to be there now. Still its a bummer. Along with the commercialism has come a professionalism as well. Thank g'd the safety has improved too. Too many died needlessly back then. Clark, Courage, Cevert, Rindt, Donahue et al.
Interesting comment. My first F1 race was the GP of Germany in Hockenheim. It was the first event in my life where I was in a crowd of 100,000 people and was somewhat comprehensive about it. It was also the first time I saw so many drunken people "rioting" in the camp area. I also remember the moment where I was almost crushed to death against the closed metal gates in Monaco after they stopped the race in the rain: The train station was closed during the race as the special trains haven't arrived yet and behind me were the tens of thousands spectators streaming in, pushing in waves against us in the front. I also remember the military policy surrounding the track at Interlagos. Only letting spectators in 1 by 1. An ugly picture. Yes, professionalism has improved and going to a GP today is certainly a much safer affair. Still I long for those days in the eighties... What has any of this to do with Alonso going to Ferrari? No idea.
. I'm thinking of going up to the Canadian GP. Never been and I don't know how much I'd enjoy it. Do you end up watching it on the Jumbotron?
