F1 2017 Megathread

New season coming up and it looks Bernie has officially gone.

Liberty Media completes its $8bn takeover of Formula 1

 

By Andrew Benson

Chief F1 writer

 

US giant Liberty Media has completed its $8bn (£6.4bn) takeover of Formula 1 and removed Bernie Ecclestone from his position running the sport.

 

Ecclestone, 86, who has been in charge for nearly 40 years, has been appointed chairman emeritus and will act as an adviser to the board.

 

Chase Carey has had Ecclestone's former role of chief executive officer added to his existing role as chairman.

 

Ecclestone made it clear earlier on Monday that he had been forced out.

 

He told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport: "I was dismissed today. This is official. I no longer run the company. My position has been taken by Chase Carey."

 

Ecclestone, who added that he did not know what his new job title meant, declined to comment when approached BBC Sport, who revealed on Sunday he would leave his job this week.

 

Liberty began its takeover of the sport in September and earlier in January cleared the last two regulatory hurdles.

 

The deal was completed on Monday and Liberty Media is to be renamed the Formula 1 Group following the takeover.

 

The company made no other announcements of senior executives but BBC Sport has learned that two major positions have already been allocated.

 

Former ESPN executive Sean Bratches has been lined up for a role running the commercial side of F1, while ex-Mercedes team boss and Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn is to take on a position leading management on the sporting and technical side.

 

Both will report to Carey, a former long-time lieutenant of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and chairman of his 21st Century Fox company.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38723001

Maybe it will mean a shakeup that F1 has needed for a long time.

I think this is a long time coming.

Whilst Bernie most definitely made F1 a global success; in recent years I think he's cared more about the bottom line than about the sport itself.

I have high hopes that Liberty Media will make F1 great again.

I don't think it'll happen overnight, but this could well be the shot in the arm that F1 needs.

I think this is a long time coming.

 

Whilst Bernie most definitely made F1 a global success; in recent years I think he's cared more about the bottom line than about the sport itself.

 

I have high hopes that Liberty Media will make F1 great again.

 

I don't think it'll happen overnight, but this could well be the shot in the arm that F1 needs.

Hopefully it will change for the better.

Sadly it has not come soon enough for Manor:

Manor F1: Team fold after administrator fails to find buyer

 

The Manor team have collapsed after administrators failed to find a buyer for the stricken business.

 

Manor's operating company Just Racing Services has been in administration since 6 January, and FRP Advisory has been unable to find a buyer.

 

Just Racing ceased trading on Friday, effectively ending the Manor team.

 

The staff were sent home on Friday and told they will be made redundant by the close of business on Tuesday after the payment of January salaries.

 

FRP said there was "no sustainable operational or financial structure in place to maintain the group as a going concern".

 

Joint administrator Geoff Rowley added the administration process "provided a moratorium" in the search for a buyer but "no solution could be achieved to allow for the business to continue in its current form".

 

What happens now?

 

It is not necessarily the end of Manor - a buyer could potentially still purchase the remnants of the team.

 

But even if that were to happen, the move makes it much harder for Manor to make it to the start of the season in Australia on 26 March.

 

The team's collapse leaves 10 teams - 20 cars - on the grid in Melbourne and comes just five days after the sport was taken over by US company Liberty Media and long-time commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone was removed as chief executive.

 

Manor started life as Virgin Racing in 2010 and has been through several guises in the intervening seven years.

 

It previously went into administration in October 2014, and was only saved by current owner Stephen Fitzpatrick, the boss of energy firm Ovo, on the eve of the 2015 season.

 

Fitzpatrick has said the decisive moment was the team's slip to 11th place in the constructors' championship as a result of Sauber's Felipe Nasr finishing ninth in the penultimate race of last season in Brazil. This cost the team in the region of $15m (£12m) in prize money.

 

Manor were one of three new teams to enter F1 in 2010 after they were promised by then FIA president Max Mosley that a £40m budget cap would be introduced.

 

But Mosley stood down as head of the governing body in 2009 after losing a fight with the teams over the plan and the cost limit was abandoned.

 

All three teams have now collapsed.

 

Formula 1 and the FIA 'should be investigated'

 

Anneliese Dodds MEP has called for a European Commission investigation into the FIA and F1 following Manor's collapse.

 

She said: "The collapse of Manor Racing could be the end of seven turbulent years for a team that brought highly skilled jobs to Oxfordshire. I am very concerned that this follows other job losses in small teams.

 

"Formula One Group, its owners and the FIA as a regulator really need to be investigated after this collapse.

 

"The unfair way in which prize money is allocated in the sport, permanently favouring the largest teams regardless of their finishing position, has seen many teams struggle to survive and ultimately reduced the number of cars on the grid.

 

"The European Commission must investigate the complaints it received last year from two F1 teams related to anti-competitive practices before even more highly skilled jobs are lost both in the South East and all around Europe.

 

"I will be writing to the Commission to call on them to take serious action on the way F1 is run, before a sport loved by 500 million fans is damaged beyond repair."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38772098

2019 is when the current financial agreement ends unless all teams agree to end it which they wont. Until then, the money will be unevenly distributed, which of course is bad for new entrants and is probably why nobody will buy manor. Dont expect massive off track changes for 2 more years.

2019 is when the current financial agreement ends unless all teams agree to end it which they wont. Until then, the money will be unevenly distributed, which of course is bad for new entrants and is probably why nobody will buy manor. Dont expect massive off track changes for 2 more years.

That is Bernie's legacy right there.

He could have put an end to all that but he didn't want the likes of Ferrari to leave.

Unsurprising to see Mercedes at the top the time sheets during the first day of testing.

http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/10761510/f1-testing-lewis-hamilton-and-mercedes-fastest-on-first-day-of-2017-action

Ferrari's time is interesting as well. Only one tenth slower than Mercedes and on slower tyres. Mercedes reliability looks good from the off though; Bottas did more than 70 laps without one problem.

Looking a bit like deja vu with F1 at the moment isn't it? Shame as I was hoping to see some real movement in the pack with the new rule changes but it doesn't look like anyone is going to do a Brawn this year.

Yes. I haven't been down to the bookies yet but I imagine Hamilton is going to be very short odds to win the driver's title.

Its just testing, you can't know much at all apart from the teams. We don't know what engine modes, what fuel mix etc teams are using. However, it stands to reason that Merc, Ferrari, red bull etc who have most money to design cars and the best engineers will be right up there. I don't take anything from testing myself.

Looks like we have a new Maldonardo!

https://hasstrollcrashedyet.com/

Looks like we have a new Maldonardo!

 

https://hasstrollcrashedyet.com/