Bernie Ecclestone: The 2014 F1, “a total farce”
Never one to shy away from sensational statements, Bernie Ecclestone does not mince his words about the new F1 era that began in Jerez, with the introduction of V6 turbo engines which he deems "totally absurd."
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Fierce opponent of the return of the turbo V6 engine, Bernie Ecclestone, 83, is not particularly convinced by the first laps and the first ”cries” of the new hybrid block: « This whole thing with the new engines is totally absurd. People want noise—something special, that’s what F1 is about—and now we have silent engines and no one on the track. »
The first day of testing on the Andalusian circuit of Jerez was marked by significant delays from the teams and issues often related to the exploitation of the new power unit, before things somewhat improved, except for the teams equipped with a Renault engine. A situation that the businessman claims to have predicted, putting the teams and the FIA back-to-back: « Look at the last few days. I said it would happen like this: a complete farce. [The FIA and the teams] insisted on these new engines. If they want to race like this, they should go to Le Mans. »
According to him, the interest in reducing fuel consumption – the Formula 1 cars will have to complete the entire race distance without using more than 100kg of fuel – is limited because teams do not necessarily reduce their lifestyle in parallel: « They talk about saving fuel. They don’t need these new engines to achieve that. They should have smaller motorhomes. And then, they shouldn’t need as many trucks to go everywhere in Europe. The members of the Mercedes team take 23 trucks with them everywhere. If they really want to save fuel, they should stop that. »
A not very flattering picture painted by B. Ecclestone who still sees something positive in all of this: “The good thing is that the season could be extremely interesting, really unpredictable, and that’s what’s exciting,” he concluded, as reported by the Daily Mail.
