Bernie Ecclestone is uncompromising on the 2012 calendar
Despite the reservations expressed by the teams about his plan to revise the 2012 schedule, Bernie Ecclestone is turning a deaf ear.
By presenting teams with a profoundly revised calendar for 2012, notably postponing the Bahrain Grand Prix and the United States Grand Prix to the end of the season, Bernie Ecclestone seems to have found a new cause to champion.
Worried about the logistical challenge posed by a season ending with 7 races over 10 weeks, across four different continents, the teams expressed some reservations about the British project: « We have already thought about it and we would like to suggest some ideas. We are not involved in the final decision on the calendar, but I know it is not definitive, so there is room to discuss it again and make suggestions » said Eric Boullier, Team Principal of Team Lotus Renault GP.
The F1 financier does not seem inclined to discuss it, as he reveals in an exclusive interview with the website Pitpass: « It’s not up to them to make the calendar. It’s not for them to come up with anything; it’s my decision. If there are changes, I will make them, but they cannot force my decision. »
The teams advance as their main argument the significant logistics this will require, leaving no, or almost no, rest time for the operational staff responsible for the installation and transport of equipment from one Grand Prix to another. Eric Boullier was also concerned that such a sequence of races would inflate the transport costs, with the teams having to favor planes over ships, which are nonetheless less expensive. But once again, Bernie Ecclestone dismisses these arguments with a wave of his hand: « We have issues that are far more important than theirs. »
However, Bernie Ecclestone must not forget that the teams had been reluctant to return to Bahrain as early as this year and that they had the final say, despite all the determination of the Briton and the support he had provided to the organizers.
