Formula One: Bernie Ecclestone advises sport to make an extremely bold move
By Asher Fair
Formula One chairman emeritus Bernie Ecclestone has advised the sport to make an extremely bold move in regard to their cars.
Bernie Ecclestone, the 87-year-old former Formula One CEO who was replaced as the CEO of the Formula One Group by 64-year-old Chase Carey when Liberty Media completed their purchase of Formula One last January, has advised the sport to make an extremely bold move.
Ecclestone, who was given the honorary title of chairman emeritus when Liberty Media bought the sport last year, has advised the sport to make an extremely bold move in regard to how their cars are powered.
What Ecclestone has in mind is that Formula One cars become all-electric in the future. They are currently powered by fuel that is similar to ordinary petrol but is far more tightly controlled, as it can contain only certain compounds that are found in commercial gasoline.
Here is what Ecclestone had to say about the matter, according to ESPN.
"“We still own the name Formula One, we still have contracts with promoters, let’s make different types of cars, let’s speak to the manufacturers and start a new all-electric F1, a Formula One for the future. Can’t we do this? The manufacturers provide the cars themselves but we aren’t going to pay them because they get massive worldwide publicity. It would be a super Formula E, if you like.“You can make cars be like an F1 car and the only thing you would miss would be the noise and I do not believe that people could not come up with something to make more or less the old F1 noise. They [Liberty] would need to have the balls to do it today. I think they will have to do it.“F1 is Ferrari and Ferrari is F1. I would hate to see F1 without Ferrari. No promoter would be happy to see Ferrari leave. They would join Ferrari immediately if a new series started with the same elements as now but was cheaper for the racetracks. Sergio does not do things unless he is serious. I don’t think he is the sort of guy who doesn’t do what he says he’s going to do.”"
Formula One belongs to the FIA, which stands for Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (International Automobile Federation). The FIA is the governing body of the sport and many other auto racing series.
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Among those other auto racing series is Formula E, which is a series that is similar to Formula One but with all-electric cars, hence the name Formula E. The inaugural Formula E season was the 2014-2015 season. The series is currently in its fourth season, which is the 2017-2018 season.
Ecclestone states that Formula One would be a “super Formula E” with all-electric cars. But would that really be the case?
Formula One has been around since 1950, then Formula E came along 64 years later as an all-electric series. If Formula One were to switch to all-electric cars just a handful of years after Formula E’s inaugural season, would that really make the sport a “super Formula E”, or would it illustrate that Formula E is actually already ahead of Formula One despite being around for only a couple of seasons while Formula One has been around for nearly 70 years?
If it happens, we will likely find out. If it doesn’t, which it likely won’t, at least not anytime soon, then we likely won’t have much to worry about in that regard.
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Do you agree with Bernie Ecclestone’s suggestion that Formula One should make the transition to becoming an all-electric racing series in the near future, or do you believe that it should remain as it is? For now, of course, it will remain as is, as the sport’s 69th season, the 2018 season, is set to get started on Sunday, March 25th with the Australian Grand Prix.