ams Christmas cards from Benrie Ecclestone
12/22/2019
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Formula 1 won't let go of Bernie Ecclestone. This time too, the former Formula 1 boss thought about the past season. What upset him most was the penalty for Sebastian Vettel at the Canadian GP. Reason enough to target the instructions of the stewards to the drivers. The picture shows one of the driver briefings that take place on the Friday before every Grand Prix. The three stewards under the direction of Emanuele Pirro explain the rules of conduct to the pilots. This begins with the request to read the rule book carefully before each race and under no circumstances to drive over lines on the track, whatever color they may be. In addition, the suggestion that radio messages between race engineers and drivers first have to be approved by lawyers. Linked to the advice to always blame the other driver in the event of an accident. You should rather skip racing in order to avoid being disqualified. Stable orders must be followed in any case. It is best to switch off the brain beforehand. And if you were summoned to the race stewards, you should at least make an honest face.
2018
Bernie Ecclestone is actually retired. Americans have been running Formula 1 since the beginning of 2017. A triumvirate with Chase Carey, Ross Brawn and Sean Bratches is doing what Ecclestone previously managed alone. The former Formula 1 impresario observes his former place of work from a distance. At five Grand Prix he appeared as a guest in the paddock. And noticed with pleasure that his successors are facing the same problems as he is. The team bosses have been meeting regularly since the Japanese GP. They worry because Liberty has issued a profit warning for the second year running. And because you want to put a budget cap on them. But what began in intimate unity has meanwhile been split up into interest groups. The poor against the rich, the small against the big, all against Liberty. The 2018 Christmas card shows how Ecclestone observes the hustle and bustle in the pit lane from the box of honor in the main grandstand. The team bosses negotiate in splinter groups. Everyone is out for their own gain. Chase Carey is standing on the pit wall with a coffee in hand and seems to be looking at his runaway sheepunimpressed too.
2017
Bernie Ecclestone is no longer Formula 1 boss this year. Nevertheless, he still mixes in a bit in the background by dropping one or the other hand grenade. It goes without saying that Bernie is targeting his successor Chase Carey in his traditional Christmas card. Above all, his plan to make the USA the second home of Formula 1. Carey stumbles in the balancing act. The USA has not yet returned its advertising. There are projects in New York, Miami, Long Beach and Las Vegas, but no race tracks. While Carey dances uncertainly on the rope towards America, Bernie calmly walks the way from the Formula 1 hub in London to Asia. Ecclestone has made big money there in Bahrain, Russia, Abu Dhabi, Malaysia and China. The now 87-year-old ex-godfather of Formula 1 await jubilant potentates. Carey, however, is threatened by a gunslinger.
2016
Nothing annoys Bernie Ecclestone more than results that are changed again hours later in the stewards' office. Like the GP Mexico this year. There were three thirds. Max Verstappen on the track, Sebastian Vettel on the podium and Daniel Ricciardo three hours later at the green table. It goes without saying that Bernie chose this as his Christmas story. Hamilton, Rosberg and Vettel celebrate on the podium on the motif. And Verstappen and Riccardo stand in line. In front of a sign that reads: 'Please line up here for third place.' Bernie watches the hustle and bustle behind the Christmas tree. In his Christmas and New Year greetings, he also addresses his greatest wish for 2017: 'Let's get Christmas over with and look forward to an open championship next year.'
2015
The biggest problem with Formula 1 this year was its predictability. 'I should have bet my house and all my money on Lewis Hamilton,' says Bernie Ecclestone in the major auto motor und sport interview that will be published tomorrow (22.12.2015). This is exactly what the Formula 1 boss referred to in this year's Christmas card. The US GP in Austin is still in his stomach. Because the world championship was decided four races before the end. On the cartoon, Hamilton regrets the early delivery of the Christmas gifts. Based on the scene before the award ceremony, Rosberg throws his cap back and asserts: 'I tried to prevent it.'
2014
Bernie Ecclestone fought two battles that year. One in the paddock, the other in the courtroom in Munich. After 20 days of trial before the Munich Regional Court, the Formula 1 boss was acquitted of the charge that he had bribed former BLB banker Gerhard Gribkowsky to sell the Formula 1 shares to his preferred candidate CVC. The charge could not be sufficientObtain evidence of their allegation. Many signs indicated an acquittal. Nonetheless, Ecclestone agreed to a deal with the prosecutor and the court.
The case was closed in return for payment of 100 million dollars. Apparently, the 84-year-old Briton has not lost his sense of humor. In his latest Christmas card, he looks back with amusement at the unpleasant time in Munich. Ecclestone can be seen in front of his regular hotel in Munich with a money bag. An armed Zorro threatens Bernie with the remark: “This is not a robbery. I'm collecting money for the Free State of Bavaria. ”
2012
There is an ice age between McLaren and Hamilton. Hamilton's McLaren got stuck in the snow, a nod to the many failures. The pilot himself has had enough of his imprisonment under the regiment of Ron Dennis and escapes to Mercedes. Next to the race track, the new Mercedes minder Niki Lauda is waiting for his new star driver with a sack of money and a company car with the star in the grille. Stuttgart is not far.
2011
Lewis Hamilton had several collisions with Felipe Massa on the track in 2011. Most of the time, Hamilton was the perpetrator and Massa the victim. Ecclestone alludes to this by having Hamilton throw a board of nails in front of the Ferrari. While poor Massa apparently only dreams of Christmas, nasty Hamilton has completely different plans. Bernie also cleverly places his series sponsors as perimeter advertising on the Christmas card.
2010
It was the year of the great ice age at Red Bull. After the collision in Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber didn't have much to say to each other in Istanbul. Because the team does not want to commit to a number one, team boss Christian Horner wants to bring about a decision by tossing a coin. Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso lurk in the background and hope to benefit from it.
2009
The Formula 1 team bosses and the new FIA boss Jean Todt wave the Leaving GP sport afterwards. While Toyota team boss John Howett, BMW race director Mario Theissen and ex-FIA president Max Mosley sail away in the shark tank, Flavio Briatore prepares an attack in the pirate boat with a torpedo. Bernie Ecclestone watches the scene from his private beach chair.
2008
Max Mosley's sex scandal was the topic of the year. Bernie's caricaturist shows the former FIA president how he beats the team bosses gathered at the command post with a whip. Briatore howls, hit by the whip, while Frank Williams watches worriedly in his wheelchair. Ecclestone himself distributes plasters to Mosley's victims.
2007
The picture shows the three main characters of the McLaren espionage scandal. Ferrari man Nigel Stepney looks on in amusement as hisMcLaren colleague Mike Coughlan wants to hand over the secret data, packaged as a Ferrari present, to McLaren boss Ron Dennis. He fends off the gift with the words: “Sorry, I can't accept that. Let's do it the conventional way. ”
2006
The picture caricatures Formula 1 madness team up, Zampano Ecclestone juggles the balls in the arena. In it, Ecclestone hides a warning to the team bosses who actually want to kill him, but waving their support, feigning: 'I'm still the boss in the ring.'
2005
This year the war between the auto companies and the Formula 1 wire-pullers was reaching its climax. While the presidents of Mercedes, Honda and BMW are talking in the paddock, the fire brigade moves up with Bernie Ecclestone at the top. To Bernie's question “Where's the fire?”, The then BMW board member Burkhard Göschel replied: “You already extinguished it.”
2004
The Christmas greeting from 2003 is the only one with a photo. Bernie Ecclestone observes the goings-on in his circus from an ambush, which has gotten a little out of hand due to the efforts of the car companies to start their own series. The slogan below the photo and on the following page alludes to the looming war: “While shepherds keep an eye on their sheep, Bernie watches the manufacturers. Don't worry, Merry Christmas, your Bernie. ”
