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LONDON, England - Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone warned the teams on Sunday ahead of the Turkish GP that were they to be party to any takeover of the sport it would be “the equivalent of committing suicide”.
The 80-year-old Briton - who reconstructed F1 into the modern global sport that it has become - and many F1 observers were shaking their heads at the prospect of seeing the sport sold to Australian Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.
"SUICIDAL"
Less than 24 hours after the leading teams in the paddock had told a media briefing that they, through their official body the Formula One Teams Association (Fota) - were keen to take a stake in any new ownership if there were a takeover, Ecclestone warned them such a move, notably to pay-per-view TV, would "be suicide."
“Murdoch hasn't got anything really big to drive TV audiences and Formula 1 would be good for that," he explained. "They’ve been trying to buy the TV rights from us for a long time but we won't sell because they are not free-to-air TV broadcasters. They are a subscription service.
"Very recently they wanted to do something in Germany, in the UK and in Italy, but we couldn't do it. Sky is doing an incredible job but if you look at their audience they are nowhere.
“With these figures it would be almost impossible for teams to find sponsors. That would be suicidal."
Ecclestone added that News Corp should forget plans to try to buy F1 because current majority shareholder CVC Capital Partners was not keen to sell.
"CVC has given the answer," he said. "It is the major shareholder and does not want to sell. That is 100% sure."
TEAMS SHOULD FORGET ABOUT IT
Ecclestone added that he believed the teams' shareholders - who are due to meet News Corp next week - should forget any idea of a rival bid for his sport.
"I hope these people come to their senses," he said. "The teams should be happy to have somebody such as CVC not selling to the wrong people, trying to maintain a good level for them and supporting me so that I can go to work and earn some money for the teams."
Ecclestone's words were almost certain to stir up a reaction and possibly provoke a division of views among the teams with the old and the new instinctively drawn in different directions. One man who has always leaned towards supporting Ecclestone's fiefdom is Williams’ team founder Sir Frank Williams who recently oversaw his own modernising overhaul after his outfit's poor start to the year.
Williams accepted the resignation of technical director Australian Sam Michael - who had been in charge of the worst start since entering the sport in 1977 - and recruited former McLaren boffin Mike Coughlan, the designer at the centre of the 2007 'Spygate' scandal.
Chief aerodynamicist Jon Tomlinson also resigned and, along with Michael, will leave the team at the end of the 2011 season when Patrick Head, Williams' long-term partner, plans to retire – he hopes after overseeing a team revival.
NEW ERA
The Williams turmoil, however, in which chief executive Adam Parr was also reported to have offered his resignation, signalled more than the demise of a once great team - it marked the march of time.
The great generation of F1 team barons such as Enzo Ferrari, Colin Chapman, Ken Tyrrell and Frank Williams now belongs to another age and the corporate era of owners such as Red Bull, Mercedes and Virgin - or mega-sponsors with mega-influence on the future - is being ushered in.
Where this new group does take the sport remains to be seen but, like many others before them, Ecclestone and Williams know their days at the helm are numbered.
The 80-year-old Briton - who reconstructed F1 into the modern global sport that it has become - and many F1 observers were shaking their heads at the prospect of seeing the sport sold to Australian Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.
"SUICIDAL"
Less than 24 hours after the leading teams in the paddock had told a media briefing that they, through their official body the Formula One Teams Association (Fota) - were keen to take a stake in any new ownership if there were a takeover, Ecclestone warned them such a move, notably to pay-per-view TV, would "be suicide."
“Murdoch hasn't got anything really big to drive TV audiences and Formula 1 would be good for that," he explained. "They’ve been trying to buy the TV rights from us for a long time but we won't sell because they are not free-to-air TV broadcasters. They are a subscription service.
"Very recently they wanted to do something in Germany, in the UK and in Italy, but we couldn't do it. Sky is doing an incredible job but if you look at their audience they are nowhere.
“With these figures it would be almost impossible for teams to find sponsors. That would be suicidal."
Ecclestone added that News Corp should forget plans to try to buy F1 because current majority shareholder CVC Capital Partners was not keen to sell.
"CVC has given the answer," he said. "It is the major shareholder and does not want to sell. That is 100% sure."
TEAMS SHOULD FORGET ABOUT IT
Ecclestone added that he believed the teams' shareholders - who are due to meet News Corp next week - should forget any idea of a rival bid for his sport.
"I hope these people come to their senses," he said. "The teams should be happy to have somebody such as CVC not selling to the wrong people, trying to maintain a good level for them and supporting me so that I can go to work and earn some money for the teams."
Ecclestone's words were almost certain to stir up a reaction and possibly provoke a division of views among the teams with the old and the new instinctively drawn in different directions. One man who has always leaned towards supporting Ecclestone's fiefdom is Williams’ team founder Sir Frank Williams who recently oversaw his own modernising overhaul after his outfit's poor start to the year.
Williams accepted the resignation of technical director Australian Sam Michael - who had been in charge of the worst start since entering the sport in 1977 - and recruited former McLaren boffin Mike Coughlan, the designer at the centre of the 2007 'Spygate' scandal.
Chief aerodynamicist Jon Tomlinson also resigned and, along with Michael, will leave the team at the end of the 2011 season when Patrick Head, Williams' long-term partner, plans to retire – he hopes after overseeing a team revival.
NEW ERA
The Williams turmoil, however, in which chief executive Adam Parr was also reported to have offered his resignation, signalled more than the demise of a once great team - it marked the march of time.
The great generation of F1 team barons such as Enzo Ferrari, Colin Chapman, Ken Tyrrell and Frank Williams now belongs to another age and the corporate era of owners such as Red Bull, Mercedes and Virgin - or mega-sponsors with mega-influence on the future - is being ushered in.
Where this new group does take the sport remains to be seen but, like many others before them, Ecclestone and Williams know their days at the helm are numbered.