48 replies to this topic

[Petroltorque]

Dearie Me. Looks like the EU anticompetitive commission have been accumulating evidence on the F1 deals for the past 18 months. Helped in no small part by the small teams. When Ecclestone allowed the Concorde Agreement to lapse and entered into unequal bilateral agreements he was storing up a hornets nest. The Strategic group on which he sits and has full voting rights can't be compliant with rules separating commercial and legislative arms. CVC can't be happy. If the EU rip up their agreement they are stuffed. Can't see Ecclestone buying another 'get out of jail free' card either. He would have to add another 0 to what he paid the Munich court. If all else fails he could always use the 'Guinness Defence'.

[FullThrottleF1]

link?

[Newbrray]

http://www.gptoday.c..._investigation/

[Rocket73]

good...bring it on

[chipmcdonald]

I was wondering about the notion of the implications of the Gribowsky fallout.   In theory the court should reset things to it's pre-CVC state, but that seems pragmatically impossible? 

[Fastcake]

A proper investigation would take a considerable amount of time, and would not be able to do anything about the problems afflicting F1 right now. However, I suspect the real gain is simply the threat of EU involvement, which hopefully will make F1 work towards a solution on the current financial and governance problems.

[DrivenF1]

If the agreements can be torn up, hopefully we can build something better than what we have now e.g. better distribution of wealth to the teams etc.

[Petroltorque]

Ecclestone would have to go for any meaningful change to occur.

[JHSingo]

Normally I'd tell the EU to do one. They've meddled enough already with potential alcohol sponsorship banning, etc...

 

But if it takes a third party to hammer some sense into the way F1 is run, bring it on.

[bonjon1979a]

Best news f1 has had in a long time. It isn't a fair competition at the moment. Watch the legal gymnastics that eccleston pulls off though to get out of it. I expect Lichtenstein or some haven further afield will become the new registered home of f1 putting it out of reach of eu laws.

[R Soul]

In other news a pot is investigating a kettle to investigate rumours that the kettle is black.

[NoSanityClause]

F1 needs ze punishment.

[Peter0Scandlyn]

You mean bring back Max!!?

[ensign14]

Given the EU not only smiled on the CVC deal, but pretty much made it compulsory when Donnelly fluttered his eyelashes at Prodi, I can't see anything coming out of this in this decade.

[taran]

Best news f1 has had in a long time. It isn't a fair competition at the moment. Watch the legal gymnastics that eccleston pulls off though to get out of it. I expect Lichtenstein or some haven further afield will become the new registered home of f1 putting it out of reach of eu laws.

 

Wouldn't work....F1 puts up a show in EU countries and most teams are based in a EU country (for now...). Which makes EU laws applicable....

[Felix]

Dearie Me. Looks like the EU anticompetitive commission have been accumulating evidence on the F1 deals for the past 18 months. Helped in no small part by the small teams. When Ecclestone allowed the Concorde Agreement to lapse and entered into unequal bilateral agreements he was storing up a hornets nest. The Strategic group on which he sits and has full voting rights can't be compliant with rules separating commercial and legislative arms. CVC can't be happy. If the EU rip up their agreement they are stuffed. Can't see Ecclestone buying another 'get out of jail free' card either. He would have to add another 0 to what he paid the Munich court. If all else fails he could always use the 'Guinness Defence'.

Been coming for two years: http://plus.autospor...9224.1409146456

 

The time delay simply shows how slowly the EU works.

[SophieB]

Kevin Eason of The Times has been writing a lot about this.
 

Speculation has been growing that Ecclestone’s reign is drawing to an end. Close friends say that he almost expects to be eased aside in the new year and he has surprised many in recent times with his inability to solve the sport’s financial crisis because he has had to refer to his bosses at CVC.
Ecclestone met [Paul] Walsh at the last grand prix of the season in Abu Dhabi and seems prepared to work with the prospective new man. “I wouldn’t have a problem with that,” Ecclestone told the Financial Times. “If it was something positive, I would be delighted.”

 
Walsh is apparently a former chief executive of Diageo, the drinks company, btw.
 
http://www.thetimes....icle4286682.ece (Paywall. £ or subscription req'd)

[femi]

Nobody and I mean nobody knows where or how this is going to end up - if true. It is interesting there are no accusations or complaints of EU interference - yet.

[Petroltorque]

Given the EU not only smiled on the CVC deal, but pretty much made it compulsory when Donnelly fluttered his eyelashes at Prodi, I can't see anything coming out of this in this decade.

That EU deal was sanctioned over 10 years ago. The political dynamic has now changed. The stake holders, the states and their inhabitants. expect more transparency from these appointed officials. So I fully inspect an investigation. With blame being apportioned to the commissioners who sanctioned the deal.

[Lotus53B]

Kevin Eason of The Times has been writing a lot about this.
 
 
Walsh is apparently a former chief executive of Diageo, the drinks company, btw.
 
http://www.thetimes....icle4286682.ece (Paywall. £ or subscription req'd)

Interesting... Diageo, the owners of Johnny Walker, sponsors of... McLaren...

 

Sorry, former sponsors...  Now sponsors of the whole circus... iirc...

Edited by Lotus53B, 05 December 2014 - 20:06.

[jonpollak]

Here comes another 100 million...

Verdict ?......'We're all good'
Jp

[F1matt]

In the ideal world the EU declares the deal with Bernie illegal, the FIA gets to control F1 and can put the rights deal out to tender and Bernie and CVC can crawl under a rock.

[ATM]

In that ideal world, I would probably be married to Catherine Zeta-Jones and drinking dry Martinis in Tahiti...sadly, the only thing I can afford is the Martini bottle. Cruel life, it is. 

[Peat]

Precisely, JP.

They want a piece of the bribery, sorry 'settlement', pie.

[OSX]

http://www.gptoday.c..._investigation/

“If the EU come in,” warned Todt’s predecessor Mosley, “they can rip the whole thing up. I am flattered by the idea that I could be involved. I am out of touch, but I would do anything I could to help if all of the relevant parties agreed.”

 

Mosley sure ain't trying to hide the fact that his one and only motivation for any possible involvement in the investigation is revenge. It's both funny and sad, and so very typical of him...

[BRG]

I am out of touch

Even Max tells the truth once in a while.

[turssi]

Ecclestone needs to snap his fingers at the Queen and the Prime Minister and get the EU out of the UK ASAP.

[ForzaGTR]

One utterly corrupt institution investigating another utterly corrupt institution...should be interesting.

[Maikel0230]

Looks like the unfair way Bernie and CVC are running this sport is coming under a gigantic periscope.

 

Let's see if the little $*@&Ç can bribe his way out of this one...

[Newbrray]

Looks like the unfair way Bernie and CVC are running this sport is coming under a gigantic periscope.

 

Let's see if the little $*@&Ç can bribe his way out of this one...

 

Don't underestimate him

[BRG]

I'm worried about this giant periscope.....

[StudMuffin]

One utterly corrupt institution investigating another utterly corrupt institution...should be interesting.

Genius

[Lazy]

About time.

[F1ultimate]

One utterly corrupt institution investigating another utterly corrupt institution...should be interesting.

 

Only the lawyers will benefit from this investigation. It's one of those that will drag on for years and waste tax money. However I am happy that Bernie is getting investigate a second time for criminal foul play.

[Nonesuch]

One utterly corrupt institution investigating another utterly corrupt institution...should be interesting.

 

Let's not be too negative about the possible outcomes. Previous cases dealing with anti-competitive practices have, thanks to the important and hard work of the European Union, resulted in the enormously beneficial 'browser selection screen' that continues to delight users of Microsoft's Windows operating system.

[ForzaGTR]

Let's not be too negative about the possible outcomes. Previous cases dealing with anti-competitive practices have, thanks to the important and hard work of the European Union, resulted in the enormously beneficial 'browser selection screen' that continues to delight users of Microsoft's Windows operating system.

 

This honestly made me giggle. Nice one.

[LORDBYRON]

Nothing will change.

[Myrvold]

Let's not be too negative about the possible outcomes. Previous cases dealing with anti-competitive practices have, thanks to the important and hard work of the European Union, resulted in the enormously beneficial 'browser selection screen' that continues to delight users of Microsoft's Windows operating system.

A screen I have never ever seen.

Or maybe that is one of the few EU-things, we i Norway (as a non-EU member) actually don't notice...

[Missedtheapex]

Well, I have lived in Spain and Uk and never noticed that screen either. Maybe it's just me being inattentive or perhaps a good example of useless EU burocracy at its best.

[Petroltorque]

Things seem to be coming to a head. Anneliese Dodds has put some searching questions to the anti trust commission that have yet to be answered. I have to admit that whereas I am in favour of the EU as a trading organisation I'm less than sanguine about its governance. It seems riddled with vested interest and dare I say it 'corruption'. I just don't see that they will be willing to drill down into the FIA setup if it means exposing mismanagement of previous EU commissions.

[Prost1997T]

A screen I have never ever seen.
Or maybe that is one of the few EU-things, we i Norway (as a non-EU member) actually don't notice...

Probably because you (like 90% of people) bought a pre-built OEM PC (Dell, HP, etc). There's also: "The automatic nature of the BrowserChoice.eu feature was dropped in Windows 7 Service Pack 1 in February 2011 and remained absent for 14 months despite Microsoft reporting that it was still present, subsequently described by Microsoft as a "technical error". As a result, in March 2013 the European Commission fined Microsoft €561 million to deter companies from reneging on settlement promises."

[pdac]

Probably because you (like 90% of people) bought a pre-built OEM PC (Dell, HP, etc). There's also: "The automatic nature of the BrowserChoice.eu feature was dropped in Windows 7 Service Pack 1 in February 2011 and remained absent for 14 months despite Microsoft reporting that it was still present, subsequently described by Microsoft as a "technical error". As a result, in March 2013 the European Commission fined Microsoft €561 million to deter companies from reneging on settlement promises."

 

 

Oooh, the EU are sooo powerful and scarey!

 

The point is that they correctly identified Microsoft as a company that uses it's power and importance to deny competition. But, as yet, nothing has changed on that front and I can't see it ever changing. It took years and years for the EU to actually do anything about it and the result was the stupid little 'Browser Choice' icon on the desktop, that no one cared about. All they achieved was to eat up the money paid by the tax payers in member states through buying expensive flights, accommodation and meals for those lucky ones involved in the 'investigation'.

[BlinkyMcSquinty]

It does not help Bernie's cause to now treat Honda differently than the other power unit manufacturers. I expect a change in that quickly.

[garagetinkerer]

F1 is based in Europe, but anything more than a rapping of knuckles, and it may be problematic. Too much hassle to work around Bernie and CVC and FIA to come up with a racing series, which will keep all concerned (excluding CVC/ Bernie) gainfully occupied. Hopefully, people will see sense (right! ), but i have my doubts.

[CHIUNDA]

This is very much a double edged sword. It allows Bernie's enemies a legitimate political mechanism to get rid of him but exposes the same lot to a similar though not exact fate through EU interference. When the waters are muddied you have to wait until they clear to know who was eaten.

[johnwilliamdavies]

FT - Smaller F1 teams rev up for legal manoeuvre

 

  http://www.ft.com/cm...dc0.html#slide0

[Disgrace]

Now we know why Bernie called to axe the Strategy Group.

[OO7]

What was it Bernie said...............to paraphrase, 'if your going to point a gun at me, you better be prepared to pull the trigger'.

[JHSingo]

I hope the EU gives F1 hell. Things just cannot go on the way they are at the moment. If it needs outside intervention to nail some sense into these utter clowns, then I'm all for it and it can't happen soon enough.