Quote:
Originally Posted by Flieger
When Bernie bought the TV rights back around 1976 he had offered the teams to chip in and have a share, but no one wanted to put money in. They just thought about how much testing they could do with that money. I think it was around 10 grand he was asking each. But no one wanted, so he bought them all himself.
While I don't particularly like him, he is a crafty businessman.
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Was watching the F1 documentary "1" last week where Bernie related this story. He was a team owner then and offered the other 9 teams an equal share for $100K each. No one took him up on it.
I don't particularly like what F1 has become today, especially after listening to the cars in the opening scene where they show some footage of 1996 Melbourne race. I'd already forgotten how amazing they used to sound!
As far as I can tell nobody is being forced at gunpoint to race F1. Even with Bernie raking in cash by the shipload, the teams apparently think there's enough money at stake to keep at it. Either that or they think they can outlast him. At 83, he's not likely to be around much longer.