2015 Japanese Grand Prix

[Nitrodaze]

Most motorsport site seem to have linked Ecclestone to the coverage of the Suzuka race which gave the Mercedes team as little coverage as was really possible. A coverage that only showed the start and its battle, a brief coverage of the pitstops and very briefly the end showing Hamilton crossing the line to win the race.

My thoughts during the race was that this was the worst TV coverage of a race l have ever seen. But why would Bernie fall out with the Mercedes team? One reason seem to be that he is not happy the Redbull teams are not getting Mercedes engines. Regardless of the reason, if this were true, this would be the most audacious abuse of office ever demonstrated in the clear view of the public. It also demonstrates the considerable power of the rights holders have over the series. Another way to look at it would be to say, it demonstrates how powerless and lacking of commercial influence the FIA is relative to the F1 rights holders. While the relationship of the Right holders and FIA is essentially a symbiotic relationship of sorts, it also seems like a puppeteer to puppet relationship most of the time such as demonstrated at Suzuka. Most of the issues faced in F1 at the moment can be traced to consequence of the unbalance in the relationship between these parties. An example would be the tyre specifications that Pirelli produce their tyres to.