The Weekly Grapevine
Your weekly dose of rumours, speculations and analysis
Bernard Charles Ecclestone is said to be a man who not only has his cake and eats it, but simultaneously indulges on a platter or two of choice shortbread.
Thus, when it became clear his strategy of maximising the money on offer from Asian cities and countries keen to host grands prix as substitutes for the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cups they would never qualify, was resulting in dwindling TV audiences ratings for early morning races (in Euro time zones), it was clear that corrective action would be taken. Three options were open to the 79-year-old:
Share Or Save This Story
More from Dieter Rencken
Vettel: Last Ferrari step back to winning F1 titles will be hardest
Revealed: What F1 teams really spent in 2017
Aftermath of Hamilton Baku clash Vettel's 'worst feeling' of 2017
Why F1 is sitting on a timebomb of contradictions
Lewis Hamilton hopes Fernando Alonso is in 2018 F1 title fight
How teams lost patience with F1's new era
Michael Schumacher doubted himself, reveals ex-Ferrari F1 boss Todt
Why Todt's reign is eight years longer than planned
Latest news
MotoGP schedule: When is the next MotoGP race and where will it be held?
Honda MotoGP boss "confused" by "good improvements" not working
Friday favourite: Why Herbert prefers a car he had to wrestle above his F1 winners
New Time Attack competition for 1990s F1 cars launched by AGS successor
Autosport Plus
The short-term pain that hides a very real Williams improvement
How a Shanghai to Sheffield journey paved the way for China’s F1 hero
Why F1 2026 worst case fears could be key to new rules success
How the F1 driver market situation sits for each team with 2025 openings
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.