Ecclestone open to Canadian GP return

Eurosport - Fri, 21 Nov 14:56:00 2008

Bernie Ecclestone has said the door is open to reinstating the Canadian Grand Prix.

FORMULA 1 - Bernie Ecclestone, F1 bigwig - 0

The F1 chief executive went on Montreal radio to address local anger about the axe of the annual race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

When negotiations recently broke down, organisers slammed Ecclestone's demands as 'unreasonable'.

"Unreasonable compared to what?" the 78-year-old billionaire said.

"We do business worldwide and nobody else thinks we're unreasonable. We've got a queue of people that want races. So we can't be unreasonable."

Ecclestone is maintaining his stance with regards to the current negotiations, but said he was keen to return to Canada in the future.

"Everyone in Formula One loves Montreal," he insisted.

When asked if he would like Montreal to return to the calendar, he added: "Of course we would - we didn't want to lose it."

"I said (to organisers) you can come to my office, pull any contract out of that drawer for all the overseas races, take any one of them, cross out the name and put your name, and that's what we'll do.

"Because what was offered them was less than we get anywhere else in the world," he explained.

Ecclestone said he did not appreciate how the frustrated organisers leaked the financial details of his proposal to the media, but refused to enter a war of words, describing the tone of the failed talks as "Good, nice, beautiful."

F1live.com / Eurosport

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  1. hello my little f1 bum chums it marnio here from­ peru.
    mr hamiltons son say he stay with mclaren men for­ life. that nice for him but what do mclaren men say?­ you see mclaren is now german owned. the parent company­ is the mercedes benz which is the german. the engine is­ the german engine. everything about the team is the­ german. mr hamiltons son now the swiss gentleman he eat­ much cheese and sings in the morning at mountains. mr­ hamiltons father is also now the swiss man. in fact­ there nothing british about this team at all. even the­ man who tidy up the garage after the race has moved to­ switzerland with his mother. switzerland is owned by­ the german. my friends the whole team is GERMAN - and­ guess what - so is mr glock. now you see why the time­ stand still for mr glock on the last lap. like he in­ the time warp. not even the people abducted by the­ alien lose the amount of time he lost on that last lap.­ IT IS A DISGRACE!!!

    From , on Sun 23 Nov 4:04PM

  2. In view of Bernie's age ^^^ this is only a very­ smart ploy for TAX purposes
    *o

    From pam_wallis60, on Sat 22 Nov 12:50PM

  3. ollieboyyy;
    It's over! Let it go!
    I guarantee­ you!, your brian will thank you for it!

    From Barry M, on Fri 21 Nov 9:52PM

  4. thanks barry m for the site inf looks good reading.will­ take my time to read through it.interesting that he,s­ fallen from 3rd richest in 2003 to 24 in 2008 times­ must be hard.LOL

    From MGA, on Fri 21 Nov 9:51PM
  5. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    hello my little f1 bum chums it marnio here from­ peru.
    mr hamiltons son say he stay with mclaren men for­ life. that nice for him but what do mclaren men say?­ you see mclaren is now german owned. the parent company­ is the mercedes benz which is the german. the engine is­ the german engine. everything about the team is the­ german. mr hamiltons son now the swiss gentleman he eat­ much cheese and sings in the morning at mountains. mr­ hamiltons father is also now the swiss man. in fact­ there nothing british about this team at all. even the­ man who tidy up the garage after the race has moved to­ switzerland with his mother. switzerland is owned by­ the german. my friends the whole team is GERMAN - and­ guess what - so is mr glock. now you see why the time­ stand still for mr glock on the last lap. like he in­ the time warp. not even the people abducted by the­ alien lose the amount of time he lost on that last lap.­ IT IS A DISGRACE!!!

    From , on Fri 21 Nov 9:33PM

  6. Re; MGA
    I agrtee!, he may have a bit of a problem on­ his hands, BUT, if you know Bernie, you know he has ALL­ his 'bases' covered. And as far as dealing with­ a 'bitter person',
    Bernie has QUITE A BIT OF­ EXPERIENCE in that regard! But, as in anything that­ Bernie does, there is always the FINE print in tha­ 'marriage contract! But he PROBABLY has
    part of his­ assets in his son's name! Check out­ 'wikipedia' on Bernie, the way he is­ structured, you need the FBI and the CIA to unravel his­ web of desception!
    Barry-Toronto

    From Barry M, on Fri 21 Nov 9:24PM

  7. barry m i may be wrong on this but a few years ago­ Bernice signed all his money over to his wife.i­ remember him saying in a interview (i trust­ her)hehehe.so he may have a bit of a problem on his­ hands depending on how bitter she is.

    From MGA, on Fri 21 Nov 9:02PM

  8. I'm fine thanks Barry.I figured that might be the­ case with smart Bernie!

    From wizzo, on Fri 21 Nov 9:02PM

  9. i agree with all you guys and I'm not defending­ Bernice.but times have moved on it ok being nostalgic i­ love to think back to the old days and i might add i go­ back a long way.every thing revolves around money.as­ for Canada they only have themselves to blame they­ signed a contract they could not honor weather you like­ it or not its fact.as iv said before the track was a­ mess and not just this year.so when some oil rich state­ is willing to stump up large amounts of wonger,provide­ amenities second to none of course Bernice is going to­ go for it.he doesn't care about the f1 fans ITS ALL­ ABOUT MONEY.

    From MGA, on Fri 21 Nov 8:57PM

  10. Howzit goin WIZZO!
    The pending divorce thing is­ interesting! The way Bernie does business!, and the­ 'lock'
    he has on everything under his­ control', It wouldn't surprise me if Bernie­ 'walks away' virtually un-scathed! When he set­ up the marriage contract, you can be sure he
    structured­ it so he would not lose much when the inevitable­ happines!
    He will lose some!, but not as much as you or­ I think!

    Barry

    From Barry M, on Fri 21 Nov 8:41PM

  11. 115 Barry m,

    That really is the bottom line isn't­ it. Which new countries are currently stupid enough to­ pay Bernies chosen tariff. I think that eventually once­ the soul of F1 has been diluted to it's inevitable­ circus of misguided capitalist wannabe's, there­ will be somekind of organised backlash by the teams as­ they realise like China that basically the stands are­ empty except for the free tickets handed out for the­ purposes of tv 'appearences' and that basically­ the whole thing has now just become a tv show, a­ scripted soap opera, written by the FIA and Ecclestone­ for which Bernie is being paid.

    I remember going to­ Silverstone when I was a kid and taking pictures with­ my 'mechanical' camera of Schumacher, Hakkinen­ and Coultard in the pouring rain right through the­ entire weekend, there was almost a camping adventure­ atmosphere to the whole thing. Now look at Bahrain,­ Valencia, Singapore, China. Turn up, jump on the­ shuttle, sit down, watch, spend more money on tat,­ leave. Ruthless.

    From mark, on Fri 21 Nov 8:35PM

  12. Hi Barry, how have you been.With Bernies impending­ divorce and a lot of the papers in Slavicas name do you­ think we are on the brink of something interesting­ here.

    From wizzo, on Fri 21 Nov 8:11PM

  13. That 'senile old idiot' is worth 3.5 BILLION­ dollars!
    He didn't get it by being a 'nice'­ guy! (or by being senile!)
    I'll miss the Canadian­ GP, BUT if you can't pay the price, you lose it!
    In­ reality, Bernie and the F1 boys DO NOT want to come to­ Canada!
    Toyota/Benzo/Ferrari may say something about­ their car sales, but in reality, if ya need a car, ya­ buy it! If you can afford a Benz, the fact that there­ is no race is North America, is NOT going to prevent­ you from buying one!
    These 'emerging' 3rd world­ countries, are willing to pay Bernie's­ price!
    That's ALL it boils down to!, WHO CAN AFFORD­ IT!, (and who is stupid to pay for it!)
    Barry-Toronto

    From Barry M, on Fri 21 Nov 7:23PM

  14. Isn't it sad that a great sport as f1 is run by a­ senile old idiot who prefers to go after maximum money­ at all costs rather than showing consideration to the­ real fans?

    From Can_male, on Fri 21 Nov 5:15PM

  15. My best mate!

    From Count Louis Zborowski, on Fri 21 Nov 4:21PM

  16. Marnio is not a Spanish speaker as his knowledge of the­ language is rudimentary.
    His knowledge of colloquial­ English and the type of expressions used suggests he is­ British or Irish- I agree with Rachel on this one, of­ elementary education.
    However, he also longs for a time­ when Britain was "great". His definition of­ "great" exemplified by his statement once­ about "being good at war".So I would discount­ Irish.
    I dare suggest he is a very young, unemployed­ British person of right wing parents who resents that­ his country has become a multicultural society .
    He­ enjoys provoking people as he enjoys the attention he­ receives- which he probably doesn't receive in real­ life.
    This introvert, who hides behind a fictional­ persona, lacks any real knowledge of F1 and uses ideas­ that he has gleaned from the media to reinvent as his­ own opinions.

    From Count Louis Zborowski, on Fri 21 Nov 3:47PM

  17. everybody knows that bernie goes with the dollars,thats­ why he is stinking rich.

    From L.Prezidenti, on Fri 21 Nov 11:30AM

  18. The article meant to say - Bernie Ecclestone has said­ 'HIS WALLET' is open to reinstating the­ Canadian Grand Prix

    From max.attenborough, on Fri 21 Nov 9:50AM

  19. yes as said before
    WITHOUT the Bernie financial skill­ --- the tracks would still be lined with bales of­ straw ., !

    From fototedlondona4, on Fri 21 Nov 8:10AM

  20. Arr poor Bernie "the Bung taker" Eccelstone,­ won't the Canadians play ball! Don't throw your­ toys out the pram too hard you might not get them back!

    From Dave, on Fri 21 Nov 7:32AM
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