Bernie: "Twilight races will continue."

Formula 1 Supremo doesn't see any reason not to have races in dusk.

The anticipated end of the Malaysian Grand Prix, due to lack of natural light after a 40-minute break due to a deluge, did not make Bernie Ecclestone change his opinion about twilight races in Asia and Oceania.

The starts of the Australian and Malaysian GPs were scheduled to 5:00 p.m. local time, so they could be broadcasted in a more suitable time for european viewers - 10:00 a.m. in England and 11:00 a.m. in France, Germany and Italy.

"I don't see anything wrong with the start's time, we only didn't know about the rain. If the race had started on 2:00 p.m. (local time), it would have rained anyway", states Ecclestone.

Strange is, Malaysia is located in a equatorial climate zone and heavy downpours, like the one that falled during the race, are extremely usual in the end of the afternoon. The director responsible for Sepang circuit, Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir, states that the schedule will be revised for next year.

"We will revise the schedule. We still don't know when the race will start next year, but we will revise it", he assures.

[globoesporte.globo.com]


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Poor, poor Bernie. He's going senile.

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Um dois três quatro cinco seis sete oito nove dez
Eins zwei drei vier fünf sechs sieben acht neun zehn
One two three four five six seven eight nine ten
Один два три четыре пять шесть семь восемь девять десять



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/2009 04:17PM by Lex.

What an annoying old F%$%er!! He sees nothing wrong with the start time of the races, except half the grid complaining about poor visibility and then the next week we get half a GP due to rain that pretty much everyone was expecting.

Some people really need to learn when to quit.

Lex, if it's not true it's well based at least.

What do you mean we didn't know about the rain?!

It was known even before the weekend or the season started!

Really, how much more fail is Bernie capable of? Didn't the BBC guys say that the waiters in the restaurants were even saying "I can't believe you guys are trying to hold a race in the evening". We all knew there was going to be a monsoon. We all knew the fading light was going to cause problems for drivers. We all knew that falling temperatures was going to play havoc with tyres. And while I appreciate more crashes/general mayhem in F1, I really don't hope it's played out so we don't have to get up too early. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you want to suit Europeans, bring some of the Grands Prix back to Europe, where the fans and their passion for the sport is.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/2009 11:44PM by The Lopper.

"I don't see anything wrong with the start's time, we only didn't know about the rain. If the race had started on 2:00 p.m. (local time), it would have rained anyway", states Ecclestone.

Has he even been in Malaysia that weekend? It was dry before the race. Start a race at 2pm and it will end at 4pm. There wasn't any rain in that period, so a dry race. Is it really that hard?

"Poor, poor Bernie. He's going senile."

Either that or he's getting really stubborn and defiant.

But as already stated by Webber and McLaren (suppose McLaren aren't the best source of truthful info, but hey) the light conditions had nothing to do with it. Had the rain not came, it wouldn't have gotten dark before the 2 hour time limit - fact.

The reason it was dark was the cloud cover was so horrific and thick. And what do you want them to do? Predict the weather months in advance, down to the nearest minute? Had they scheduled a normal time and it'd rained like that then people would have been bitching anyway.

And I don't buy the whole dangerous BS some drivers were shouting about. Oh the sun was in your eyes? Grow a f**king pair! You go testing in low light at Barcelona every year. Le Mans and NASCAR Drivers put up with sun in there eyes for durations longer than an entire F1 race. I'm all for safety, but some of these guys need a reality check.

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Old Bernie is losing the plot- fast. First he wants medals in F1, then he says Twilight Races can contine, and will continue. What next? Not allowing pitstops?

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I read in some articel drivers like it, such raikkonen( i though maybe he could go directly on-tim to stripper club) instead of waiting and sleeping for a couple of hours

2 Hot 2 Handle.

MS-


KR -



"You must always pick the worst car and the worst team on the grid, to be the best."
—Fangio

I don't mind the rain. Ecclestone hopefully doesn't control the weather.

But as pointed out on Speed forums

"However, should two hours elapse before the scheduled race distance is completed, the leader will be shown the chequered flag when he crosses the control line (the Line) at the end of the lap during which the two hour period ended. However, should the race be suspended (see Article 41) the length of the suspension will be added to this period."

Starting at 5 PM in Malaysia means that to get the full race (at the rate it was going prior to the red flag) in before the sunset the suspension can be no more than 35 minutes.

I don't really get why Ecclestone doesn't want to maximize the chance of getting a full race in. The cars (sponsorship stickers) are covered up in case of a downpour anyway.

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One of the paradoxes of this trying to suit European viewers thing is that at some stages it is really hard to see what is going on on screen due to the light, particularly the on-board cams. In Australia it was difficult to see and when the rain came in Malaysia it was pretty much impossible. Admittedly due to they dark cloud cover in Sepang, the vision may not have been much better around midday either.

As I said, I don't mind general mayhem in Formula 1; being honest, I'm all for it. But:

i) The rain in Malaysia was possibly unprecedented for F1, in both its heavyness and it's suddenness.
Yet it is a near-daily occurrence in Malaysia at this time. It isn't like nobody knew that the rain wasn't going to come at this time; we all knew it would and that it would be very heavy. So I don't think anyone would have complained if the rain fell at 2 or so during a race at that time, because that would have been unpredictable. Rain at around 6 in the evening isn't. Surely someone must have realised that it would result in undriveable conditions.

ii)Teams test at twilight at tracks like Valencia, Barcelona, where ever else. Nice, open, modern tracks with little to block out the sun. What they don't do is test on tree lined street circuits at this time. Rather than having the eyes adjust gradually to the light at the open circuit, at Melbourne the light would have been flashing on-off into their eyes. However these are the best drivers in the world and despite their complaining, they got on with it, as one would expect.

It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to say this, I do agree with the Lopper here :P.

Why thank you Gui.