I guess it was an April Fools joke? Or not..

[www.bbc.com]



Bernie Ecclestone says F1 is like 'Rolling Stones without Mick Jagger'

Bernie Ecclestone says Formula 1 is "cheating" its fans because the quality of the show is poor.

The 85-year-old F1 supremo likened the sport to a rock concert at which the band turned up but could not perform.

"We are not putting on a very good show," he said, in the build-up to Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.
"Imagine if people turned up to watch the Rolling Stones and Mick (Jagger) couldn't sing and the others couldn't play their instruments."

In a wide-ranging interview with BBC Radio 5 live, Ecclestone also:

questioned the motives of the drivers in writing their open letter criticising the governance of F1;
refused to criticise the controversial new qualifying system that is still in place for Bahrain, despite the teams agreeing to drop it;
said the new turbo hybrid engines introduced in 2014 were a "disaster".
Has technology made Formula 1 less exciting?
Last week, the drivers wrote an open letter saying the decision-making process in F1 is "obsolete and ill-structured".

Responding the following day, Ecclestone said he agreed with the drivers.

But he told BBC Sport he thought the drivers were saying "probably what their teams had told them to say".

Alex Wurz, the chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, was not immediately available to respond to Ecclestone's claims.

Ecclestone added the governance of F1 was "nothing to do with me".

On the issue of qualifying, Ecclestone blamed governing body the FIA for the new format, which was supposed to spice up race weekends.

It did the opposite at the season-opening race in Australia, prompting teams to call for a return to the 2015 system.

However, the move was blocked by FIA president Jean Todt.