An interview appeared Thursday on the official Formula One Web site in which both Bernie Ecclestone, the series’ promoter and owner of the Web site, and Christian Horner, the director of the Red Bull team, discuss common themes.
Ecclestone is as outspoken as usual, and he talks freely about cheating when he was the team director and owner of the Brabham team in the 1970s and ’80s.
“But back then, at the times of Brabham, I had a significant advantage,” Ecclestone said. “We were the masters of cheating and never got caught. That’s not possible nowadays!”
“Today it is all about who’s interpreting the rules best,” he added. “That means staying within the rules but thinking outside of the box because the control mechanisms are too tight to take a risk.”
He also questions the value of the Formule One Teams Association, which helps negotiate commercial rights with Ecclestone, who ran the group’s predecessor, the Formula One Constructors’ Association, in the 1970s.
“It is an unnecessary association of people who should put their sole emphasis on getting competitive cars on the grid,” Ecclestone said. “It’s just more of what they don’t have to think of. I look after that, so there are enough financial resources.”