Ecclestone turns his back on “the new generation”

Bernie Ecclestone will still cause a lot of ink to flow after speaking to Campaign Asia-Pacific magazine about his vision for the future of F1 at a time when the discipline is going through a difficult situation faced with the economic problems of certain teams and an audience which continues to fall. At 84, the British businessman still runs F1 with an iron fist and makes few concessions to the parties involved. If retirement had been mentioned, particularly during his judgment in the bribery case to recover disciplinary rights, Mr. E. seems unassailable.

However, his latest statements seem worrying to say the least since Bernie Ecclestone shows no interest in the new generation, the Briton not seeing the financial interest with this type of public. “I'm not interested in Twitter, Facebook and all those things that don't make any sense. I'm still trying to find out but I'm way too old. I don't see any value in it and I don't see what the so-called new generation of today really wants. If you want to put a brand in front of several hundred million people, you can easily do it on TV. But I'm now being told to find a channel for 15 year olds to watch F1 because anyone is interested in that market? It won't interest them in the least. »

Bernie Ecclestone is not stopping there since the F1 financier specifies that he is focusing on an older audience because they are more financially well-off. But the Briton's comments must always be taken with a certain distance, the latter being used to playing with the press. “Young people will see the Rolex brand, but will they actually buy one? They can't afford it. We also have UBS as a partner, but young people don't care about banks. They don't have the money to invest it anyway. I don't know why people are interested in the younger generation... I prefer 70 year old people with pockets full of money. There is no point in attracting these young people because they will not buy any product and if broadcasters are looking for this type of audience, they should get advertisements with Disney. »