News

Ecclestone vows to save Hispania

Ecclestone will help Spanish squad; Hamilton has been ‘disappointing’ while Button has surprised; F1 isn’t the same without Max and Flavio

Bernie Ecclestone has admitted that Hispania Racing may not make it to the end of the season, but that he will do all he can to make sure all of the current teams make it to the end of the season.

Hispania has been plagued with financial issues for the majority of its existence, with the Spanish squad having faced an uphill battle to make it to the opening of the season in Bahrain.

However, the F1 supremo is confident of finding a solution to make sure that none of the teams will be forced to leave the sport.

“HRT have got problems. I will sort it out,” Ecclestone said in an interview in the Daily Telegraph newspaper. “I’d like to see 12 teams finish the season because they have made the commitment to come in.

“We might lose one of them. But I’m doing my bit to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

Ecclestone gave his opinion on both McLaren drivers in the interview, saying that he had been disappointed with Lewis Hamilton so far this season, despite the British drivers storming drives through the field.

“Hamilton has been disappointing,” he added. “He was unlucky in the last race but that’s what happens when things are going badly for you.

“People praise his overtaking but you don’t get any points for passing cars.”

However, the 79-year-old, said that he was surprised with Jenson Button – admitting that he bet against the reigning world champion actually winning a race in 2010.

“I was stupid enough to have a bet with someone that neither Jenson nor Michael would win a race this season. Now I’m out of pocket.”

Ecclestone also conceded that he was missing former Renault team-principal, Flavio Briatore, along with former FIA President Max Mosley.

“Yes, I miss having Flav about the place. He is good company and he was good for this sport. People associated him with F1. He was a character. We miss Max, too. Max got a lot more right than wrong.

“The biggest problem that Max had was that he couldn’t package things in a nice way. You tell people to take it or leave it and it doesn’t work. It’s quieter now at the FIA, which is how we like it.”

Most Popular

To Top