BERNIE BLASTED
Legend Lauda whacks ‘Godfather’ Ecclestone for criticism of Rosberg
AMONG the modern art in Bernie Ecclestone’s Knightsbridge offices is a picture of him and Niki Lauda, Monaco, from the 1970s. Inscribed on it by Lauda are the words: ‘A lot of people are tall. Only a few have a big heart. You are one of them. You make us all look small.’
Well, here in a lukewarm paddock this weekend ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix, that fraternal bond has been strained.
For Lauda, three-time world champion and Mercedes chairman, has remonstrated with Ecclestone for criticising his driver Nico Rosberg, the championship leader, as being rather on the dull side to be a worthwhile title winner.
‘There’s nothing to write about him,’ said Ecclestone.
Now, when you have nearly been burnt out of existence in a Ferrari fireball, as Lauda was 40 years ago, you have nothing to fear by going in and giving it straight to the little Big Man who runs the sport with an aura of fear.
‘I did speak to Bernie,’ Lauda reported back. ‘He told me he never meant it in a hard way about Nico. Typical Bernie. We all know that he did. He will never admit it if he says or does too much. But I think I gave him the message. ‘I told him it’s not a marketing world championship; it’s a drivers’ world championship. And if I have a driver here fighting like hell with his friend who is racing in the same car (Lewis Hamilton), right on the limit, and then the Godfather makes this kind of comment, then it is hard.’ Lauda is just back from a few days of rest and relaxation in Los Angeles after the US race last week, won by Hamilton. ‘Let’s go inside,’ he said, not liking the cool paddock temperature. ‘It is cold out here.’ Lauda was in trademark garb, his red cap concealing some of the horrific scarring he suffered in that fire at the Nurburgring. Shielded in the Mercedes motorhome, Lauda drew on his experience to assess the state of the title race and of the sport. Next for discussion, Rosberg’s team-mate Hamilton, who trails the German by 26 points going into the final three rounds, Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi.
‘I have no problem with Lewis at all,’ said Lauda. ‘What he does between races is none of my business. He has one style of life — relaxed, enjoying himself. Nico has a different one — focused on the car, getting everything right.
‘It was like James Hunt and me. We were different. I was very concentrated. He was eccentric. But he was good for Formula One.
‘So far, I’ve not had to manage them at all. They know what they are doing. Since the problems we had earlier in the year (when they crashed in Spain), they have done everything we expected them to do: race each other, but not hit each other.’
Lauda, however, is not entirely sanguine about Formula One, despite three years of Mercedes domination.
‘There are too many rules,’ said the Austrian. ‘We have to reduce them. Nobody understands any more what the hell is going on.’
For all that, Lauda likes Formula One and welcomes the rule changes lined up for next year — wider cars and more speed. ‘Absolutely perfect,’ he said.