Bernie Ecclestone wants to introduce “shortcuts” on race tracks to boost entertainment and allow the top drivers to do more overtaking, the Formula One supremo said on Wednesday.
The idea, which has yet to garner support from teams, would be another radical change to the sport, with nothing similar ever having been adopted.
“I’ve tried to push the teams with a number of proposals. Imagine a shortcut which a driver can use five times every race. It would stop people getting stuck behind others. It would be good for TV,” the 79-year-old told reporters at Ferrari’s pre-season ski retreat.
Ecclestone, who is also battling to change the points system to aid leading drivers, also complained that brakes in Formula One cars were too efficient and reduced the amount of overtaking, which he said fans like to watch.
Despite believing the sport can be improved, the Briton reckoned this season would be among the best with Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and the returning Michael Schumacher all on the grid.
“We’ve got four world champions for a start. It’s going to be a good year. There’ll be good competition inside the teams and between the teams,” he said.
Ecclestone, who laughed and joked with Alonso after a day’s skiing, repeated his belief that some of the new teams added to Formula One this season may struggle to race.
“I think they’ll have trouble getting to the first race. We’ll wait and see. It’s only a small problem. Finance,” he said as new entries USF1, Campos, Virgin and Lotus plan to start the campaign. “As long as we have 10 solid teams, it’s all we need.”
Ecclestone also confirmed an agreement had been signed to hold a grand prix through the streets of Rome in the coming years, although no date has been set.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier