Ecclestone: Lewis Hamilton would be the better champion for F1

F1's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone has come out and said that Lewis Hamilton would be the better 2014 world champion, despite the fact that he tipped Nico Rosberg to do it earlier in the season and that he would prefer to have a world champion who can speak five languages fluently, as Rosberg can. He also said that he imagined that Mercedes might have favoured a German winning the title, but now sees that there has not been any special help to make that happen.

Speaking in a joint interview with Hamilton for official F1 website F1.com, Ecclestone said he initially thought Rosberg would be champion,

"Because I thought that would probably suit the team better. And in my position I thought it would be better for Formula One to have a world champion who can speak several languages. I thought that if there was going to be any help, which I am certain that there hasn’t been, then maybe there would be a bit more support forthcoming from a German team for a German driver.

"So yes, I was sure that Nico would do it. Privately I thought that Lewis would be a good champion. He is more widely known around the world than Nico. Consequently, he would be the better champion for the sport. I’m sure that, for example, 80 percent of the people in America know Lewis, and it’s probably the same for the rest of the world. Most people haven’t heard of Nico.

"Therefore, Lewis would be the better champion as far as this sport is concerned."

There is another interesting passage where Hamilton makes a request to Ecclestone that the standard of the winners' trophies be improved. Hamilton was very unhappy about the trophy he got for winning the British Grand Prix in July this year, making a pointed criticism of it during the press conference.

Hamilton: The trophies lately are terrible. They used to be excellent, but in recent years they’ve become cheap and fragile. Can’t we do something about that?

Ecclestone: Usually, the organisers were responsible for the trophies. But nowadays, they approach the sponsors and leave it to them. I like some of the trophies, though.

Hamilton: Really? The design isn’t the problem, but the material. Previously, when I used to look at all the trophies in the cabinet at McLaren, the cups were nice and solid. When I held up my winner’s trophy at Silverstone this year, it broke. Some of the trophies today are as bad as when I was in karting.

Asked whether he can do something about the trophies, Ecclestone said,

Yes, we should designate someone to be responsible for the trophies. I’ll see to that.

Hamilton: I really value the trophies - they make me proud. It’s also not nice when drivers get replicas and the originals go to the team…

Ecclestone: ...absolutely right. It’s not them who have won it, after all. They belong to the driver. But we’ve hit on a different problem there."

What do you think? Do you agree with Ecclestone or do you think that Nico Rosberg as champion would be better for the sport?