Bernie Ecclestone - Access Interviews

Bernie Ecclestone

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:26:23 +0000

You need nerves of steel to take on Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone. Here he talks about Max Mosley, those controversial comments about Hitler and still being in love with his former wife

Bernie Ecclestone

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:26:23 +0000

Looking dapper in a bright-red Ferrari-issue skiing jacket, Bernie Ecclestone turned up in the Dolomites yesterday and predicted that 2010 is going to be the most exciting Formula One season in years. The 79-year-old commercial rights-holder also made a bizarre suggestion about how to improve the spectacle of the sport, with a proposal to include a short cut at circuits that drivers would be able to use a limited number of times during a race as a sort of trump card. Asked about ways to increase the amount of overtaking, Ecclestone revealed that he has proposed to the teams that circuits should be modified to enable drivers to take a short cut now and again to enable them to get ahead of cars holding them up. “It would be very easy for us, on each circuit, to have an area where you could gain a lot of time, so you could overtake,” he said. “You can imagine a short cut if you like, which a driver can use five times during a race, so it will stop people getting stuck behind somebody. “It would be great for TV and good for commentators, who would talk about one driver with three [short cuts] left and another with two.” It is the second year in succession that Ecclestone has visited Ferrari’s traditional pre-season ski meeting here, where the Scuderia introduce their drivers for the season — in this case, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, who have been enjoying a chance to get on the piste. Ecclestone, who is being accompanied by his 30-year-old girlfriend, Fabiana Flosi, during a two-day stay, is being treated like visiting royalty. And he has not ruled out a little skiing. “If you do, I will,” he quipped when asked about his plans by The Times.

Bernie Ecclestone

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:26:23 +0000

BERNIE ECCLESTONE has risked infuriating already angry F1 fans by sucking up to old pal Flavio Briatore. Billionaire Ecclestone was on the World Motor Sport Council that banned former Renault team chief Briatore for fixing last year's Singapore Grand Prix. But incredibly the F1 supremo now claims he reckons the shamed Italian - and fellow co-owner of football club QPR - was treated too harshly. Briatore, 59, was banned indefinitely from FIA-sanctioned events for his role in the scandal when driver Nelson Piquet Jnr was told to crash into a wall to bring out the safety car. But - in the build up to this year's Singapore showdown - Ecclestone said: "I would have banned Flavio for one year. That would have been enough. "But I was on the Council - so I am probably just as guilty as anyone else. "On reflection it was not necessary. It was too much - definitely too much. "If I were him, I'd appeal the ban. I'd go to the FIA court of appeal, and get it overturned. "The sport needs colourful characters. Flav was one of those. Now we've lost Ron Dennis and Flav. It's a great shame."

Bernie Ecclestone

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:26:23 +0000

Formula One commercial rights-holder seeks to scotch speculation by handing Edward Gorman direct line to his bosses from paddock. Bernie Ecclestone knows how to play the cloak-and- dagger game of Formula One politics better than anyone else. This weekend, and for the first time in his long career masterminding the sport, reports emerged suggesting that the company that employs him to run Formula One is considering getting rid of him. Unnamed sources said that the board of CVC Capital Partners, the private-equity company that owns 68 per cent of Formula One, met in London on Tuesday to discuss a plan of action to remove Ecclestone in the wake of his ill-judged praise of Adolf Hitler in an interview with this newspaper ten days ago. The meeting was described in considerable detail. It was attended by, among others, Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, the marketing agency, and a board member of CVC, and Peter Brabeck, a senior figure at Nestlé, both of whom are Jewish and were said to be outraged at Ecclestone’s view that Hitler was a man who could “get things done”. The suggestion was that CVC had decided enough was enough and that the 78-year-old billionaire, who has run the sport for the past 30 years, should be “moved upstairs”.

Bernie Ecclestone

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:26:23 +0000

First, an apology. As readers of The Times will know, I remarked in an interview with this newspaper that Hitler was able to get things done. I have no complaints about the quote — it is what I said — but it was not what I meant to say. Not surprisingly it has upset a number of people in the Jewish community, in Germany and elsewhere. Those who don’t know me think I support Hitler’s atrocities; those who do know me have told me how unwise I was to articulate my points so badly that it should have been so widely misunderstood.

Bernie Ecclestone

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:26:23 +0000

Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One chief, said yesterday that he preferred totalitarian regimes to democracies and praised Adolf Hitler for his ability to “get things done”. In an outspoken interview with The Times, the 78-year-old billionaire chastised contemporary politicians for their weakness and extolled the virtues of strong leadership. Mr Ecclestone said: “In a lot of ways, terrible to say this I suppose, but apart from the fact that Hitler got taken away and persuaded to do things that I have no idea whether he wanted to do or not, he was in the way that he could command a lot of people, able to get things done. “In the end he got lost, so he wasn’t a very good dictator because either he had all these things and knew what was going on and insisted, or he just went along with it . . . so either way he wasn’t a dictator.” He also rounded on democracy, claiming that “it hasn’t done a lot of good for many countries — including this one [Britain]”.

Bernie Ecclestone

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:26:23 +0000

At 78, and newly divorced, formula one supremo Bernie Ecclestone defends his associates, Mosley and Goodwin, and explains why the recession doesn't trouble him - but life without Slavica doesMax Mosley would have made a better prime minister than Tony Blair, according to Bernie Ecclestone. "And I'm a big Blair supporter," the impresario of formula one adds, a surprising admission in the light of the 1997 cash-for-ash scandal, when the Labour party was forced to return Ecclestone's £1m donation following allegations of influence being brought to bear in an attempt to exempt grand prix racing from the European Union's ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorship.Six or seven years ago, Ecclestone said, he attempted to persuade Mosley, his associate of 40 years and the son of Britain's most notorious fascist leader, to revive his political ambitions. "He would have liked a political position. He's a good leader and he'd have been a bloody good prime minister. He thinks on his feet. He could hold his own against anybody who wanted to do battle against him. And he would be committed enough to do what he felt had to be done."Where would Sir Oswald Mosley's son, who campaigned for his father's postwar, pro-European Union movement and later attempted to become a Conservative parliamentary candidate, have fitted into the political spectrum? "Probably like his dad." But wouldn't his family history have been an insuperable handicap? "He always had that baggage around him, about what people might have thought. But most of those people didn't really know what his father stood for. His father stood for what he thought was right at the time, whether it was right or wrong. Now we know. But at the time that was what his father thought, and he was committed to it. "Would people be against Max for that? Some people would, for sure. I did ask people at the time, in the Jewish community, 'Do you think if Max stood there would be an opposition?' And each one of them, without exception, said, 'I don't think so.' But he couldn't get a seat from which he could operate."This week, as the 78-year-old Ecclestone discovered his wife of 24 years had been granted a quickie divorce, he watched with admiration as Mosley, 10 years his junior and bruised but unbowed by last year's revelations about his sex life, put the case for a privacy law to a House of Commons select committee."Max is ballsy," Ecclestone said, perched on a chair in the Knightsbridge headquarters of his empire. "He's taken it in his stride. I'm very proud of him, the way he's going forward with that, to protect people's privacy. A lot of people could have done it before and didn't." Twelve months ago, when the News of the World published details of Mosley's activities in a Chelsea basement, Ecclestone was among the first to call for his removal from the presidency of the FIA, world motor sport's governing body. Many observers were shocked at the apparent evidence of a rift in such a close and long-standing partnership. Others, of a more cynical nature, were unsurprised when, as the heat died down, Ecclestone publicly recanted."I was pushed by an awful lot of people who said you should make an effort to get him to stand down," Ecclestone said. "I didn't want him to. What happened didn't bother me in the slightest, and he's proved that he was right in not standing down. He's absolutely 100% right with his privacy thing."The two men joined forces in the early 1970s, while both were owners of grand prix teams. When Ecclestone took over the Formula One Constructors' Association, Mosley became the organisation's lawyer. Together, the son of a Suffolk trawlerman and the Oxford-educated barrister established a template for the commercial exploitation of modern sport. Several years ago, in a deal of unprecedented scope, Mosley and the FIA granted Ecclestone's company a 100-year lease on formula one's commercial rights, for the sum of $313m (£224m). He paid in one lump, at eight hours' notice, without the benefit of a bank loan. "Since the day I started in business," he said, "I've never borrowed one single pound." Over the years he is believed to have earned around $3bn from the sale of his share in the commercial rights, which he still runs through an agreement with the present owners, a private equity company. On their behalf he negotiates revenues from broadcasting, race sponsorship and trackside advertising, and from the fees charged to race promoters. His personal fortune, which is estimated at £2.4bn, appears to have remained virtually unchanged over the past five years.Not surprisingly, he defends the super-rich in their hour of trial. "These people started with the same amount of money as the people who disapprove of them, and they happen to have made more," he said. But the world in which he lives is the one that has suddenly attracted widespread disapproval: that of investment banks, leveraging, securitisation and offshore trusts. He sold formula one to bankers, and his personal wealth has long been lodged in such tax havens as Jersey and Liechtenstein. He is scornful, however, of this week's announcement in Forbes magazine that the number of billionaires in the world has dropped by a third in the past year."Those people were never billionaires in the first place," he said. "They could take their bits of paper and ask their accountant, 'If we sold the company and if somebody wanted to buy it, what would we be able to sell it for?' But they could never have gone to the bank and written a cheque for what they were alleged to be worth."Could you?"I could. I could go to the bank and draw the money out."He defends Sir Fred Goodwin, the former boss of Royal Bank of Scotland, who put millions of pounds of the bank's money into formula one. Could Goodwin, who was seen at the circuits in the company of his consultant, Sir Jackie Stewart, be described as an F1 fan?"No. He was a fan of the bank. He was trying to do a good job for them. I've no idea whether he was or not. Presumably he was, otherwise he wouldn't have been paid the salary that he was."So what would Ecclestone do about Goodwin and his £700,000-a-year pension? "Nothing. Presumably he was employed by someone, and if people there didn't realise what he was doing, that's their problem. He's got a pension which was agreed at the time, and everybody must have been happy with it, and I don't think anybody should touch it. He got fired or left because of what happened, but one has to wonder, really and truly, was he the only person who made the decisions? And maybe if he'd been allowed to make the decisions, he wouldn't have made the decisions that caused the bank to be in trouble."Ecclestone said if his advice had been followed, the crisis would never have become a full-blown recession. "I said in September, when it was obvious what was going to happen, that I would have got the major countries together and got them to agree to print 15% more money and start massive inflation, which would get the world going, and then over the next five years get the inflation down to reality. They're doing it, but too late. But I said a long time ago that the stockmarket would crash and that Europe would become a third-world economy. And it will."By that time, his empire will have moved elsewhere. Grand prix races now take place in China, Malaysia and Bahrain, with Korea, India and Russia primed to take over as traditional circuits in France, Germany, Italy and England fall victim to the recession and to Ecclestone's financial demands. But with the 2009 world championship beginning in Australia in a fortnight, he insisted that formula one is not under siege, despite the withdrawal during the winter of several prominent sponsors, including RBS."I don't get the impression that this crisis has caused any problems, which is a big surprise," he said. "You would have thought that the teams would take less people and start to cut down on costs. But they're taking more people to the races than they took last year. I know exactly because we do all the credentials. It doesn't look to me as though they're cutting down too much." So will he be cheering for Lewis Hamilton, whose last-ditch victory in Brazil in October was the answer to an impresario's prayers? "Honest to God," he said, "I don't care who wins the championship. But it's only ever happened once that a guy wins the championship on the last corner of the last lap of the last race of the season. Lewis obliged. I was very happy."Meanwhile Ecclestone is dealing with the sudden changes to his life wrought by his divorce from Slavica Radic, a Croatian former model 28 years his junior and, famously, almost a foot taller, with whom he has said he expected to spend the rest of his life. The offshore trusts in which his fortune is invested were in her name, but the financial details of the separation appear to have been concluded amicably. The couple have two daughters: Tamara, 24, a TV presenter, and Petra, 20, a fashion designer. "I still come in at the same time in the morning and leave at the same time at night," he said, "and when there's racing at the weekends I'm away and when there isn't I'm at home. From that point of view it hasn't changed. It's just that if I go home at night there's nobody in the house. Tamara and Petra have been very good to me. They keep their eye on me to make sure that there's nothing I need and that I'm eating properly. They ring me every day, sometimes two or three times a day. They look after me."Ecclestone is known for an obsession with tidiness. In the days when he subsidised a digital TV operation at each race, he insisted that the dozen or so trucks transporting the equipment were parked not only with their number plates in order but with the manufacturers' names on their tyres aligned."If I came to your house," he said, "I'd upset you because if I saw the pictures were crooked, I'd go round straightening them up. Apart from being mad, it's a bit rude. And in a lot of ways it's probably frustrating for people that you're with."Slavica isn't a tidy person, but it didn't bother me. I was happy living with her, and if she was leaving things about a bit it didn't bother me. It bothered her that I was tidy. So I fell into her ways. That's how it was. In the meantime, in other areas I've still got a tidy mind. I still straighten the pictures up."So for now, like a racing car endlessly circling the track, Ecclestone continues to exert a virtually single-handed control over one of the biggest shows in the world of sport, dismissing notions of retirement. "I'll continue to do what I do as long as the shareholders are happy and as long as I can deliver," he said. "When I feel, 'Bernie, you ain't getting the job done any longer,' then I'll do something else. Until then, I'm here."Ecclestone's difficult yearFebruaryFans with blackened faces direct insults at Lewis Hamilton during a test session in Spain. "I don't think it was anything to do with racism," Ecclestone said.MarchThe News of the World publishes details of Max Mosley's sado-masochistic sessions with prostitutes in a London basement. Ecclestone is among those who call on him to resign as president of the FIA, but later apologised.JulyA new organisation, the Formula One Teams Association, announces its intention to fight Ecclestone for a bigger slice of the sport's profits.NovemberA spokesman for Slavica Ecclestone confirms that she and Bernie are to divorce. A decree absolute is granted on 11 March.DecemberHonda withdraw from formula one, citing a worldwide slump in car sales. Other sponsors, including RBS and ING, also announce their departure.Formula oneMax Mosleyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Bernie Ecclestone

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:26:23 +0000

BILLIONAIRE F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has told the News of the World he hopes to WIN back his wife on Valentine’s Day —even though she’s filed for DIVORCE. The 78-year-old tycoon admits he now has a dilemma over what gift to woo Slavica with— because she already has everything! In an amazingly candid interview, down-in-the-dumps Bernie spoke for the first time about the split with his wife of 24 years. He said: “Slavica is the love of my life. But the lawyers say I mustn’t call her and mustn’t try to get in touch with her.”

Bernie Ecclestone

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:26:23 +0000

Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One commercial rights-holder, launched a stinging attack on Luca di Montezemolo yesterday, effectively telling the Ferrari president to mind his own business, in the wake of the latter’s criticisms of the way Ecclestone is running the sport. Speaking at the Ferrari factory in Maranello, Italy, this week, Di Montezemolo said that Formula One was not being run in what he called a “normal” manner, that the sport did not need a “dictator”, in a remark taken as a reference to Ecclestone, and that teams wanted more of the sport’s vast income and greater transparency from Ecclestone about the extent of that money. “We want to know more about the revenues,” he said. An angry Ecclestone told The Times that Di Montezemolo should be the last person to be complaining about how much income the teams receive. “The only thing he has not mentioned is the extra money Ferrari get above all the other teams and all the extra things Ferrari have had for years – the ‘general help’ they are considered to have had in Formula One,” Ecclestone said. ...

Bernie Ecclestone

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:26:23 +0000

Ecclestone reviews dramatic F1 season. Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone looks back at a dramatic and controversial season and offers his views on the incident in Spain where Lewis Hamilton was the target of racist abuse at a test session. This is the full interview in which Ecclestone sparked the racism row that has engulfed him and Hamilton....

Bernie Ecclestone

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:26:23 +0000

Bernie Ecclestone tells Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek he believes London has a very hard act to follow in staging the Olympic Games after the success of Beijing.

Bernie Ecclestone

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:26:23 +0000

Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone has played down the racism row surrounding Lewis Hamilton, insisting it has been blown out of proportion. The newly-crowned world champion was abused during pre-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya, near Barcelona, in February. Some spectators were pictured mocking Hamilton by wearing wigs, dark make-up and t-shirts with the slogan 'Hamilton's Family'. And in the run up to last weekend's pivotal Brazilian Grand Prix, hundreds of abusive messages were posted on a website in Spain, many of them racist. However, Ecclestone has moved to defuse the row. "I think it's all nonsense," he said. "In Spain people were supporting (Fernando) Alonso and in Sao Paolo they were supporting Felipe (Massa). "I don't think it was anything to do with racism. "There were a few people in Spain and that was probably beginning as a joke rather than anything abusive. "I think people look and read into things that are not there. All those things are all a bit of a joke and people are entitled to support who they want to support. "I don't see why people should have been (insulted by it). These things are people expressing themselves."

Bernie Ecclestone

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:26:23 +0000

Bernie Ecclestone denies exposing Max Mosley sex scandal. Bernie Ecclestone has taken the unprecedented step of issuing an denial that he or anyone associated with him was involved in the exposure of Max Mosley’s predilection for sado-masochistic sex with prostitutes. In an interview with The Times, Ecclestone, the billionaire Formula One commercial rights holder, said he had no interest in “destroying” the embattled FIA president. The men have been close friends and business associates for more than 40 years, but their friendship is under severe strain after Mosley’s refusal to resign as result of the scandal. “It is nothing in the world to do with me in any shape or form,” Ecclestone said at his London office.

Bernie Ecclestone

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:26:23 +0000

"Why I detest democracy, why I gave Labour £1m - and what my wife said when I asked for a mistress." A rare interview with the ruthless and super rich Formula One tycoon Bernie Ecclestone. Petronella Wyatt goes a few dangerous questioning laps with the man who prefers say as little as possible.