Bernie Ecclestone

"Ecclestone" redirects here. For other people with this surname, see Ecclestone (surname).
Bernie Ecclestone

Ecclestone at the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix
Born Bernard Charles Ecclestone
28 October 1930[1]
Bungay, Suffolk, England, UK
Nationality United Kingdom British
Occupation Businessman
Years active Since 1945
Net worth Decrease US$3.8 billion (2015)[2]
Title Chief Executive of Formula One Group
Religion Anglican
Spouse(s) Ivy Bamford (m. 1952–?, divorced)[3]
Slavica Ecclestone (m. 1985–2009) (divorced)[4]
Fabiana Flosi (m. 2012)
Children Deborah Ecclestone (born 1955)[5][6]
Tamara Ecclestone (born 1984)
Petra Ecclestone (born 1988)

Bernard Charles "Bernie" Ecclestone (born 28 October 1930) is a British business magnate.[7] He is the chief executive of the Formula One Group, which manages Formula One and controls the commercial rights to the sport, and part-owns Delta Topco, the ultimate parent company of Group. As such, he is generally considered the primary authority in Formula One racing and is most commonly described in tabloid journalism as "F1 Supremo".[8][9][10]

His early involvement in the sport was as a competitor and then as a manager of drivers Stuart Lewis-Evans and Jochen Rindt. In 1972, he bought the Brabham team, which he ran for fifteen years.[11] As a team owner he became a member of the Formula One Constructors Association. His control of the sport, which grew from his pioneering the sale of television rights in the late 1970s, is chiefly financial, but under the terms of the Concorde Agreement he and his companies also manage the administration, setup and logistics of each Formula One Grand Prix, making him one of the richest men in the UK, according to his net worth. Ecclestone entered two Grand Prix races as a driver, during the 1958 season, but failed to qualify for either of them.

Ecclestone and business partner Flavio Briatore also owned the English football club Queens Park Rangers between 2007 and 2011.[12]

Early life

Ecclestone was born in St Peter, South Elmham, a small hamlet three miles south of Bungay, Suffolk.[13] The son of a fisherman, he attended primary school in Wissett before the family moved to Bexleyheath, South East London, in 1938.[13] Ecclestone left West Central Secondary School, Dartford[14] at the age of 16 to work as an assistant in the chemical laboratory at the local gasworks[15] testing gas purity. He also studied chemistry at Woolwich Polytechnic[14] and pursued his hobby of motorcycles.

Motorsports career

Early career

Immediately after the end of World War II, Ecclestone went into business trading in spare parts for motorcycles, and formed the Compton & Ecclestone motorcycle dealership with Fred Compton. His first racing experience came in 1949 in the 500cc Formula 3 Series, acquiring a Cooper Mk V in 1951. He drove only a limited number of races, mainly at his local circuit, Brands Hatch, but achieved a number of good placings and an occasional win.[11] He initially retired from racing following several accidents at Brands Hatch, intending to focus on his business interests.[16]

Team ownership

Formula One World Championship career
Nationality United Kingdom British
Active years 1958
Teams Connaught
Races 2 (0 starts)
Championships 0
Wins 0
Podiums 0
Career points 0
Pole positions 0
Fastest laps 0
First race 1958 Monaco Grand Prix
Last race 1958 British Grand Prix

After his accident, Ecclestone temporarily left racing to make a number of eventually lucrative investments in real estate and loan financing and to manage the Weekend Car Auctions firm. He returned to racing in 1957 as manager of driver Stuart Lewis-Evans, and purchased two chassis from the disbanded Connaught F1 team,[17] whose driver line-up over the years had included Lewis-Evans, Roy Salvadori, Archie Scott Brown, and Ivor Bueb. Ecclestone even attempted, unsuccessfully, to qualify a car himself at Monaco in 1958 (although this has since been described as "not a serious attempt"). He also entered the British Grand Prix, but the car was raced by Jack Fairman.[18] He continued to manage Lewis-Evans when he moved to the Vanwall team; Salvadori moved on to manage the Cooper team. Lewis-Evans suffered severe burns when his engine exploded at the 1958 Moroccan Grand Prix and succumbed to his injuries six days later; Ecclestone was rather shaken up and once again retired from racing.

His friendship with Salvadori led to his becoming manager of driver Jochen Rindt[11] and a partial owner[19] of Rindt's 1970 Lotus Formula 2 team (whose other driver was Graham Hill). Rindt, on his way to the 1970 World Championship, died in a crash at the Monza circuit, though he was awarded the championship posthumously. In early 1972, Ecclestone purchased the Brabham team from Ron Tauranac.

Brabham

During the 1971 season, Ecclestone was approached by Ron Tauranac, owner of the Brabham team, who was looking for a suitable business partner. Ecclestone made him an offer of £100,000 for the whole team, which Tauranac eventually accepted.[11] The Australian stayed on as designer and to run the factory.[20] Colin Seeley was briefly brought in against Tauranac's wishes to assist in design and management.

Ecclestone and Tauranac were both dominant personalities and Tauranac left Brabham early in the 1972 season. The team achieved little during 1972, as Ecclestone moulded the team to fit his vision of a Formula One team. He abandoned the highly successful customer car production business established by Jack Brabham and Tauranac – reasoning that to compete at the very front in Formula One you must concentrate all of your resources there. For the 1973 season, Ecclestone promoted Gordon Murray to chief designer. The young South African produced the triangular cross-section BT42, the first of a series of Ford powered cars with which the Brabham team would take several victories in 1974 and 1975 with Carlos Reutemann and Carlos Pace.

Despite the increasing success of Murray's nimble Ford-powered cars, Ecclestone signed a deal with Alfa Romeo to use their powerful but heavy flat-12 engine from the 1976 season. Although this was financially beneficial, the new BT45s were unreliable and the Alfa engines rendered them significantly overweight. The 1976 and 1977 seasons saw Brabham fall towards the back of the field again, before winning two races again in the 1978 season when Ecclestone signed the Austrian double world champion Niki Lauda, intrigued by Murray's radical BT46 design.

The Brabham-Alfa era ended in 1979, the team's first season with the up-and-coming young Brazilian Nelson Piquet when Alfa Romeo started testing their own Formula One car during this season. This prompted Ecclestone to revert to Cosworth DFV engines – a move his designer described as "like having a holiday".

Piquet formed a close and long lasting relationship with Ecclestone and the team, losing the title after a narrow battle with Alan Jones in 1980 and eventually winning in 1981 and 1983. In the summer of 1981 Brabham had tested a car powered by a BMW turbo engine, and 1982's new BT50 was powered by BMW's turbocharged 4-cylinder M10. Brabham continued to run the Ford-powered BT49D in the early part of the season while reliability and driveability issues were sorted out by BMW and their technical partner, Bosch. Ecclestone and BMW came close to splitting before the turbo car duly took its first win at the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix but the partnership took the first turbo-powered world championship in 1983.

The team continued to be competitive until 1985. At the end of the year, Piquet left after seven years. He was unhappy with the money that Ecclestone was willing to offer him and went to Williams where he would win his third championship. The following year, Murray, who since 1973 had designed cars that had scored 22 GP wins, left Brabham to join McLaren. Brabham continued under Ecclestone's leadership to the end of the 1987 season, in which the team scored only eight points. BMW withdrew from Formula One after the 1987 season.

Having bought the team from Ron Tauranac for approximately $120,000 at the end of 1971, Ecclestone eventually sold it for over US$5 million to a Swiss businessman, Joachim Luhti.

Formula One executive

See also: FISA–FOCA war
Michael Schumacher meeting Ecclestone in September 1991 at a sportscar race at Magny-Cours, France (Ecclestone's then-wife Slavica on the right)

In parallel to his activities as team owner, Ecclestone formed the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA) in 1974 with Frank Williams, Colin Chapman, Teddy Mayer, Ken Tyrrell, and Max Mosley. He became increasingly involved with his roles at FISA and the FOCA in the 1970s, in particular with negotiating the sport's television rights, in his decades-long advocacy for team control.[11]

Ecclestone became chief executive of FOCA in 1978 with Mosley as his legal advisor; together, they negotiated a series of legal issues with the FIA and Jean-Marie Balestre, culminating in Ecclestone's famous coup, his securing the right for FOCA to negotiate television contracts for the Grands Prix. For this purpose Ecclestone established Formula One Promotions and Administration, giving 47% of television revenues to teams, 30% to the FIA, and 23% to FOPA (i.e. Ecclestone himself); in return, FOPA put up the prize money – grand prix could literally be translated from French as "big prize".

Television rights shuffled between Ecclestone's companies, teams, and the FIA in the late 1990s, but Ecclestone emerged on top again in 1997 when he negotiated the present Concorde Agreement: in exchange for annual payments, he maintained the television rights.

Also in 1978, Ecclestone hired Sid Watkins as official Formula One medical doctor. Following the crash at the 1978 Italian Grand Prix, Watkins demanded that Ecclestone provide better safety measures, which were provided at the next race. This way, Formula One began to improve safety, decreasing the number of deaths and serious injuries along the decades.

Despite heart surgery and triple coronary bypass in 1999, Ecclestone has remained as energetic as always in promoting his own business interests. In the late 1990s he reduced his share in SLEC Holdings (owner of the various F1 managing firms) to 25%, though despite his minority share he retained complete control of the companies. Also in 1999, Terry Lovell published a biography of Ecclestone, Bernie's Game: Inside the Formula One World of Bernie Ecclestone (ISBN 1-84358-086-1). In April 2000 Ecclestone sold International Sportsworld Communicators to David Richards. ISC owned the commercial rights for the World Rally Championship.

The revenue sharing with the various teams, the Concorde Agreement, expired on the last day of 2007, and the contract with the FIA expired on the last day of 2012.

Other activities

Ecclestone came under fire in October 2004 when he and British Racing Drivers' Club president Jackie Stewart were unable to come to terms regarding the future British Grand Prix, causing the race to be dropped from the 2005 provisional season calendar. However, when the heads of the ten teams met and agreed on a series of cost-cuts later in the month, the race was again added to the calendar, and a contract on 9 December guaranteed its continuation for five years. In mid-November 2004, the three banks who comprise Speed Investments, which owns a 75% share in SLEC, which in turn controls Formula One – Bayerische Landesbank, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Lehman Brothers – sued Ecclestone for more control over the sport, prompting speculation that Ecclestone might altogether lose the control he has maintained for more than thirty years. A two-day hearing began on 23 November, but after the proceedings had ended the following day, Justice Andrew Park announced his intention to reserve ruling for several weeks. On 6 December 2004, Park read his verdict, stating that "In [his] judgment it is clear that Speed's contentions are correct and [he] should therefore make the declarations which it requests."[21] However, Ecclestone insisted that the verdict – seen almost universally as a legal blow to his control of Formula One – would mean "nothing at all".[22] He stated his intention to appeal the decision. The following day, at a meeting of team bosses at Heathrow Airport in London, Ecclestone offered the teams a total of £260,000,000 over three years in return for unanimous renewal of the Concorde Agreement, which expired in 2008.[23] Two weeks later, Gerhard Gribkowsky, a board member of Bayerische Landesbank and the chairman of SLEC, stated that the banks had no intention to remove Ecclestone from his position of control.[24]

Ecclestone with King of Bahrain Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifah and Russian President Vladimir Putin on tribunes of the races Formula One in Sochi. October 12, 2014

Ecclestone was a victim of theft in March 2005: two wheels were stolen from his car while it was parked outside his London home. The car, a brand new Mercedes-Benz CLS55 AMG, was said to be the first of its kind in Britain. On Friday, 17 June 2005, Ecclestone made American headlines with his reply to a question about Danica Patrick's fourth-place finish at the Indianapolis 500, during an interview with Indianapolis television station WRTV: "She did a good job, didn't she? Super. Didn't think she'd be able to make it like that. You know, I've got one of these wonderful ideas that women should be all dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances." (Following Danica Patrick's 2008 victory at Twin Ring Motegi, Ecclestone personally sent her a congratulatory letter).[25] Two days later, Ecclestone saw 14 of 20 cars refuse to race in the 2005 United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The seven teams who refused to participate, stating concern over the safety of their Michelin tyres, requested rule changes and/or a change to the track configuration. Despite a series of meetings between Ecclestone, Max Mosley, and the team principals, no compromise was reached by race time, and Ecclestone became an object of the public's frustration at the resultant six-car race. Despite him not having caused the problem, fans and journalists blamed him for failing to take control and enforce a solution, given the position of power in which he had placed himself.

On 25 November 2005 CVC Capital Partners announced it was to purchase both the Ecclestone shares of the Formula One Group (25% of SLEC) and Bayerische Landesbank's 48% share (held through Speed Investments). This left Alpha Prema owning 71.65% of the Formula One group. Ecclestone used the proceeds of this sale to purchase a stake in this new company (the exact ratio of the CVC/Ecclestone shareholding is not yet known). On 6 December Alpha Prema acquired JP Morgan's share of SLEC to increase its ownership of Formula One to 86%, the remaining 14% was held by Lehman Brothers. On 21 March 2006 the EU competition authorities approved the transaction subject to CVC selling Dorna, which controls the rights to MotoGP. CVC announced the completion of the transaction on 28 March. CVC acquired Lehman Brothers share at the end of March 2006. On 21 July 2007, Ecclestone announced in the media that he would be open to discuss the purchase of Arsenal Football Club. As a close friend to former Director of Arsenal David Dein, it was believed that the current board of the North London–based football club would prefer to sell to a British party, this after American-based investment company KSE headed by "Silent" Stan Kroenke were thought to be preparing a £650 million takeover bid for Arsenal Holdings PLC.

After the loss of Silverstone as the venue for the British Grand Prix in 2008, Ecclestone came under fire from several high-profile names for his handling of Formula One's revenues. Damon Hill blamed Formula One Management as a key factor in the loss of the event: "There's always been the question of the FOM fee, and ultimately that is the deciding factor. To quote Bernie, he once said: 'You can have anything you like, as long as you pay too much for it,' but we can't pay too much for something ... The problem is money goes out and away. There's a question whether that money even returns to Formula One."[26] Flavio Briatore also criticised FOM: "Nowadays Ecclestone takes 50% of all revenues, but we are supposed to be able to reduce our costs by 50%".[27]

On 7 January 2010, it was announced that Ecclestone had, together with Genii Capital, submitted a bid for Swedish car brand Saab Automobile.[28]

On the evening of 24 November 2010, whilst returning to his apartment in his central London offices with girlfriend Fabiana Flosi, four men ambushed the pair and robbed them of jewellery, including diamond rings and a watch, with a total value of £200,000 (Ecclestone later said, "I see a figure of £200,000 mentioned but that is bollocks. They won't be going far on what they took off us").[29] In what he called "a good whacking", 80-year-old Ecclestone was left unconscious and was taken to hospital with head injuries and a large black eye.[30] The image of Ecclestone's bruised face was later used in an advertisement by Hublot, the makers of the stolen watch, with the slogan "See what people will do for a Hublot".[31][32]

Queens Park Rangers

On 3 September 2007, it was announced that Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore had bought Queen Park Rangers (QPR) Football Club.[33] In December 2007, they were joined as co-owners by businessman Lakshmi Mittal, the 5th richest person in the world, who bought 20% of the club.[34] On 17 December 2010 it was announced that Ecclestone had purchased the majority of shares from Flavio Briatore becoming the majority shareholder with 62% of the shares.[35] It was announced on 18 August 2011 that Ecclestone and Briatore had sold their entire shareholding in the club to Tony Fernandes, known for his ownership of the Caterham Formula 1 team.[12]

Controversies

Labour Party controversy

In 1997 Ecclestone was involved in a political controversy over the British Labour Party's policy on tobacco sponsorship.

Labour had pledged to ban tobacco advertising in its manifesto ahead of its 1997 General Election victory, supporting a proposed European Union Directive banning tobacco advertising and sponsorship.[36] At this time all leading Formula One Teams carried significant branding from tobacco brands. The Labour Party's stance on banning tobacco advertising was reinforced following the election by forceful statements from the Health Secretary Frank Dobson and Minister for Public Health Tessa Jowell.[37] Ecclestone appealed 'over Jowell's head' to Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair's chief of staff, who arranged a meeting with Blair. Ecclestone and Mosley, both Labour Party donors, met Blair on 16 October 1997, where Mosley argued:

"Motor racing was a world class industry which put Britain at the hi-tech edge. Deprived of tobacco money, Formula One would move abroad at the loss of 50,000 jobs, 150,000 part-time jobs and £900 million of exports."[37]

On 4 November the "fiercely anti-tobacco Jowell" argued in Brussels for an exemption for Formula One. Media attention initially focused on Labour bending its principles for a "glamour sport" and on the "false trail" of Jowell's husband's links to Benetton.[37] On 6 November correspondents from three newspapers inquired whether Labour had received any donations from Ecclestone; he had donated £1 million in January 1997. On 11 November Labour promised to return the money on the advice of Sir Patrick Neill.[38] On 17 November Blair apologised for his government's mishandling of the affair and stated "the decision to exempt Formula One from tobacco sponsorship was taken two weeks later. It was in response to fears that Britain might lose the industry overseas to Asian countries who were bidding for it."[39] In 2008, the year after Blair stepped down as Prime Minister, internal Downing Street memos revealed that in fact the decision had been made at the time of the meeting, and not two weeks later as Blair stated in Parliament.[40]

Women as "domestic appliances"

In 2005, when speaking about IndyCar racer Danica Patrick, he remarked "You know I've got one of those wonderful ideas ... women should be dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances."[41] Ecclestone later called Patrick to apologise, but repeated his comments,[42] before apologising a second time.[43] Earlier, in February 2000, he said that women would never excel in Formula One, stating "she would have to be a woman who was blowing away the boys. ... What I would really like to see happen is to find the right girl, perhaps a black girl with super looks, preferably Jewish or Muslim, who speaks Spanish."[41]

Hitler controversy and anti-semitism

In a Times interview published on 4 July 2009, Ecclestone said "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." According to Ecclestone: "If you have a look at a democracy it hasn’t done a lot of good for many countries — including this one". He also said that his friend of 40 years Max Mosley, the son of British fascist leader Oswald Mosley, "would do a super job" as Prime Minister and added "I don't think his background would be a problem."[44]

Stephen Pollard, editor of The Jewish Chronicle, said: “Mr Ecclestone is either an idiot or morally repulsive. Either he has no idea how stupid and offensive his views are or he does and deserves to be held in contempt by all decent people.”[45] In a subsequent interview with The Jewish Chronicle, Ecclestone said that his comments were taken the wrong way, but apologised, saying, "I'm just sorry that I was an idiot. I sincerely, genuinely apologise."[46] However, when Ecclestone was later told by Associated Press that the World Jewish Congress had called for his resignation, he said "it's a pity they didn't sort the banks out," referring to the financial crisis of 2007–2010, and claimed "They have a lot of influence everywhere."[47]

Bribery accusation

In a 2012 trial against the former BayernLB Chief Risk Officer Gerhard Gribkowsky, the public prosecutor accused Ecclestone of being a co-perpetrator in the case. Gerhard Gribkowsky confessed to the charges of tax evasion, breach of trust and for accepting bribes. In closing arguments at a Munich trial the public prosecutor told the court Ecclestone "hasn't been blackmailed, he is a co-perpetrator in a bribery case". According to the prosecutor and defendant, Ecclestone paid about $44 million to the former banker to get rid of the lender's stake in Formula One. Ecclestone told prosecutors he paid Gribkowsky because he blackmailed him with telling UK tax authorities about a family trust controlled by Ecclestone's former wife.[48] In November 2012 private equity firm Bluewaters Communications Holdings filed a £409m lawsuit against the 2005 sale of Formula One, alleging it was the sports rightful owners.[49]

In May 2013 Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that the Munich prosecutors office had charged Ecclestone with two bribery charges after a two-year investigation into his relationship with Gribkowsky.[50] In July 2013, German prosecutors indicted Ecclestone for alleged bribery. The charge relates to a $44 million (£29m) payment to Gribkowsky. It was linked to the sale of a stake in Formula 1.[51] Gerhard Gribkowsky, the BayernLB bank executive, was found guilty of taking $44m in bribes and failing to pay tax on the money.[52]

Ecclestone has stated that he only paid the monies, as he feared Gerhard Gribkowsky had information about his finances, that if made known to the Inland Revenue, would have been costly.[53]

On 14 January 2014, a court in Munich ruled that Ecclestone would indeed be tried on bribery charges in Germany,[54] and on 5 August 2014, the same court ruled that Ecclestone can pay a £60m settlement, without admitting guilt, to end the trial.[55]

Tax avoidance

Interviews conducted by a German prosecutor in the Gerhard Gribkowsky case showed that Ecclestone had been under investigation by the UK tax authorities for nine years, and that he had avoided the payment of £1.2 billion through a legal tax avoidance scheme. The Inland Revenue agreed to conclude the matter in 2008 with a payment of only £10 million.[56]

Social Media

Ecclestone has always been a critic of social media, suggesting in June 2014 that there was no need to invest in social media after reports suggested TV audiences were dropping in Italy and Germany.[57] He further raised controversy when he said in November 2014 that F1 didn't need to target young viewers, saying that "I tried to find out but in any case I'm too old-fashioned. I couldn't see any value in it. And I don't know what the so-called 'young generation' of today really wants. I don't know why people want to get to the so-called 'young generation'. Why do they want to do that? Is it to sell them something? Most of these kids haven't got any money. I'd rather get to the 70-year-old guy who's got plenty of cash."[58] The emergence of Formula E and their "FanBoost" program designed to draw fan interest into the series poses a serious threat to F1, as Ecclestone becomes more increasingly out of touch with the modern world.[59]

Biography

In 2011 Faber and Faber published Tom Bower's No Angel: The Secret Life of Bernie Ecclestone, a biography purportedly written with Ecclestone's co-operation. Bower is best known for exposé biographies of controversial figures such as Robert Maxwell and Simon Cowell, leading to some commentators (e.g. Brian Appleyard of the New Statesman) to express surprise over Ecclestone's co-operation.[60]

The book recounts an episode at the 1979 Argentinian Grand Prix in which Colin Chapman offered Mario Andretti $1000 to push Ecclestone into a hotel swimming pool in Buenos Aires. A nervous Andretti approached Ecclestone and confessed the plot, to which Ecclestone replied: "Pay me half and you can".[61]

Personal life

The Forbes World's Billionaires List of 2011 ranked Ecclestone as the 4th richest person in the United Kingdom, with an estimated fortune of $4.2 billion,[62] an increase of $200 million from the previous year.[63]

In early 2004, he sold one of his London residences in Kensington Palace Gardens, never having lived in it, to steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal for £57.1 million, at the time making it the most expensive house ever sold.[64] At Grand Prix venues Ecclestone uses a grey mobile home as his headquarters, Known as "Bernie's bus", on race days it is "the hub of the paddock."[65] In 2005 Ecclestone sold his £9 million yacht Va Bene to his long-time friend Eric Clapton.

Ecclestone has been married three times. He has a daughter, Deborah, with first wife Ivy. Deborah and her husband gave him his first grandchild, a grandson. That grandson himself has children, making Bernie a great-grandfather. In total, Ecclestone has five grandchildren; in addition to his grandson by Deborah, he has two granddaughters and two grandsons[66] by his youngest daughters as of 2015.

Ecclestone also had a seventeen-year relationship with Tuana Tan which ended in 1984, when Slavica (later his second wife) became pregnant.[67]

He was then married to Slavica Ecclestone (née Radić) for 23 years. Radić was born in the town of Rijeka in Croatia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia in 1958. She is a former Armani model who is 28 years his junior.[68]

The couple have two daughters, Tamara Ecclestone (born 1984) and Petra Ecclestone (born 1988). The Sun newspaper announced on 20 November 2008 that Slavica Ecclestone had moved out of the family home and filed for divorce.[69] The divorce was granted on 11 March 2009.[70]

In April 2012 Ecclestone announced his engagement to 35 year old Fabiana Flosi who was the Vice-President of Marketing for the Brazilian Grand Prix.[71][72] The news of their marriage became public 26 August 2012.[73]

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 WDC Points
1958 B C Ecclestone Connaught Type B Alta Straight-4 ARG MON
DNQ		 NED 500 BEL FRA GBR
DNQ*		 GER POR ITA MOR NC 0

* car raced by Jack Fairman

Awards and honours

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Notes

  1. ↑ Cary, Tom (28 October 2010). "Bernie Ecclestone at 80: timeline". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  2. ↑ Bernard Ecclestone Forbes. Retrieved March 2015.
  3. ↑ Marcus Berkmann (3 April 2011). "When is Bernie Ecclestone taller than his wife? When he stands on his wallet". Daily Mail (London). Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  4. ↑ Tom Bower (13 February 2011). "Never mind the dog...beware of the wife! The jaw-dropping inside story of Bernie Ecclestone's marriage". Daily Mail (London). Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  5. ↑ "Bernie Ecclestone: A Short History of F1's Billion-Dollar Brain". Bleacher Report. 22 March 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  6. ↑ "Home of the Daily and Sunday Express | Express Yourself :: Fast life of billionaire Bernie Ecclestone". Daily Express. 16 December 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  7. ↑ "Bernie and Slavica Ecclestone". Rich List 2008 (London). 27 April 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
  8. ↑ Weaver, Paul (15 May 2013). "Bernie Ecclestone F1 future under cloud as bribery charges are prepared". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  9. ↑ "Mark Webber v Sebastian Vettel clash: F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone unhappy with Red Bull's tactics". The Independent (London). 26 March 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  10. ↑ Bervanakis, Maria (23 January 2012). "The fast life of 'F1 Supremo' Bernie Ecclestone". News Limited Network. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 Tremayne, David (1996). Formula One: A Complete Race by Race Guide (1st Edition ed.). Avonmouth, Bristol, United Kingdom: Parragon Book Service. p. 8. ISBN 0-7525-1762-7. Retrieved 1 March 2008.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Malaysian executive buys QPR from Ecclestone". The Washington Times. 18 August 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Poor Suffolk boy to Formula One billionaire, Eastern Daily Press, 3 March 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Bower, Tom (2011). No Angel: The Secret Life of Bernie Ecclestone. Faber and Faber. p. 15. ISBN 9780571269365.
  15. ↑ Bernie Ecclestone Biography at Grand Prix.com.. Retrieved 10 February 2014
  16. ↑ "Bernie Ecclestone – F1 Driver Profile". ESPN. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  17. ↑ Lovell, Terry (2009). Bernie Ecclestone: King of Sport. London: John Blake. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-84454-826-2.
  18. ↑ Small, Steve (1994). The Guinness Complete Grand Prix Who's Who. Enfield: Guinness Publishing. p. 411. ISBN 0-85112-702-9.
  19. ↑ "8W – Who – Graham Hill". Autosport. 10 June 2002. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
  20. ↑ Lawrence (1999) p. 116 Tauranac claims that Ecclestone initially offered £130,000, but lowered the offer at the last minute. Ecclestone denies that this happened. Lovell (2004) pp.32–33
  21. ↑ "Legal blow for Ecclestone". ITV F1. 7 December 2004. Retrieved 1 March 2008.
  22. ↑ "Bernie defiant". ITV F1. 6 December 2004. Retrieved 1 March 2008.
  23. ↑ "Bernie offers £260m payday". ITV F1. 7 December 2004. Retrieved 1 March 2008.
  24. ↑ "Ecclestone to remain in charge". ITV F1. 22 December 2004. Retrieved 1 March 2008.
  25. ↑ McEntegart, Pete (20 June 2005). "The 10 Spot: 20 June 2005". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 1 March 2008. 6. Formula One's planned invasion of the U.S. market will have to wait a few years...
  26. ↑ "Hill blames F1's economy for losing GP". Autosport. 4 July 2008.
  27. ↑ "Briatore says F1 needs an overhaul". Autosport. 29 July 2008.
  28. ↑ "Genii team up with Bernie Ecclestone to bid for Saab Automobile". Saabs United. 8 January 2010. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
  29. ↑ Ecclestone’s bruised face in new watch ad, Top Gear, 7 December 2010. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
  30. ↑ Ouch! Bernie Ecclestone reveals huge black eye from his £200,000 mugging, Daily Mail, 27 November 2010. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  31. ↑ Pattni, Vijay (7 December 2010). "Ecclestone's bruised face in new watch ad". BBC TopGear. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  32. ↑ "'See what people will do for a Hublot?' Bernie Ecclestone poses in advert for watch brand after he was mugged for his £200,000 timepiece". London: MailOnline. 8 December 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  33. ↑ "CLUB STATEMENT". Queens Park Rangers F.C. 3 September 2007. Retrieved 1 March 2008.
  34. ↑ "QPR could be Chelsea, claims Leicester boss Holloway". Daily Mail (London). 22 December 2007. Retrieved 1 March 2008.
  35. ↑ "Bernie Ecclestone is now majority shareholder of Queens Park Rangers". The Guardian (London). 17 December 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  36. ↑ "Timeline: Smoking and disease". BBC News. 30 June 2007. Retrieved 21 March 2008.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 Rawnsley, Andrew (2001). Servants of The People. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-027850-8.
  38. ↑ "How the Ecclestone affair unfolded". BBC News. 22 September 2000. Retrieved 22 March 2008.
  39. ↑ "Blair apologises for mishandling F1 row". BBC News. 17 November 1997. Retrieved 22 March 2008.
  40. ↑ Oliver, Jonathan; Oakeshott, Isabel (12 October 2008). "Secret papers reveal Tony Blair's F1 tobacco deal". The Times (London). Retrieved 26 April 2010.
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 "F1 CEO compares women to 'domestic appliances'". ESPN. 18 June 2005. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
  42. ↑ "Ecclestone repeats 'domestic appliance' quip". ESPN. 24 June 2005. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
  43. ↑ "Danica gets another call from F1 boss". ESPN. 26 June 2005. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
  44. ↑ Alice Thomson and Rachel Sylvester "Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One boss, says despots are underrated", The Times, 4 July 2009
  45. ↑ Steve Bird, Ruth Gledhill and Sam Coates "Hitler? He got things done, says Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone", The Times, 4 July 2009
  46. ↑ Simon Rocker "Ecclestone: I was an idiot over Hitler", The Jewish Chronicle, 6 July 2009
  47. ↑ Associated Press "Ecclestone says he won't resign over Hitler remarks", USA Today, 6 July 2009
  48. ↑ Oliver Suess "Ecclestone 'Co-Perpetrator' in Bribery, Prosecutor Says", Bloomberg BusinessWeek, 27 June 2012
  49. ↑ "£409m lawsuit against Ecclestone and CVC revealed". Pitpass.com. 20 November 2012.
  50. ↑ "Bernie Ecclestone: Formula 1 boss reportedly facing charges". BBC News. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  51. ↑ "Formula 1 boss Ecclestone indicted". BBC. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
  52. ↑ Bernie Ecclestone indicted by German court for alleged bribery Guardian 17 July 2013
  53. ↑ Cass, Simon (9 November 2011). "Ecclestone: I paid German banker Gribkowsky £27m to avoid tax probe". Daily Mail (London).
  54. ↑ "Formula 1: Ecclestone to face Germany bribery charges". BBC News. 16 January 2014.
  55. ↑ "F1 boss Ecclestone pays to end bribery trial". BBC News. 5 August 2014.
  56. ↑ Darragh, MacIntyre (28 April 2014). "F1's Ecclestone avoided potential £1.2bn tax bill". BBC News. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  57. ↑ "Bernie Ecclestone dismisses F1 TV decline and social media calls". June 5, 2014.
  58. ↑ "Formula 1 - Ecclestone: We don't need young fans - I'd rather have 70-year-olds". November 14, 2014.
  59. ↑ "Formula E poses a serious threat to Bernie Ecclestone with Formula One in dangerous decline". October 31, 2014.
  60. ↑ Appleyard, Brian (27 April 2011). "No Angel: The Secret Life of Bernie Ecclestone". New Statesman. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
  61. ↑ Bower, Tom (2011). No Angel: The Secret Life of Bernie Ecclestone. Faber and Faber. p. 98. ISBN 9780571269365.
  62. ↑ "Bernard Ecclestone & family". Forbes. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  63. ↑ "#212 Bernard Ecclestone & family". Forbes. 12 February 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  64. ↑ Most-Expensive.net, 28 January 2009
  65. ↑ Daily Telegraph. "Bernie Ecclestone: Interview". Ukmotorsport.com. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  66. ↑ Petra Stunt Ecclestone gives birth to twin boys
  67. ↑ Tom Bower. No Angel: The Secret Life of Bernie Ecclestone. p. 133. ISBN 9780571269365.
  68. ↑ Lovell (2004) p.345
  69. ↑ Wheeler, Virginia (21 November 2008). "F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone to divorce". The Scottish Sun. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
  70. ↑ F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone's Divorce Finalized Yahoo Sports, 11 March 2009
  71. ↑ Kay, Richard (26 April 2012). "Bernie and Fabiana to tie the knot despite him vowing to 'remain single for the rest of his life'". London: MailOnline. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  72. ↑ "Bernie Ecclestone proposes to Fabiana Flosi". autoevolution. 27 August 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  73. ↑ Gould, Lara (26 August 2012). "F1 Bernie Ecclestone secretly marries Brazilian beauty 46 years younger than him". London: MailOnline. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  74. ↑ "staatliche Auszeichnungen bis 2012" (PDF). Sportsektion des Bundesministeriums für Landesverteidigung und Sport. 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  75. ↑ Nomination by Sovereign Ordonnance n° 528 of 27 May 2006 (French)
  76. ↑ "Imperial awards honorary degrees to leading figures in business and academia". Imperial College. 14 May 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2013.

References

External links

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