Business F1 Top 20 Petrolheads: Bernie Ecclestone, the Master of every game

Who doesn’t know Bernie Ecclestone? Old Bernie, as the man who made Formula One great is called, has in his long life done everything a motorsport enthusiast could dream of doing: from being a driver, a driver’s manager, and the owner of Team Brabham to owning racing circuits, and for nearly 45 years, the undisputed, feared, and respected ruler of Formula One itself. Not only that, he has also assembled the world’s largest and most prestigious collection of vintage Formula One cars. Despite his age, he turns 94 next October, Ecclestone continues to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of Formula 1 thanks to his profound understanding of the industry’s key players - including manufacturers, teams, technicians, drivers, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), and Liberty Media, who succeeded him in leading Formula 1. Now he divides his time between his homes in Switzerland, Ibiza, Brazil, and London, when he is not patrolling the decks of his yacht.

Bernie Ecclestone owns the finest collection of single seater Formula One cars in the world. He owns every car Niki Lauda drove at Ferrari in the seventies. These Ferraris are never sold and therefore their value is unknown.

Born in Suffolk and relocating to London at the age of 10 during the onset of World War II, Ecclestone found a role model in his father. It was his father who introduced him to the world of racing, taking him to his first Formula 1 Grand Prix at the age of twenty. It was at Silverstone, on Saturday, 13th May 1950, and it was the very first race of the Formula intended to be the pinnacle of motor racing.

The small roads around the old RAF bomber airfield at Silverstone were invaded by 120,000 people who had the same idea, although many were there to see King George VI, who was also eager to attend the first Formula One Grand Prix. He and his father arrived on Friday to watch the qualifying rounds and stayed overnight in their car in the parking lot. The next day, standing behind the straw bales alongside the track, they watched Nino Farina, in the Alfa Romeo 159, the famous Alfetta, win the race. Ecclestone remembers being struck by those cars that carried the colours of their own country: red for Italy, blue for France, and green for Great Britain.

He was already in the automotive sector and had been buying and selling motorcycles and cars since leaving school at 15. And that wasn’t all: he was also a driver. His first race was on a motorcycle, then he bought a Cooper 500 Formula 3 and raced for seven years, sometimes against drivers of the calibre of Stirling Moss. In 1958 he participated in two Formula One Grand Prix in Great Britain and Monaco with an old Connaught model. However, his true ambition lay elsewhere. He left racing to be the manager of an emerging talent, Stuart Lewis-Evans, offering guidance, as he himself recalls: “I tried to take care of the things he was doing, without being his manager, but hoping to give him some good advice and that was the way I got so involved in Formula One and met people who were very famous at the same time”.

In one of the last times they got together, Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone inspect Ecclestone’s Formula One car collection under restoration at Biggin Hill in England.

Lewis-Evans raced for the Vanwall team but died in the Corniche of Casablanca during the Moroccan Grand Prix. His Vanwall overturned and caught fire. Lewis-Evans got out with his suit on fire but instead of rolling on the ground to extinguish the flames, he moved away from the blaze and the fire gave him no escape. Ecclestone remembers “It was a bad day for me because I was very close to Stuart and he died the day after my 28th birthday”.

The blow was so hard that he swore never to have anything more to do with motor racing. He then focused on the car trade, opening one of London’s first used car showrooms alongside his father. Ecclestone sold expensive sports cars to celebrities but one day John Cooper walked into his showroom trying to persuade him to take an interest in Formula One again and invited him to the 1967 Mexican Grand Prix where he met Jochen Rindt. They bonded and he became his manager beginning of his lifelong association with Colin Chapman of Lotus.

The period with Jochen Rindt lasted just three years, cut short by Rindt’s fatal accident at Monza in 1970. Rindt’s death was another hard blow for Ecclestone. Overcoming the shock, he bought the Brabham team from Jack Brabham and Ron Tauranac. Eccleston managed to win two World Titles with Nelson Piquet. The death of another driver, Elio de Angelis, prompted Eccleston to sell the team and focus on Formula One’s commercial management.

Today he is 93 years old, but still feels as youthful as he did at 73. His recent and well-publicized clash with the public administration has now been resolved and he was happy to sign a cheque for £652 million (roughly 800 million dollars) to settle the matter, half of which were taxes due, and half were fines and penalties. His advanced age, coupled with the stress of the legal proceedings and the potential for a physical collapse that would have caught worldwide media attention, led him to prudently agree to a settlement. Bernie Ecclestone’s likelihood of remaining active for several more years is quite high. The late Professor Sid Watkins advised him to have a precautionary heart bypass in 2001, during which he had a “full service” on his heart. It wouldn’t be surprising to many if Ecclestone lives beyond 100 years. His brain is as sharp as ever, he knows everyone who is worth knowing – presidents and prime ministers still respond to his phone calls.

Bernie Ecclestone with his three year old son, Ace, which has been introduced to cars early in his life.

The December issue of "BusinessF1" magazine featured the Top 20 Petrolheads, showcasing exceptional collectors in the world of motorsport. Roarington will delve deeper into the captivating stories of these remarkable enthusiasts, sharing a new profile each week.