Bernie Ecclestone

BERNIE ECCLESTONE IS ONE OF THE world’s great deal makers. He loves them and has done some very good ones, both for himself and for those around him. He transformed what used to be a travelling circus into the global phenomenon that is Formula 1 today. Above all else, however, Bernie is a racer, a man who lives to win.

During the lockdowns he, his wife Fabiana and their son, six-month old Alexander have been at their home in Gstaad, Switzerland, where Bernie also owns the Hotel Olden. He keeps a close eye on the sport that was his fiefdom for four decades. On the phone from his home, he takes us back to the early days of his career, and looks ahead to the challenges facing F1 today.

Motor Sport: So Bernie, let’s start in the 1950s when you raced bikes and cars. When did you get bitten by the racing bug and did you have any ambition to be a top driver?

Bernie Ecclestone: “I’ve always been very competitive. I started racing push bikes, believe it or not, then it was motorbikes and eventually cars, the old 500cc Cooper-JAPs. If you’re a competitive person you need something to satisfy that. Same in business; I was competing for the best deal, for me and for other people. I won some races, had some accidents – in one of them at Brands Hatch someone got hurt in the crowd. In those days, safety was bits of string and some poles. I was a used-car dealer, running a business, not a racing driver, so I stopped. Yeah, I won a few, but I finished up in hospital racing bikes, so did I want to risk my life to become a racing driver? No I didn’t.”

You started doing some deals, first for Stuart Lewis-Evans and later for Jochen Rindt. Was that all part of the big plan?

“I don’t make plans, never have. I take opportunities, and these were friendships. Stuart and Jochen were mates. I did the finance, they did the driving and it worked. After Stuart was killed in Casablanca at the end of 1958 I took time away and