6 Bernie Ecclestone

Supremo. Head honcho. Chief. Boss.

Whether you use one of these words or something stronger, one thing is clear: Bernie Ecclestone maintains his iron grip on Formula 1. For decades, he’s been the driving force behind the sport’s modernisation, and has fronted a relentless drive to expand it to new territories.

At 84, Ecclestone’s hold is as tight as ever. But, going into the 2015 season, which starts in Melbourne this weekend, the sport he runs could be in better health. Spiralling costs and a drying-up of sponsorship revenue have forced some of the minnows into administration, and called some recent changes into question. The spotlight has been pointing at the ringmaster too, with a highly-publicised trial on corruption charges in Germany culminating in a multi-million dollar settlement. So, we ask: should Ecclestone be considered Formula 1’s saviour?

“He has built the business, the brand of Formula 1,” says David Coulthard, former F1 driver and BBC F1 commentator. “And he did so because of vision, because of the belief that he could get the teams to commit.”

Certainly, the landscape of the sport is hugely different to how it was when Ecclestone first started exerting his influence in the 1970s, first as the owner of Brabham, and then as the chief executive of the Formula One Constructors’ Association. “There’s no question that he was a driving force, if not the driving force in creating a homogenous package out of what was a disparate series of elements before,” says Andrew Benson, BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer.

Maurice Hamilton, former motorsport correspondent for The Observer, agrees. “All you have to do is look at the way it was before he arrived, and it was an utter shambles,” he says. “If I recall the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix – we arrived and there was no timetable, these sort of things were just made up by the organisers on the hoof. Ferrari were in one of their downturns, and they didn’t turn up. They were in the programme, on the entry list and they just didn’t come. Bernie could see that the whole of Formula 1 needed to be brought into a consistent, marketable state.

“There was no law and order to anything. And now, it is regimented, it’s strict. If there is one thing that Bernie has done, he has brought motor racing into line.”

His biggest early impact was arguably to introduce collective bargaining for television rights, which were previously sold on a race-by-race basis, and negotiated on behalf of the teams in exchange for a healthy commission.

“That decision was probably the most significant change that started Formula 1 on the route from what was, in the 1970s, a specialist sport for rich entrepreneurs to now the third-biggest global sporting event after the World Cup and the Olympics,” says Benson.

The business of F1

“He’s done an amazing job,” says triple F1 world champion Sir Jackie Stewart. “He’s a dictator, but he has made it work. And he has made a lot of people rich.”

Himself included. Ecclestone has a net worth of more than $4bn according to Forbes – not bad for a man whose first business venture was trading motorbike spare parts for pennies in Bexleyheath.

Hamilton believes, however, that the pursuit of profit is not good for the sport or its relationship with its fans.

“He doesn’t care,” says Hamilton. “Bernie does not care about the public, and that’s a fault, no question about it. He’s there for Formula 1, as a business, to make money. And the public in the paddock get under his feet, get in the way, they’re a nuisance and that’s not right.”

The drive for profit is perhaps most evident in the way the series has targeted non-traditional markets in recent years. Countries such as India and China come with massive potential fanbases, but their governments are also willing to pay the fees associated with hosting a Formula 1 race.

“Some of the fees they get are astronomical,” says Matt Cutler, editor of SportBusiness International magazine. “If you look at somewhere like Abu Dhabi, they are paying in the region of $70m a year, and that’s just a hosting fee. What Bernie did really well is that these are escalating deals – every year it goes up by ten per cent, and deals are for five or ten years.”

Hamilton says the sport has gone too far. “The dollar has become the be-all and end- all,” he says. “Fair play to him. He finds these governments willing to spend all this money, and he takes their money knowing full well that the thing is going to die on its feet. While that’s all very nice from the point of view of turning a profit, it’s not great for Formula 1 – going to these places where three people turn up to watch and the circuit falls apart within three years, particularly at the expense of more traditional circuits.”

The money from race fees and television rights gets distributed among the teams after CVC Capital Partners (F1’s owners, and now Ecclestone’s employers) have taken their cut.

But it’s not nearly enough to run two cars across a 20-race season. The costs range from £50m a year, for the backmarkers, to more than £200m for one of the frontrunners. That’s where sponsorship money becomes essential, and it means teams such as Marussia and Caterham – who both went into administration within a matter of days of each other at the end of last season – can struggle to stay afloat.

“One of the problems at the moment is that sponsorship revenue in general is drying up,” says Benson. “It’s still there, but you can see the problems that teams are having raising sponsorship. This is the second season McLaren are heading into without a title sponsor onboard.”

Cutler adds: “Traditionally the sponsorship of Formula 1 has intrinsically been related to the broadcast footprint. F1 was always free-to-air in certain markets and they’ve kind of shifted away from that in the past five years or so. You get more money for rights, but not necessarily the same exposure.”

The numbers back up Cutler’s thinking. Formula 1’s global audience fell by 25 million in 2014, to 425 million. That’s down from 515 million?in 2011.

“I think we probably have to point the finger at Bernie from the point of view of no communication with the younger generation,” says Hamilton, who underlines the sport’s sluggishness in embracing new media. Ecclestone has been openly dismissive.

“I don’t know why people want to get to the so-called ‘young generation,’” he told The Telegraph in November. “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.”

The shape of things to come

You could draw a parallel with Sir Alex Ferguson, who ruled Manchester United for decades with great success. He arguably did not, however, leave the squad in the same rude health it had previously enjoyed. Could the same thing be said of Ecclestone and F1?

“Yes. I think that’s a very good parallel,” says Hamilton. “I think Formula 1 is not in good shape, and I get the impression that Bernie is not particularly bothered because he has done his bit, he’s got it to where it was. Not is: was. He’s 85 this year, and it’s almost as if he wants us to say when he’s gone: ‘Oh, it’s not like it was when Bernie was here.’”

Whatever direction he has taken the sport in over the past few years, there’s no doubt that Ecclestone’s unique talents have made F1 what it is now, and saved the sport from many potential disasters.

“He does the legwork, he makes it all happen,” says Hamilton. “When he’s not here, it’s going to take two to three people to do one man’s job, because he is such a dynamo. He is extraordinary in the way his mind works. He’s as sharp as anything. He’s on top of everything, he’s got his finger in every pie. The day that Bernie is not around it will be a mess for a year or two – a power struggle and a complete mess.”

Ecclestone is also an expert at rubbing shoulders with the rich and powerful. “There’s not that many people in sport or even the world who could phone up Vladimir Putin and talk about hosting a race,” says Cutler. “Bernie can do that. If there’s one strength of his, it’s that kind of political manoeuvring.

“You see it in the build-up to the races, down on the pit lane where Bernie’s almost the most famous person there with all the pop stars, all the political figures.”

He can be ruthless too, as Hamilton remembers: “He was utterly determined to get his way. He was not averse to standing on whoever he needed to stand on to get his goal. He would do whatever it took and he would be ruthless with race organisers, really squeeze them very hard for money. So, yeah, he’s no pushover – that’s for sure.”

The accepted image of Ecclestone is that of a ruthless character, but there is a softer side to him, too.

“He is actually very good to the people who work for him,” says Hamilton. “He doesn’t like that to get out – it’s not good for the image. But he has been very generous and, when he passes on, some of those stories are going to start to emerge from the woodwork. He’s got a lot of money, and I think he has given a lot of it away.”

Certainly, he is held in high regard around the paddock. “He is incredibly supportive of the drivers,” says Coulthard. “He’s a loyal guy. If you’re straightforward with him, you get a straightforward guy to deal with. Piss him around, and he’ll piss you around – but you know where you stand.”

Although he rarely stays at the track until the end of a race – often escaping the crowds in a helicopter – Hamilton insists that Ecclestone remains captivated with motor racing.

“Primarily he cares about the profit, but he has a racing heart,” says Hamilton. “He raced himself, he managed a driver, he ran a team. He says he doesn’t like to look back. But, if you get him talking about the days of Brabham, he loves it – although he doesn’t like to admit it. He is a very driven man, driven totally by the bottom line. And that tends to obscure the fact that at heart he loves the competitive side of it.”

In other words, as Hamilton says, Ecclestone is still a racer at heart.