Bye Bye: Bernie Ecclestone Deposed As F1 Leader Ending 40 Year Reign


Bye Bye: Bernie Ecclestone Deposed As F1 Leader Ending 40 Year Reign

One of the most interesting, frustrating, outspoken, brash, bombastic, and mercurial personalities in the history of motorsports is out of a job. Bernie Ecclestone has been deposed as the leader of F1 after 40 years on the job and after amassing a fortune of more than $2-billion by some accounts. Bernie’s shrewd dealings and decisions regarding the world’s premier racing series took it from a foundering organization in the 1970s and transformed it into a global powerhouse and massive cash machine by the time he was done.

Ecclestone was notified by conference call of his release. Liberty Media is the new owner of F1 and has been for a couple of months. They decided to break ties with Ecclestone and appoint Chase Carey as his successor.

Ecclestone was a study in singular power for many of those 40 years. He made the decisions that suited him and his vision, forcing everyone involved in the sport to either go along or quit. By and large, they went along. He was certainly loyal to his friends. Guys like Max Mosley for instance. Mosley was photographed with prostitutes reenacting some pretty weird scenes and instead of doing the typical thing and throwing him out by his ear, Ecclestone stuck with Mosley and never once apologized for it.

He’s an 86-year old guy with a 37-year old wife. He’s hung out, leaned on, and in at least a couple of cases influenced the decisions of heads of state who wanted their countries to be part of the F1 tour.

A polarizing but undeniably successful figure, Bernie Ecclestone was racing’s last great maverick. With his departure from the series, it will be incredibly interesting to see what the future holds for F1.

Click on this photo of stylin’ Bernie Ecclestone for the full story

bernie


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4 thoughts on “Bye Bye: Bernie Ecclestone Deposed As F1 Leader Ending 40 Year Reign

  1. MGBChuck

    Say what you want, he was NEVER boring, it will be interesting to see what happens without an ironfist (a weird one) at the top keeping the spoiled billionaires inline.

  2. Spanners

    Please return to the pits Mr Ecclestone. Your time is up.

    Whooo-Freakn-Hooooo
    It is finally time for another to take the wheel, hopefully steering away from the barriers, off the grass, and back on track.
    Sure Bernie hadn’t always suffered from multiple delusions, Previously doing a startling job with Brabham.
    Alas the marbles started dropping from his bag and he became a few sandwiches short of a picnic and as power took hold of him he proceeded to milk the F1 cash cow with invested company kick backs, fraudulent operations, corrupt deals and sexist remarks, while morphing Formula 1 into the soul destroying, mind numbing, design restricted fiasco that has become of it.
    Where slamming your testicles in a car door results in more fun than watching any F1 event. Even dropping a Disco-Biscuit wouldn’t create the slightest desire to immerse yourself within the visual boredom projected at your tormented retinas, simultaneously drying out your automotive life force like the overlooked raisin taking shelter inside the ashtray.
    I grasp to the hope Bernie’s replacement can open up the restrictive doors to technology implementation and the absurd restraints F1 is currently burdened with.
    Return F1 to the ‘Forefront of Automotive Technology and Design’ rather than this Over-Commercialized Visual Diarrhea of Monotony

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