Page 47 - OCEAN BLUE - FALL 2016

A s team owner, he became a ONE OF A KIND
member of the Formula One
Constructors Association, "I’ve tied up a lot of
(FOCA) and took control of things in the sport
the sport with finesse and insight. He pioneered by creating order, by
its television rights, but also the plan that gave controlling the way
control to the Formula One Group to manage things are run, by
the administration setup, and logistics of each everyone knowing
F1 race. what they should be
doing. It’s just the way
Over the years Ecclestone worked closely with I am.”
Max Mosley, lawyer and former president of
the International Automobile Association -Bernie Ecclestone
(FIA). Each in their own way contributed to
build this annual competition of 21 automobile WWW.OCEANBLUEMAGAZINE.COM 47
races around the world including Abu Dhabi,
Hungary, Mexico, Spain, Russia, among others.

Ecclestone plans expansion into digital pay-
per-view coverage and other multimedia areas.
In fact, this one-of-a-kind CEO continues
to work well into his eighties because no one
has stepped up that he feels is ready. Former
Ferrari leader, Luca di Montezemolo, told CNN
that the man was "irreplaceable", and

“Sooner or later, F1 has to think how to
replace Bernie. He is a fantastic person. It
will be impossible and a mistake to find
one man to replace him. It’s important to

think of a new governance.”

Ecclestone himself believes the organization
needs “another used-car dealer.”
The F1 has been described as just marketing,
but Ecclestone rebukes this. He believes
bottomline, it is a sport - and now, a lucrative
one, that he has brought to order, and brought
to the world.

Photo: Terry O’ Neill, Forbes, Gtres.