Bernie Ecclestone
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• Bernie Prelims I-X 26/8/09 01:39 Page i BERNIE ECCLESTONE KING OF SPORT • Bernie Prelims I-X 26/8/09 01:39 Page ii • Bernie Prelims I-X 26/8/09 01:39 Page iii BERNIE ECCLESTONE KING OF SPORT TERRY LOVELL Published by John Blake Publishing Ltd, 3 Bramber Court, 2 Bramber Road, London W14 9PB, England www.johnblakepublishing.co.uk www.facebook.com/johnblakepub twitter.com/johnblakepub This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those may be liable in law accordingly. ePub ISBN 978 1 78219 262 6 Mobi ISBN 978 1 78219 300 5 PDF ISBN 978 1 78219 340 1 First published in paperback in 2009 ISBN: 978 1 84454 826 2 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent publisher. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data: A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Design by www.envydesign.co.uk Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 © Text copyright Terry Lovell, 2009 Papers used by John Blake Publishing are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. Every attempt has been made to contact the relevant copyright-holders, but some were unobtainable. We would be grateful if the appropriate people could contact us. • Bernie Prelims I-X 26/8/09 01:39 Page v DEDICATION This book is dedicated to my mum, a lifelong supporter and a lifelong fighter. She spent her life giving so much, seemingly getting little in return; yet she gained eternity. And to my dad, who did his best. • Bernie Prelims I-X 26/8/09 01:39 Page vi • Bernie Prelims I-X 26/8/09 01:39 Page vii CONTENTS PREFACE IX 1 ‘SENNA DEAD? NO, HE’S INJURED 3 HIS HEAD’ 2 HOW AUNTIE MAY CHANGED YOUNG 15 BERNARD’S LIFE FOR EVER 3 THE RISE TO RICHES OF BRABHAM’S 29 NEW BOSS 4 THE ‘GARAGISTES’ TAKE ON THE 53 FIA ‘GRANDIS’ 5 CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE OR POLITICAL 95 POWER? IT’S BERNIE’S DILEMMA 6 JEAN-MARIE BALESTRE: LE GRAND 113 FROMAGE 7 THE KEY TO RICHES – TELEVISION RIGHTS 135 8 BRABHAM TAKEN FOR A SWISS ROLL 158 9 BERNIE GOES WEST – AND MEETS 169 HIS MATCH • Bernie Prelims I-X 26/8/09 01:39 Page viii 10 HOW CANADA LOST ITS NSA – 194 AND BRANDS HATCH AND SILVERSTONE THE BRITISH GRAND PRIX 11 THE BEGINNING OF BERNIE’S 235 TELEVISION RIGHTS STRANGLEHOLD 12 THE RISE OF PRESIDENT MAX, HOW 255 THE FIA LOST MILLIONS, AND THE SHOWDOWN IN BRUSSELS 13 THE SINKING OF BERNIE’S $2.5 BILLION 282 FLOTATION PLANS 14 BERNIE’S ANNUS HORRIBILIS 301 15 BRUSSELS DELIVERS ITS VERDICT – 319 AND BERNIE MAKES ANOTHER BILLION 16 GOODBYE KAREL… HELLO LEO 335 17 THE CASH-FOR-ASH AFFAIR 348 18 MARRIAGE, MONEY AND BLACKMAIL 365 19 WHAT A FUNNY OLD GAME 382 20 THE ITALIAN CONNECTION 395 NOTES 415 GLOSSARY 419 • Bernie Prelims I-X 26/8/09 01:39 Page ix PREFACE former team boss, who has known Bernie Ecclestone for many years, is A talking about a controversial dispute involving a well-known motor sport figure: ‘Bernie once said to me, “First you have to get on, then you get rich, and then you get honest. The trouble with – is that he’s still trying to get rich.”’ e have not the liberty to choose whether we will serve or not; the only Wliberty we have is to choose the master we shall serve.’ Anon • Bernie Prelims I-X 26/8/09 01:39 Page x 001-14 Bernie Chapter 1 26/8/09 01:40 Page 1 PART 1 001-14 Bernie Chapter 1 26/8/09 01:40 Page 2 001-14 Bernie Chapter 1 26/8/09 01:40 Page 3 1 ‘SENNA DEAD? NO, HE’S INJURED HIS HEAD’ he out-of-control Williams-Renault FW16 hit the concrete wall during the Teighth lap of the San Marino Grand Prix at an estimated impact speed of 137mph. By the time the car had come to rest 1.8 seconds later, during the third round of the 1994 Formula One World Championship, the life of three times world champion Ayrton Senna was rapidly ebbing away. In less than two minutes, paramedics were at the scene cutting through his chin-strap to remove his helmet, from beneath which blood flowed freely, while at the same time intravenous infusions were intubated into his lifeless body. Professor Sid Watkins, one of the world’s leading neurosurgeons and Formula One’s on-track surgeon for 16 years, rotated a plastic tube deep into Senna’s trachea to establish an airway. As he lifted Senna’s eyelids, the tell-tale signs of his pupils told Watkins that the world’s most talented Formula One driver had suffered a massive brain injury, caused, an inquest later recorded, by the impact of the right-front wheel and the right-front suspension arm piercing his helmet at the edge of the visor opening. Watkins, a keen motor-racing fan since his teens, knew Senna could not survive such devastating injury. The 34-year-old Brazilian was lifted carefully from the cockpit and laid on the ground, some ten metres from the fatal point of collision with the wall on the high-speed curve at the Tamburello corner of the Imola circuit, near Bologna, northern Italy. As they did so, says Watkins, Senna ‘sighed, and 001-14 Bernie Chapter 1 26/8/09 01:40 Page 4 4 TERRY LOVELL though I am totally agnostic, I felt his soul departed at that moment.’1 The driver was taken by helicopter on a 211-mile journey to Maggiore Hospital in the care of Dr Giovanni Gordini, the hospital’s intensive care anaesthetist, who had been in charge of the medical centre at the circuit. All the while, Senna, although effectively dead, was kept alive artificially. A brain scan at the hospital, which revealed massive damage to both skull and brain, confirmed there was no hope. At 6 pm that day, Sunday 1 May 1994, Ayrton Senna da Silva was officially pronounced dead. The news of his death was received in Brazil by a wave of national grief. Tears flowed openly for a man whose supreme racing skills had earned him legendary status. His body was flown to Paris, where a Boeing 747, the presidential aircraft of Brazil’s leader, Itmar Franco, had been provided to complete its homeward journey to the capital city of São Paulo and Senna’s birthplace. The government announced a three-day period of national mourning and the May Day mass in Rio de Janeiro was dedicated to his name. For 24 hours his body lay in the city’s state legislature, where an estimated 8000 people per hour filed past to pay their final respects. On Thursday 5 May eight soldiers carried his coffin from the state legislature to a fire engine, which, escorted by a mounted guard, then bore it to Morumbi Cemetery. With the engine heading a procession of thousands of fans on motorcycles, bikes and foot, the short journey took an hour and 50 minutes. Racing stars past and present, including Jackie Stewart, Gerhard Berger, Emerson and Christian Fittipaldi, Derek Warwick, Thierry Boutsen, Roberto Moreno, Rubens Barrichello and Alain Prost, once Senna’s bitter rival, took turns as pallbearers, carrying the casket to its burial place. After a 21-gun salute, an air force fly-past traced a heart in brightly coloured smoke, topped with an ‘S’, in the sky. It was an occasion of immense sorrow for the people of Brazil, who genuinely shared the tragedy of Senna’s death. But one person, someone who knew Senna well, was conspicuous by his absence. He was Bernie Ecclestone, an elderly, diminutive man of unprepossessing appearance who, over the years, as his wealth and stature grew with each mega- buck deal and power battle won, had come to be variously described in the media as the Godfather, the dictator or, more apposite, the ringmaster of the Formula One circus. But, for all Ecclestone’s power and stature, Senna’s intensely private family, headed by wealthy businessman Milton da Silva, who doted upon the second of his three children, made it known that his attendance would be considered ‘inconvenient’. The reason for their opposition to Ecclestone’s presence was not made public, but it was believed to have been due to the way in which he had handled the news of Senna’s death at the circuit. Members of the family, including his younger brother, Leonardo, were at the race and within minutes had been informed of the crash by senior officials.