Bernie Ecclestone

Ecclestone's racing achievements were modest, but his entrepreneurial and business skills were immense. With his acumen and single-mindedness, he made himself vast fortune and changed the face of Formula 1 beyond recognition.

Originally involved with the sport in the early fifties racing little Cooper-JAPs, Bernie bought two cars from the defunct Connaught F1 team that were raced by Roy Salvadori and Stuart Lewis Evans in New Zealand in early 1958. Subsequently they appeared at Monaco and Silverstone where Ecclestone put in practice appearances without serious intention of racing. Thus he slipped away from the scene for more than decade before returning in the guise of the business manager of both Graham Hill and the late Jochen Rindt. For the 1972 season he bought the Brabham team from Ron Tauranac and set about re-building them with a new image. The cars were, naturally, immaculately presented and also, naturally, successful with the design genius of Gordon Murray and mega-talented drivers such as Carlos Reutemann, Niki Lauda and the late Carlos Pace (Bernie's particular favourite). It was Nelson Piquet who eventually claimed the Championship crown for Brabham in 1981 and 1983, but after the Brazlian's departure to Williams and the tragic fatal accident to his replacement Elio de Angelis in 1986 things were never the same. Bernie shut up shop at the end of 1987 and concentrated his mind fully on further developing the commercial infrastructure of Grand Prix racing upon which he had taken almost total control.

Dubbed "The Godfather" of Formula 1, Ecclestone has built up an aura of around himself that brings respect, mixed with a little fear and trepidation, amongst the majority of the F1 circus. However his role has been one of a benign dictator of a kingdom for whom all its citizens have enjoyed the benefits of his vision and tireless work ethic.