Bernie Ecclestone has fervently dismissed claims that he played a part in the
Max Mosley tabloid sting that has rocked
Formula 1 in recent months, stressing that any hints that he is out to destroy his long-time ally and business associate are ‘a lot of b****cks, quite frankly'.
The pair's previously close relationship has become increasingly strained since the sex scandal was exposed on the front page of the
News of the World almost three months ago, with Mosley refusing to resign over the lurid revelations – that he paid £2,500 for a five-hour, sado-masochistic sex session with five prostitutes in what has been described as an underground torture chamber – and Ecclestone alternately backing his friend and insisting he must go for the sake of the sport.
Now, the 77-year-old has taken the unprecedented step of issuing a public denial that either he or anyone associated with him played a role in the exposure, what Mosley referred to in a letter to
FIA member clubs as a ‘covert investigation' of his private life by a ‘group specialising in such things, for reasons and clients as yet unknown'.
What's more, sources close to the embattled FIA President have failed to dissuade speculation that Ecclestone may in some way have been implicated in the sting, as the two men continue to disagree over the future of the sport – and, crucially, the multi-million pound revenues associated with it [see separate story –
click here]. In an interview with
The Times, however,
F1's ringmaster swiftly and vigorously rebuffed such suggestions.
“It is nothing in the world to do with me in any shape or form,” Ecclestone fired back, instead ruminating that the exposé may have been the product of ‘someone or somebody or ten bodies'.
