Ecclestone Updated

[QPR Report]

Daily Mail

Ecclestone under the spotlight after being dubbed 'totally out of touch with reality'
By Jonathan McEvoy - September 28th 2009

Bernie Ecclestone sat at his desk in the paddock at Singapore. Between us lay the backgammon board on which he wiles away what few spare minutes there are between shaking on one deal and clinching the next.

For now, he lets the two ivory coloured dice rest idly. He instead ponders how to respond after being depicted as 'totally out of touch with reality' by Sir Martin Sorrell, the communications billionaire and board member of CVC, the private equity company which employs him to run Formula One.

Sorrell is furious that Ecclestone has urged Flavio Briatore, the shamed former Renault team principal, to appeal against his indefinite ban from the sport for race-fixing.

He sees this as going soft on cheating, as something almost as morally suspect as Ecclestone's recent praise for Hitler. Sorrell, a Jew, described that foot-in-the-mouth moment as 'disgusting'.

So back in the office, Ecclestone is asked whether CVC will back him or sack him.
'Watch this,' he says. He picks up his mobile phone, slides it open and proceeds to cold call Donald Mackenzie, the managing partner of CVC.

A verbatim recount of their five-minute conversation would be a betrayal of confidences, but it can be reported that Ecclestone said to Mackenzie: 'The chances of Sorrell getting rid of me? There's more chance of him being struck by lightning.'

Sir Martin Sorrell is furious with Ecclestone
The point about Mackenzie's support for him made, Ecclestone put the
phone down.

He continued: 'Sorrell is not in a position to get rid of me in any shape or form. He is on the board of Formula One Management but he is a terribly minor shareholder and has a very minority say.

'He is probably basing a lot of his comments on how he is feeling at the moment. Look at the results of his company and look at ours.

'I think, his religion is against me making a little bit of a stupid statement, but it wasn't a stupid statement. It was misinterpreted and I apologised.

'I hope that he would have the courtesy to say it to my face. But I don't know what he is talking about - losing touch with reality because of what?

'My view on Flavio is a simple one. I thought we'd gone a little bit over the top with talking about a life ban.

'I'm certainly not going to let Martin Sorrel tell me what to say any more than I would stop him saying what he wants to say. I would just hope that people think I am a bit brighter than he is and would listen to me rather than him.'

The two men are due to meet for dinner soon. Plastic cutlery please.

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-1216550/Bernie-Ecclestone-spotlight-dubbed-totally-touch-reality.html#ixzz0SLeoRND9

[QPR Report]

The Times - September 28, 2009

Bernie Ecclestone: Sir Martin Sorrell cannot force me out
Edward Gorman, Motor Racing Correspondent, Singapore

One thing you can say about Bernie Ecclestone is that he does not give a damn about washing his dirty linen in public, even when it comes to having a stand-up row with someone on his own board. In its anachronistic way it is a refreshing quality.

This weekend the diminutive billionaire has been in vintage form, relishing the opportunity afforded by Sir Martin Sorrell’s recent attack on him to hit back in the only way he knows how. In the wake of Ecclestone’s remarks to the effect that his friend, Flavio Briatore, the former managing director of the Renault Formula One team, had been over-punished for his part in the “Crashgate” scandal, Sorrell had labelled Ecclestone “out of touch with reality”.

Sorrell, the chief executive of WPP, the advertising company, is a minority shareholder on the board of CVC Capital Partners, the owner of Formula One which employs Ecclestone to run the sport. This is the second time he has taken a pop at the 78-year-old commercial rights-holder. The first time was in July after Ecclestone told The Times he admired the way Adolf Hitler was able to “get things done”.

Sitting in his office in the paddock in Singapore with a large backgammon set laid out on the table in front of him, Ecclestone went on the attack. Sorrell, a leading Jewish businessman, had never forgiven him for the Hitler comments and was fighting for his religion against Ecclestone; Sorrell was such a minor stakeholder in CVC, his views were almost irrelevant; Sorrell’s attack was born out of jealousy more than principle, given the state of his own business compared with that of CVC; and, finally, just to add insult to injury, Sorrell was probably not as bright as Ecclestone.

“He is not in a position to get rid of me in any shape or form,” Ecclestone offered in his characteristic whisper when asked whether Sorrell was leading a putsch to get him out. “He is on the board, but he is a terribly minor shareholder and he has a very minority say.” So why was Sorrell criticising him? “He’s supporting, I think, his religion against me making a little bit of a stupid statement some time ago, which just wasn’t a stupid statement, really it was misinterpreted.”

And would Ecclestone be changing his approach in the light of this? “I’m certainly not going to let Martin Sorrell tell me what to say any more than I would stop him saying what he wants to say,” he said. “I would just hope that people think I am a bit brighter than he is and would listen to me rather than him.”

Ecclestone believes that his position is impregnable and refers anyone who suggests otherwise to his strong relationship with Donald Mackenzie, the managing partner at CVC, with whom he is in almost daily contact and with whom he seems to have an instinctive understanding. The pair are business associates, but also friends.

There is no “second gear” for Ecclestone when it comes to these sorts of conflict. He knows only all-out attack. Remarkably, he launched this diatribe in the full knowledge that he and Sorrell are due to dine together in London in the next few days, at Sorrell’s invitation. It should be an interesting evening.

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/formula_1/article6851712.ece

[QPR Report]

And a snippet from Planet F1

Winners and Losers: Singapore

....Fernando Alonso, Renault, 3rd
It would be interesting to hear what Max Mosley had to say about Fernando dedicating his podium place to Flavio Briatore. Presumably Alonso is untouchable after the Crashgate saga now. That mystery whistleblower would surely have implicated him in the scandal already had he been a knowing participant and so he must be in the clear. That's if you believe the theory of the "mystery whistleblower" at all and there are those in the PF1 office who are convinced he or she is as real as the tooth fairy and Big Foot.

Alonso made the most of his opportunity in hastily assembled overalls without the ING logos. Only three races till he gets some red ones. ...

www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3265_5588128,00.html