London - Bernie Ecclestone has surprisingly been denied a place on the Formula One board, a snub that casts doubts on his future as the sport’s all-powerful Svengali.
Although grand prix’s octogenarian puppeteer walked free from a German court in August after a prolonged bribery trial, he has failed in his attempt to win back his place at Delta Topco, the board comprising the sport’s shareholders.
Sources have told Sportsmail that when the board met they insisted on conditions being imposed on Ecclestone’s return.
The delay undermines Ecclestone’s bullish back-to-business mantra, summed up by his post-trial declaration: “I shall follow my old idea in life, ‘Don’t get mad; get even’. I haven’t got mad, but I am going to get even.”
It also contradicts his insistence in January, when he stepped down from Delta Topco to fight the accusations in Munich, that he would return in total command the moment the case was resolved. He paid £60 million (R1.08 billion) to end the trial and left with his innocence intact.
However, several shareholders were embarrassed when a High Court judge described Ecclestone as an “unreliable witness” in a civil action earlier this year. The wildest, but not necessarily ill-informed, rumours suggest that Ecclestone could be discarded within a fortnight.
NO GIVING IN
It remains equally likely that his critics on the board are trying to impose rules to govern his future conduct in the business. Either way, it seems, he no longer has carte blanche to act as he wishes. However, even though he turns 84 at the end of the month, Ecclestone is showing no inclination to give in to time or pressure.
Ecclestone’s long-term protector and greatest admirer has been Donald Mackenzie, the chairman of Formula One’s majority owners CVC. An affable man in private, Mackenzie is publicly reticent to the point of invisibility. He declined to comment. As did Ecclestone, who is not expected at Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix but will be in Sochi, Russia for the inaugural grand prix there next week.
Daily Mail