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MADRID, SPAIN – MAY 08: Bernie Ecclestone attends Mutua Madrid Open at Caja Magica on May 08, 2019 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Europa Press Entertainment/Europa Press via Getty Images)
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MADRID, SPAIN – MAY 08: Bernie Ecclestone attends Mutua Madrid Open at Caja Magica on May 08, 2019 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Europa Press Entertainment/Europa Press via Getty Images)
Formula 1 isn’t just a vicious business for the 20 drivers on the grid. The entire sport revolves around money and politics. It has been this way from the very beginning. This is exactly why the sport needs a leader, someone who can pull all the strings and make the magic happen on track and off of it, too. In the past, for the vast majority of the lifespan of the sport, this man was none other than Bernie Ecclestone. Under his regime, the sport witnessed many great moments. He single-handedly orchestrated driver moves that would go on to etch themselves into the annals of F1 history, signed up blockbuster circuit deals, and more.
But since his departure in 2017, in the aftermath of the Liberty Media takeover, the sport has moved on and into a new direction. Even though the goal is the same; to take F1 to the very top, the methods and results have been different. And if you were to ask the 92-year-old mogul about what he thought about the direction the sport is taking, he would bite your head off. Safe to say, Ecclestone isn’t too pleased. But he has a man to blame for all this, too.
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MOGI GUACU. BRAZIL. MAY 15. Bernie Ecclestone during a visit to the Velocitta racetrack. For a Stock Car and Formula 4 race. May 15, 2022 in Mogi Guacu. Brazil. (Photo by Marcelo Machado de Melo/Getty Images).
While speaking to the Telegraph UK, he belittled the charms of incumbent F1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali. “Stefano has never been any closer to things beyond the fact that he once worked for Ferrari. Apart from that, he didn’t know what happened behind the scenes.”
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Even though by his own admission, he never really had an apprentice to take over from him, he does have someone in mind to pick the pieces up in case Domenicali decides to call it quits.
“If you had to pick anyone today, I’d say he would be as good as there is. He listens well. He sorts out what’s rubbish from what isn’t,” said Ecclestone while nominating Red Bull boss Christian Horner for the job.
Ecclestone has shown a documented disdain for the new-age of the sport since his departure. But his relationship with Horner runs deeper than you’d think.
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Red Bull F1 boss Christian Horner was Bernie Ecclestone’s best man!
Bernie Ecclestone was known to be a shrewd negotiator. This is something that would’ve been liable to make him one of the most unpopular personalities amongst the team bosses. But for Red Bull boss Horner, he somehow made it click with the man who ran the things back in the day.
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ABU DHABI. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. DECEMBER 01. Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner. Talks with Bernie Ecclestone, Chairman Emeritus of the Formula One Group. On the grid before the F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi. Yas Marina Circuit. December 01, 2019. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images).
In an interview with Sky Sports F1, Horner revealed to Martin Brundle, “Bernie [Ecclestone] was very good to me. He was very supportive from the moment I came into Formula 1. I just hit it off with him. He has got a very wicked sense of humor. You know we just got on to the point that I was his best man at his 3rd wedding.”
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Do you see Christian Horner taking up the job of being the boss of F1 in the future?
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