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100-611: Plans for a race in Vietnam were first explored by former Formula One CEO Bernie Ecclestone , who abandoned the idea as there were already four races in East Asia at the time (the Malaysian , Singapore , Chinese and Japanese Grands Prix). Ecclestone also acknowledged that the failure of the Korean and Indian Grands Prix left him doubtful of the long-term viability of a race in Vietnam. The idea

200-592: A privateer , but did not qualify at either. He then became a driver manager for Stuart Lewis-Evans and Jochen Rindt , the latter winning the World Drivers' Championship posthumously in 1970 . Ecclestone purchased Brabham in 1972 —who he operated for 15 years—leading the team to 22 victories, as well as two World Drivers' Championship titles with Nelson Piquet . He co-founded the Formula One Constructors' Association two years later, leading them through

300-675: A 30-minute qualifying session: the fastest drivers in that session would be allowed to start the race and would be placed on the grid in the order of their original best practice time. This resulted in drivers not qualifying for a race despite going faster in practice than others who did qualify. This system was introduced shortly before the second race of the season , leading to protests among teams and drivers. Drivers would have to complete at least five laps in practice to be allowed to race. The FIA published some considerations on circuit design and announced that all circuits would have to pass their inspections: As it had been since 1967 ,

400-454: A Formula One team. He abandoned the highly successful customer car production business established by Jack Brabham and Tauranac – reasoning that to compete at the very front in Formula One you must concentrate all of your resources there. For the 1973 season , Ecclestone promoted Gordon Murray to chief designer. The young South African produced the triangular cross-section BT42, the first of

500-449: A bid for Swedish car brand Saab Automobile . On 3 September 2007, it was announced that Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore had bought Queens Park Rangers (QPR) Football Club . In December 2007, they were joined as co-owners by businessman Lakshmi Mittal , the fifth richest person in the world, who bought 20% of the club. On 17 December 2010 it was announced that Ecclestone had purchased the majority of shares from Flavio Briatore becoming

600-529: A chairman emeritus had since expired in January 2020. 1970 Formula One season The 1970 Formula One season was the 24th season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile 's Formula One motor racing. It featured the 21st World Championship of Drivers , the 13th International Cup for F1 Manufacturers and three non-championship races open to Formula One cars. The World Championship

700-451: A charge round the outside of the first corner. But he hit the front of Amon's car and then crashed into Brabham. Stewart was the only frontrunner unharmed and was now leading Jacky Ickx and Jackie Oliver , who started fifth and twelfth, respectively. By lap 6, however, Brabham was back into second place, and the McLarens of Denny Hulme and Bruce McLaren were third and fourth. Brabham took

800-475: A good job, didn't she? Super. Didn't think she'd be able to make it like that. You know, I've got one of these wonderful ideas that women should be all dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances." Following Patrick's 2008 victory at Twin Ring Motegi, Ecclestone personally sent her a congratulatory letter. On 7 January 2010, it was announced that Ecclestone had, together with Genii Capital , submitted

900-521: A lot of cases, black people are more racist than what white people are." In response, Hamilton has countered Ecclestone, criticising him on Instagram for being "ignorant and uneducated", and that he has realised why nothing much has been done to address diversity and racism. Formula One Group also issued a statement, saying that they "completely disagree with Bernie Ecclestone's comments that have no place in Formula 1 or society", and had added that his title as

1000-427: A move Murray described as "like having a holiday". Piquet formed a close and long-lasting relationship with Ecclestone and the team, losing the title after a narrow battle with Alan Jones in 1980 and eventually winning in 1981 and 1983. In the summer of 1981 Brabham had tested a car powered by a BMW turbo engine, and 1982 's new BT50 was powered by BMW 's turbocharged four-cylinder M10 . Brabham continued to run

1100-569: A multi-year contract during the 2020 Formula One season, but was then postponed and later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The race was also omitted from the 2021 calendar, published in November 2020, following the arrest, on corruption charges unrelated to the Grand Prix, of Hanoi People's Committee Chairman Nguyễn Đức Chung who was one of main stakeholders involved with the event. At that time,

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1200-628: A new fastest lap. When Beltoise suffered a slow rear puncture , hopes of an all- French win in France were shattered and Rindt took the win, ahead of Chris Amon and Jack Brabham , and took the lead in the Drivers' standings. For the British Grand Prix , Rindt was again favourite, but his Firestone tyres were not working perfectly in the high summer temperatures. Brabham, using Goodyear tyres, managed to equal Rindt's time in practice . Ickx completed

1300-465: A number of eventually lucrative investments in property and loan financing and to manage the Weekend Car Auctions firm. He returned to racing in 1957 as manager of driver Stuart Lewis-Evans , and purchased two chassis from the disbanded Connaught Formula One team. Ecclestone even tried, unsuccessfully, to qualify a car himself at Monaco in 1958, although this has since been described as "not

1400-529: A partial owner of Rindt's 1970 Lotus Formula 2 team, whose other driver was Graham Hill . Rindt, on his way to the 1970 World Championship, died in a crash at the Monza circuit, though he was awarded the championship posthumously. During the 1971 season , Ecclestone was approached by Ron Tauranac , owner of the Brabham team, who was looking for a suitable business partner. Ecclestone made him an offer of £100,000 for

1500-612: A result, in early 2000 the ISC and FIA made a new agreement to reduce the number of rights packages to two, the World Rally and Regional Rally Championships. In April 2000 Ecclestone sold ISC to a group led by David Richards . On 17 June 2005, Ecclestone made American headlines with his reply to a question about Danica Patrick 's fourth-place finish at the Indianapolis 500 , during an interview with Indianapolis television station WRTV: "She did

1600-405: A series of Ford-powered cars with which the Brabham team would take several victories in 1974 and 1975 with Carlos Reutemann and Carlos Pace . Despite the increasing success of Murray's nimble Ford-powered cars, Ecclestone signed a deal with Alfa Romeo to use its powerful but heavy flat-12 engine from the 1976 season . Although this was financially beneficial, the new BT45s were unreliable and

1700-597: A serious attempt". He also entered the British Grand Prix , but the car was raced by Jack Fairman . He continued to manage Lewis-Evans when he moved to the Vanwall team; Roy Salvadori moved on to manage the Cooper team. Lewis-Evans suffered severe burns when his engine exploded at the 1958 Moroccan Grand Prix and died six days later; Ecclestone was shocked and once again retired from racing. His friendship with Salvadori led to his becoming manager of driver Jochen Rindt and

1800-508: A stop to the V8 monopoly. Lotus introduced their wedge-shaped Lotus 72 for the Dutch Grand Prix , incorporating revolutionary brake and suspension design. It provided better vision and ventilation to the driver besides the overall advancement in grip and ride . Rindt comfortably qualified on pole position, with Stewart and Ickx next to him. The Belgian driver forced his Ferrari into

1900-466: A subsequent interview with The Jewish Chronicle , Ecclestone said that his comments were taken the wrong way, but apologised, saying, "I'm just sorry that I was an idiot. I sincerely, genuinely apologise." However, when Ecclestone was later told by Associated Press that the World Jewish Congress had called for his resignation, he said: "It's a pity they didn't sort the banks out," referring to

2000-496: A surprising chance for a podium finish and the inspired Austrian actually came within a few car lengths of Brabham. On the last corner of the last lap, the Australian took a different line than usual to prevent any chance of an overtake, but he locked his wheels and slid straight on into the barrier. Rindt swooped by, setting a new lap record and taking the victory for the second time in his career. Brabham dragged his damaged car over

2100-493: A £409m lawsuit against the 2005 sale of Formula One, alleging it was the sport's rightful owner. In May 2013, Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that the Munich prosecutors' office had charged Ecclestone on two counts of bribery after a two-year investigation into his relationship with Gribkowsky. In July 2013, German prosecutors indicted Ecclestone for alleged bribery. The charge relates to a $ 44 million (£29m) payment to Gribkowsky. It

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2200-496: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to sport in Vietnam is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Bernie Ecclestone Bernard Charles Ecclestone (born 28 October 1930) is a British business magnate , motorsport executive and former racing driver . Widely known in journalism as the " F1 Supremo ", Ecclestone founded the Formula One Group in 1987, controlling

2300-404: Is money goes out and away. There's a question whether that money even returns to Formula One." Flavio Briatore also criticised FOM: "Nowadays Ecclestone takes 50% of all revenues, but we are supposed to be able to reduce our costs by 50%". Ecclestone was removed from his position as chief executive of Formula One Group on 23 January 2017, following its takeover by Liberty Media in 2016. He

2400-606: The 1987 season . Having bought the team from Ron Tauranac for approximately $ 120,000 at the end of 1971, Ecclestone eventually sold it for over US$ 5 million to a Swiss businessman, Joachim Luhti in 1988. In parallel to his activities as team owner, Ecclestone formed the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA) in 1974 with Frank Williams , Colin Chapman , Teddy Mayer , Ken Tyrrell , and Max Mosley . He became increasingly involved with his roles at FISA and

2500-473: The 2005 United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The seven teams which refused to participate, stating concern over the safety of their Michelin tyres, requested rule changes and/or a change to the track configuration. Despite a series of meetings between Ecclestone, Max Mosley and the team principals, no compromise was reached by race time, and Ecclestone became an object of

2600-416: The 2007–2008 financial crisis , and stated: "They have a lot of influence everywhere." In a 2012 trial against the former BayernLB chief risk officer Gerhard Gribkowsky, the public prosecutor accused Ecclestone of being a co-perpetrator in the case. Gribkowsky confessed to the charges of tax evasion, breach of trust and for accepting bribes. In closing arguments at a Munich trial the public prosecutor told

2700-511: The Austrian eventually taking his fourth win in a row. Denny Hulme was third, again, while Jackie Stewart retired with engine troubles before the half-way point. Ferrari's hopes for a resurgence came true during the Austrian Grand Prix . The first race at the new Österreichring saw Jochen Rindt take pole position, but he was closely followed by both Regazzoni and Ickx. Ignazio Giunti in

2800-482: The Austrian missed a gear and the Australian outbraked him into South Bank corner. Brabham led away, growing his advantage to 13 seconds in the last lap, but then dramatically running out of fuel. Rindt crossed the line first, extending his lead in the championship, and Brabham coasted home in second. Denny Hulme was third for McLaren . After the race, Rindt was disqualified for running an illegally high rear wing, but team boss Colin Chapman successfully appealed and

2900-516: The FISA–FOCA war . His control of the sport, which grew from his pioneering sale of television rights in the late-1970s, was primarily financial; under the terms of the Concorde Agreement in 1987, Ecclestone and his companies also controlled the administration, setup and logistics of each Formula One Grand Prix . He also founded International Sportsworld Communicators in 1996, controlling

3000-637: The Scuderia Ferrari coming off a dominant victory in Austria , the tifosi were praying for a repeat during the Italian Grand Prix . Main rivals March and Lotus had prepared their cars for the long straights of Monza by stripping them from any spoilers and such. It allowed them to reach top speeds of over 300 km/h (190 mph) but made them quite unstable in the corners, which Emerson Fittipaldi found out during practice : he crashed going into

3100-496: The V12 -powered cars would be dominant: Jacky Ickx put his Ferrari on pole position , ahead of Jean-Pierre Beltoise in the Matra . And in the opening laps, only championship leader Jackie Stewart was able to keep up with those two. On lap 16, however, Ickx's engine was misfiring and he had to retire. When Stewart pitted with engine issues as well, Rindt was in second place and promptly set

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3200-471: The V12 -powered cars, whereas the Cosworth V8s suffered from attrition. Jacky Ickx started on pole in his Ferrari, with championship leader Jochen Rindt and teammate Clay Regazzoni next to him. Rindt's main rival Jack Brabham could only manage a twelfth starting position and when his engine suffered an oil leak, he was already out of the race after four laps. Ickx and Rindt engaged in a race-long battle,

3300-463: The "false trail" of Jowell's husband's links to Benetton . On 6 November correspondents from three newspapers inquired whether Labour had received any donations from Ecclestone; he had donated £1 million in January 1997. On 11 November Labour promised to return the money on the advice of Sir Patrick Neill. On 17 November, Blair apologised for his government's mishandling of the affair and stated "the decision to exempt Formula One from tobacco sponsorship

3400-659: The Alfa engines rendered them significantly overweight. The 1976 and 1977 seasons saw Brabham fall towards the back of the field again, before winning two races again in the 1978 season when Ecclestone signed the Austrian double world champion Niki Lauda , intrigued by Murray's radical BT46 design. The Brabham-Alfa era ended in 1979, the team's first season with the up-and-coming young Brazilian Nelson Piquet when Alfa Romeo started testing its own Formula One car during that season. This prompted Ecclestone to revert to Cosworth DFV engines –

3500-567: The Compton & Ecclestone motorcycle dealership with Fred Compton. His first racing experience came in 1949 in the 500cc Formula 3 Series, acquiring a Cooper Mk V in 1951. He drove only a limited number of races, mainly at his local circuit, Brands Hatch , but achieved a number of good placings and an occasional win. He initially retired from racing following several accidents at Brands Hatch, intending to focus on his business interests. After his accident, Ecclestone temporarily left racing to make

3600-522: The F1CA (later known as FOCA ). The organisers had suddenly decided to allow just 16 starters for the race, and, only after all practice and qualifying sessions were run, decided to discount any lap time set on Friday. Under pressure of the protesting teams, they reverted their decision on the morning of the race and all 22 entered cars were rolled onto the grid, until the CSI forced them to uphold it and saw to it that

3700-566: The FOCA in the 1970s, in particular with negotiating the sport's television rights, in his decades-long advocacy for team control. Ecclestone became chief executive of FOCA in 1978 with Mosley as his legal adviser; together, they negotiated a series of legal issues with the FIA and Jean-Marie Balestre , culminating in Ecclestone's famous coup, his securing the right for FOCA to negotiate television contracts for

3800-585: The Ferrari pair of Ickx and Regazzoni. In the race, Stewart established a comfortable lead, until on lap 32, his left front suspension collapsed and he retired. Ickx and Regazzoni moved up to take a 1-2 finish, ahead of Chris Amon in the March . For the United States Grand Prix , Ickx qualified on pole position, ahead of Stewart and Fittipaldi, the leading Lotus driver after Rindt's demise. Ickx needed to win

3900-468: The Ford-powered BT49D in the early part of the season while reliability and driveability issues were sorted out by BMW and its technical partner Bosch . Ecclestone and BMW came close to splitting before the turbo car duly took its first win at the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix but the partnership took the first turbo-powered world championship in 1983. The team continued to be competitive until 1985. At

4000-612: The Formula One Group. Ecclestone used the proceeds of this sale to purchase a stake in this new company (the exact ratio of the CVC/Ecclestone shareholding is unknown). On 6 December Alpha Prema acquired JP Morgan's share of SLEC to increase its ownership of Formula One to 86%; the remaining 14% was held by Lehman Brothers. On 21 March 2006 the EU competition authorities approved the transaction subject to CVC selling Dorna, which controls

4100-531: The Gerhard Gribkowsky case showed that Ecclestone had been under investigation by the UK tax authorities for nine years, and that he had avoided the payment of £1.2 billion through a legal tax avoidance scheme. HM Revenue and Customs agreed to conclude the matter in 2008 with a payment of £10 million. In a Times interview published on 4 July 2009, Ecclestone said "terrible to say this I suppose, but apart from

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4200-455: The Grands Prix. For this purpose Ecclestone established Formula One Promotions and Administration , giving 47% of television revenues to teams, 30% to the FIA, and 23% to FOPA (i.e. Ecclestone himself); in return, FOPA put up the prize money – grand prix could literally be translated from French as "great prize". Television rights shuffled between Ecclestone's companies, teams, and the FIA in

4300-653: The Manufacturers' Cup standings in the same order: March led with 25 points, ahead of Lotus with 23 and Brabham with 17. Jochen Rindt in his new Lotus 72 was favourite for the French Grand Prix , but he was suffering from a stomach ulcer and the twisty nature of the track brought on heavy sickness. To add to the misery, in practice, a stone was thrown up by a car in front, hitting his face and cutting his right cheek deeply. After qualifying, it seemed that, like in Spa ,

4400-611: The Manufacturers' Cup with 59 points, ahead of Ferrari (52) and March (48). Points were awarded to the top six classified finishers. The International Cup for F1 Manufacturers only counted the points of the highest-finishing driver for each race. For both the Championship and the Cup, the best six results from rounds 1-7 and the best five results from rounds 8-13 were counted. Numbers without parentheses are championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. Points were awarded in

4500-524: The Parabolica, escaped unhurt, but gave his Lotus mechanics a big repair job. Championship leader Jochen Rindt crashed at the same place on Saturday and the Austrian came off much worse, sadly: he was only wearing a seat belt around his waist and, in the impact, slid underneath it, all the way down until the belt slid his throat. Upon hearing the news, the Lotus team packed up their operations and withdrew from

4600-489: The Vietnamese Grand Prix's contract to appear on the Formula One calendar was terminated. As of the 2024 season, the race has not taken place. There is still no official announcement when or if the Vietnamese Grand Prix will make its debut. Formula One Grand Prix races are intended to be held on a 5.613 km (3.488 mi) temporary street circuit on the streets of Hanoi . The circuit, going counter clockwise,

4700-399: The battle. Spurred on by the promise that a part of the prize money would be awarded to the driver in the lead at laps 17, 34 and 51, several drivers joined the tactical slipstreaming fight. In the end, Regazzoni managed to win the race, ahead of a group of four drivers finishing within three quarters of a second. Jackie Stewart and Jean-Pierre Beltoise completed the podium. François Cevert ,

4800-444: The board of directors until his departure in 2020. Over his four-decade career as an executive in Formula One, Ecclestone was involved in several controversies . With the birth of his son in 2020, he became the sixth-oldest father in human history , aged 89. In October 2023, Ecclestone was convicted of tax fraud at Southwark Crown Court , and agree to pay HM Revenue and Customs over £ 650 million in back taxes and penalties; he

4900-505: The championship commenced in South Africa . Reigning champion Jackie Stewart , driving a privatised March 701 for Tyrrell Racing , set the fastest lap, before Chris Amon , driving the same car but for the March works team , set the exact same time, a 1:19.3. Three-time World Champion Jack Brabham joined them on the first row. At the start, Stewart and Brabham had the best initial start, until Jochen Rindt , who started in fourth, made

5000-628: The commercial rights to Formula One until 2017. Born in Suffolk and raised in Bexleyheath , Ecclestone began his business career trading automotive parts after World War II . He started racing in Formula Three in 1949, winning multiple races at Brands Hatch driving a Cooper Mk V . After purchasing two Connaught chassis in 1958 , Ecclestone entered the Monaco and British Grands Prix in Formula One as

5100-688: The commercial rights to the World Rally Championship until 2000. Ecclestone placed fifth on the Sunday Times Rich List in 2002, and declined both a CBE and a knighthood from Elizabeth II . Ecclestone co-owned association football club Queens Park Rangers with Flavio Briatore from 2007 to 2011, overseeing their promotion to the Premier League . Ecclestone sold the Formula One Group to Liberty Media in 2017, subsequently being appointed as chairman emeritus and adviser to

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5200-450: The companies. Ecclestone came under fire in October 2004 when he and British Racing Drivers' Club president Jackie Stewart were unable to come to terms regarding the future British Grand Prix , causing the race to be dropped from the 2005 provisional season calendar. Negotiations with Ecclestone to keep the race in Formula One ended in the signing of a contract on 9 December to guarantee

5300-604: The continuation of the British Grand Prix for the following five years. In mid-November 2004, the three banks comprising Speed Investments , which owns a 75% share in SLEC , which in turn controls Formula One – Bayerische Landesbank , J.P. Morgan Chase , and Lehman Brothers – sued Ecclestone for more control over the sport, prompting speculation that Ecclestone might altogether lose the control he had maintained for more than 30 years. A two-day hearing began on 23 November. After

5400-482: The court Ecclestone "hasn't been blackmailed, he is a co-perpetrator in a bribery case". According to the prosecutor and defendant, Ecclestone paid about $ 44 million to the former banker to get rid of the lender's stake in Formula One. Ecclestone told prosecutors he paid Gribkowsky because he blackmailed him with telling UK tax authorities about a family trust controlled by Ecclestone's former wife. In November 2012 private equity firm Bluewaters Communications Holdings filed

5500-575: The decision was reverted. The German Grand Prix was planned to be held at the Nürburgring Nordschleife , but in light of the deaths of Bruce McLaren and Piers Courage , the drivers asked the FIA to find a safer circuit. This led to the first Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring , which had already been fitted with Armco barriers all around. The track's whose long straights gave the advantage to

5600-591: The decision. The following day, at a meeting of team bosses at Heathrow Airport in London, Ecclestone offered the teams a total of £260,000,000 over three years in return for unanimous renewal of the Concorde Agreement, which expired in 2008. Two weeks later, Gerhard Gribkowsky, a board member of Bayerische Landesbank and the chairman of SLEC, said that the banks had no intention to remove Ecclestone from his position of control. Ecclestone saw 14 of 20 cars pull out of

5700-516: The end of the year, Piquet left after seven years. He was unhappy with the money that Ecclestone was willing to offer him and went to Williams where he would win his third championship. The following year, Murray, who since 1973 had designed cars that had scored 22 GP wins, left Brabham to join McLaren. Brabham continued under Ecclestone's leadership to the end of the 1987 season, in which the team scored only eight points. BMW withdrew from Formula One after

5800-399: The end of the year. The following teams and drivers competed in the 1970 World Championship . The starting order of the race would usually be decided by the drivers' fastest time during any of the practice sessions. However, in some cases, only ten "chosen" drivers would be guaranteed a place on the grid, in the order of their best time. The remaining drivers had to earn their entry in

5900-481: The fact that Hitler got taken away and persuaded to do things that I have no idea whether he wanted to do or not, he was – in the way that he could command a lot of people – able to get things done." According to Ecclestone: "If you have a look at a democracy it hasn't done a lot of good for many countries — including this one", in reference to the United Kingdom. He also said that his friend of 40 years Max Mosley,

6000-488: The finish. Stewart won ahead of Bruce McLaren and Mario Andretti , the American 's first podium. Stewart's victory would be the last for any "private" (non-works) team. In Monaco , the same qualifying rules were implemented, resulting in six cars not qualifying for the race, although none of them were slowest in practice. Championship leader Stewart started on pole position , with Amon next to him. Hulme and Brabham started on

6100-419: The front row. Stewart started down in eighth, his March not liking the bumpy off-camber track of Brands Hatch . At the start, Brabham took the lead but was quickly passed by Ickx. The Ferrari was quick until its differential broke on lap 7. Ickx slowed down, Brabham's entry to Paddock Bend was hampered and Rindt seized the chance to pass them both. Rindt and Brabham were inseparable for the next 60 laps, until

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6200-670: The getaway driver who was an amateur racing driver. James later produced the silver trophy given to Formula One promoters. In 1997, Ecclestone was involved in a political controversy over the British Labour Party 's policy on tobacco sponsorship. Labour had pledged to ban tobacco advertising in its manifesto ahead of its 1997 general election victory , supporting a proposed European Union Directive banning tobacco advertising and sponsorship. At this time all leading Formula One Teams carried significant branding from tobacco brands. The Labour Party's stance on banning tobacco advertising

6300-594: The last day of 2012. After the loss of Silverstone as the venue for the British Grand Prix in 2008, Ecclestone came under fire from several high-profile names for his handling of Formula One's revenues. Damon Hill blamed Formula One Management as a key factor in the loss of the event: "There's always been the question of the FOM fee, and ultimately that is the deciding factor. To quote Bernie, he once said: 'You can have anything you like, as long as you pay too much for it,' but we can't pay too much for something ... The problem

6400-453: The last two races, practice times were used to determine the order of the grid and it was Stewart again on pole, with Rindt and Amon next to him. Rindt was first at the start, but it was Stewart and Amon fighting for the lead during the opening laps. Pedro Rodríguez started sixth but had passed everyone in front of him by lap 5, the BRM V12 engine reaching nearly 300 km/h (190 mph) on

6500-517: The late 1990s, but Ecclestone emerged on top again in 1997 when he negotiated the fourth Concorde Agreement : in exchange for annual payments, he maintained the television rights. Ecclestone and his companies also controlled the administration, setup and logistics of each Grand Prix. Also in 1978, Ecclestone hired Sid Watkins as official Formula One medical doctor. Following the crash at the 1978 Italian Grand Prix , Watkins demanded that Ecclestone provide better safety measures, which were provided at

6600-478: The lead ahead of Rindt, while Stewart fell to fourth. Going into lap 3, however, Rindt passed Ickx with ease, going round the outside at Tarzan corner. The Austrian would finish 30 seconds ahead of Stewart and a lap ahead of Ickx in third place. The race was marred by the fatal accident of Piers Courage . In the Drivers' Championship, Jackie Stewart led with 19 points, ahead of Jochen Rindt with 18 and Jack Brabham with 15. Their respective constructors filled

6700-582: The lead on lap 20, Hulme went past Stewart on lap 38 into second, and it was only thanks to Bruce McLaren's engine failure that the Scot finished on the podium. During the weekend of the Spanish Grand Prix , the organisers of the event, backed by the Commission Sportive Internationale (currently known as the FIA ), had a falling out with a large number of teams and drivers, represented by

6800-577: The lead. Stewart had to pit due to a loose steering column but he was fighting back to the front until, on lap 33, he hit a stray dog and heavily damaged his front suspension. Ferrari scored their third 1-2 finish, ahead of Denny Hulme in the McLaren . Jochen Rindt was awarded the Drivers' Championship posthumously, the only time this has ever happened, with 45 points, ahead of the Ferrari drivers Jacky Ickx (40) and Clay Regazzoni (33). Lotus were awarded

6900-459: The line, ahead of Henri Pescarolo in the Matra , scoring his first podium. After the death of founder and owner Bruce McLaren , the McLaren team withdrew their cars for the Belgian Grand Prix . The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps had received an upgrade in safety measures: Armco barriers lined around the track and a slow chicane instead of the infamous high-speed Masta kink. Unlike in

7000-565: The majority shareholder with 62% of the shares. It was announced on 18 August 2011 that Ecclestone and Briatore had sold their entire shareholding in the club to Tony Fernandes , known for his ownership of the Caterham Formula 1 team. For many years Ecclestone was rumoured to have been involved in the Great Train Robbery (1963) . In a 2014 interview Ecclestone claimed that this rumour arose from his acquaintance with robber Roy James,

7100-439: The next race. This way, Formula One began to improve safety, decreasing the number of deaths and serious injuries along the decades. At the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix , following Ayrton Senna 's fatal accident but while Senna was still alive, Ecclestone inadvertently misinformed Senna's family that Senna had died. Ecclestone had used a walkie-talkie to ask Sid Watkins - who was at the crash scene - about Senna's condition. Over

7200-602: The only other driver to not get lapped, encountered a sea of fans on the track when he finished a minute later. The championship concluded with three races in North America , starting with the Canadian Grand Prix at the spectacular Circuit Mont-Tremblant . The Lotus team had decided not to participate, while Tyrrell revealed their first self-designed chassis: the 001 . Jackie Stewart immediately snatched pole position, going four tenths faster than in his March , ahead of

7300-506: The proceedings ended the following day, Justice Andrew Park announced his intention to reserve ruling for several weeks. On 6 December 2004, Park read his verdict, stating that "In [his] judgment it is clear that Speed's contentions are correct and [he] should therefore make the declarations which it requests." However, Ecclestone insisted that the verdict – seen almost universally as a legal blow to his control of Formula One – would mean "nothing at all". He stated his intention to appeal against

7400-495: The public's frustration at the resultant six-car race. Despite him not having caused the problem, fans and journalists blamed him for failing to take control and enforce a solution, given the position of power in which he had placed himself. On 25 November 2005 CVC Capital Partners announced it was to purchase both the Ecclestone shares of the Formula One Group (25% of SLEC) and Bayerische Landesbank's 48% share (held through Speed Investments). This left Alpha Prema owning 71.65% of

7500-417: The race in formation and lapped the whole field except third-placed Rolf Stommelen . In the Drivers' Championship, Jochen Rindt 's retirement had not made a big dent in his lead, yet. He stood on 45 points, ahead of Jack Brabham with 25 and Denny Hulme with 20. In the battle for the Manufacturers' Cup, Lotus , unsurprisingly, was in the lead with 50 points, ahead of March and Brabham with 33. With

7600-498: The race. With the wreck cleared, normal proceedings resumed, albeit in a very different atmosphere. Jacky Ickx qualified on pole position for Ferrari, ahead of Pedro Rodríguez (British Racing Motors|BRM), Clay Regazzoni (Ferrari) and Jackie Stewart ( Tyrrell - March ). Ickx fell back to seventh place, but the other three put up a brilliant fight for the lead, switching positions almost every lap. Rodríguez retired when his engine exploded, but his teammate Jackie Oliver joined

7700-431: The rights to MotoGP . CVC announced the completion of the transaction on 28 March. CVC acquired Lehman Brothers' share at the end of March 2006. Allsport Management SA , owned by Paddy McNally was also acquired by CVC on 30 March. On 21 July 2007, Ecclestone announced in the media that he would be open to discussing the purchase of Arsenal Football Club . As a close friend to former director of Arsenal David Dein, it

7800-434: The season strongly but ended up five points short. The Manufacturers' Cup was won by Lotus, seven points ahead of Ferrari. Bruce McLaren , founder and owner of the famous McLaren team, died on 2 June while testing his McLaren M8D Can-Am car at Goodwood Circuit . Piers Courage , driver for Frank Williams's team , was killed during the Dutch Grand Prix on 21 June. Three-time World Champion Jack Brabham retired at

7900-415: The second row. Bruce McLaren retired on lap 19, when he hit the wall going through the fast chicane after the tunnel. On lap 22, Brabham finally managed to pass Amon, and when Stewart's Cosworth engine started misfiring badly, he acquired the lead of the race. With three quarters of the race, Amon crashed out with a broken rear suspension and Hulme fell back with gearbox issues. This gave Jochen Rindt

8000-454: The six slowest qualifiers, based on the Saturday qualifying times alone, were removed. The first row on the grid was filled by Jack Brabham ( Brabham ), Denny Hulme (McLaren) and Jackie Stewart (March). At the start, Jacky Ickx and Jackie Oliver came together and both cars were engulfed in flames. Another nine drivers retired during the race with mechanical issues, which meant only five were left at

8100-407: The son of British fascist leader Oswald Mosley , "would do a super job" as Prime Minister and added "I don't think his background would be a problem." Stephen Pollard , editor of The Jewish Chronicle , said: "Mr Ecclestone is either an idiot or morally repulsive. Either he has no idea how stupid and offensive his views are or he does and deserves to be held in contempt by all decent people." In

8200-480: The static of the walkie-talkie, Ecclestone misheard Watkins' response of "His head" as "He's dead". Based on this, Ecclestone told Senna's brother Leonardo, who was attending the race, that Senna had died. Senna in fact remained biologically alive for several more hours. This misunderstanding caused a rift in the hitherto friendly relations between Ecclestone and the Senna family; although Ecclestone travelled to Sâo Paulo at

8300-465: The straights, but Amon kept the pressure on him, setting a new lap record, even with the added chicane. Half-way through the race, Stewart's engine let go, before Hill and Brabham suffered mechanical issues as well. Rodríguez his second career win, just over a second clear of Amon. Jean-Pierre Beltoise finished third, and with two other V12-powered cars in the points, the Belgian high-speed roads had brought

8400-422: The third Ferrari started fifth. Brabham had another miserable qualifying: he started in eighth. Rindt lost out at the start, dropping to third, and Ickx was waved through by his teammate in a tactical play. François Cevert 's Tyrrell lost oil and in the melee, Rindt dropped to seventh place. He tried to fight back, but on lap 21, his Cosworth engine broke and all danger to Ferrari was over. The pair in red finished

8500-488: The time of Senna's funeral, he did not attend the funeral itself, instead watching it on television at his hotel. Despite heart surgery and triple coronary bypass in 1999, Ecclestone remained as energetic as always in promoting his own business interests. In the late 1990s he reduced his share in SLEC Holdings (owner of the various F1 managing firms) to 25%, though despite his minority share he retained complete control of

8600-485: The trial. In the weeks following the events of the murder of George Floyd , seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton , F1's only black driver, had launched his own commission to tackle racism and increase diversity, with Formula One launching a We Race As One initiative to fight global inequality. In an interview with CNN , Ecclestone initially praised Hamilton's efforts but then questioned whether it would "do anything bad or good for Formula One", before saying that "In

8700-485: The two remaining races to stand a chance of overtaking Rindt's points total, but at the start, he fell back to third. On lap 16, he overtook Rodríguez for second, but around half distance, had to make a pit stop to repair a fuel leak. Stewart then retired with an oil leak, and Rodríguez had to pit for extra fuel. This left the Lotus pair of Fittipaldi and Wisell in the lead. Rodríguez eventually recovered to second, while Ickx could manage more than fourth place. Jochen Rindt

8800-466: The whole team, which Tauranac eventually accepted. Tauranac stayed on as designer and to run the factory, while Colin Seeley was briefly brought in against Tauranac's wishes to assist in design and management. Ecclestone and Tauranac were both dominant personalities and Tauranac left Brabham early in the 1972 season . The team achieved little during 1972, as Ecclestone moulded the team to fit his vision of

8900-454: Was a world class industry which put Britain at the hi-tech edge. Deprived of tobacco money, Formula One would move abroad at the loss of 50,000 jobs, 150,000 part-time jobs and £900 million of exports." On 4 November the "fiercely anti-tobacco Jowell" argued in Brussels for an exemption for Formula One. Media attention initially focused on Labour bending its principles for a "glamour sport" and on

9000-498: Was appointed the honorary role of chairman emeritus and adviser to the board of directors, until his term expired in January 2020. In 1996, Ecclestone's International Sportsworld Communicators signed a 14-year agreement with the FIA for the exclusive broadcasting rights for 18 FIA championships. In 1999, the European Commission investigated FIA, ISC and FOA for abusing dominant position and restricting competition. As

9100-509: Was awarded the Drivers' Championship posthumously. For the Mexican Grand Prix , Clay Regazzoni qualified on pole, ahead of the three "Jacks": Stewart, Ickx and Brabham. The race was delayed over an hour, because over 200,000 supporters had turned up and were lined up right along the track to get the best view. The drivers pleaded with the crowd to move back and eventually agreed to start the race. When they got underway, Ickx quickly seized

9200-417: Was believed that the current board of the north London–based football club would prefer to sell to a British party, this after American-based investment company KSE headed by Stan Kroenke was thought to be preparing a £650 million takeover bid for Arsenal Holdings plc. The revenue sharing with the various teams, the Concorde Agreement, expired on the last day of 2007, and the contract with the FIA expired on

9300-434: Was contested over thirteen races between 7 March and 25 October. Jochen Rindt , driving for Lotus , won his first Drivers' Championship, although he died four races before the end of the season. He had earned enough championship points that no other driver managed to surpass his total. It is the only season to date in which the Drivers' Championship has been awarded posthumously. Jacky Ickx , driving for Ferrari , finished

9400-408: Was designed by Hermann Tilke in collaboration with City of Hanoi authorities. The circuit was initially to feature a hybrid of public roads and a purpose-built section which was planned to be opened to the public in the future. An additional corner was later added to the third sector of the circuit by organisers for safety reasons, making a total of 23 turns. This Formula One –related article

9500-510: Was linked to the sale of a stake in Formula 1. Gribkowsky, the BayernLB bank executive, was found guilty of taking $ 44m in bribes and failing to pay tax on the money. On 14 January 2014, a court in Munich ruled that Ecclestone would indeed be tried on bribery charges in Germany, and on 5 August 2014, the same court ruled that Ecclestone could pay a £60m settlement, without admitting guilt, to end

9600-555: Was not evacuated to the countryside during the Second World War and remained with his family. Ecclestone left Dartford West Central Secondary School at the age of 16 to work as an assistant in the chemical laboratory at the local gasworks testing gas purity. He also studied chemistry at Woolwich Polytechnic and pursued his hobby of motorcycles. Immediately after the end of the Second World War , Ecclestone went into business trading in spare parts for motorcycles, and formed

9700-476: Was reinforced following the general election by forceful statements from the Health Secretary Frank Dobson and Minister for Public Health Tessa Jowell . Ecclestone appealed 'over Jowell's head' to Jonathan Powell , Tony Blair's chief of staff, who arranged a meeting with Blair. Ecclestone and Max Mosley, both Labour Party donors, met Blair on 16 October 1997, where Mosley argued: "Motor racing

9800-558: Was revived after Liberty Media purchased the commercial rights to the sport from CVC Capital Partners in January 2017. The Vietnamese Grand Prix was announced in November 2018, becoming the first new race under Liberty Media's ownership. The race would join the existing Grand Prix held in Southeast Asia , the Singapore Grand Prix . The inaugural Vietnamese Grand Prix was initially scheduled to be held on 5 April 2020 as part of

9900-558: Was sentenced to 17 months in prison, suspended for two years. Ecclestone was born on 28 October 1930 in St Peter, South Elmham , a hamlet three miles south of Bungay . He was the son of Sidney Ecclestone, a fisherman, whose family was originally from Kent , and his wife Bertha Sophia (née Westley). Ecclestone attended primary school in Wissett in Suffolk before the family moved to Danson Road, Bexleyheath , southeast London, in 1938. He

10000-465: Was taken two weeks later. It was in response to fears that Britain might lose the industry overseas to Asian countries who were bidding for it." In 2008, the year after Blair stepped down as Prime Minister, internal Downing Street memos revealed that the decision had been made at the time of the meeting, and not two weeks later as Blair stated in Parliament. Interviews conducted by a German prosecutor in

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