Former Renault and Benetton F1 boss, Flavio Briatore, i a long-time friend of former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone and he was nonplussed at the way in which Liberty Media treated a man who spent 40 years of his life building the series into what it is today.
As a thank you, Briatore organized a party for Ecclestone in London and it included many of the major characters in F1. Flavio said:
“Normally, if you invite one hundred people, you have 60 people who confirm they can attend because you are talking about people that are very busy – or who live many thousands of kilometres away.
“But everybody came to London, including Prince Albert of Monaco, Prince Salman of Bahrain, Luca di Montezemolo, Stefano Domenicali, Piero Ferrari, David Coulthard, Max Mosley, Toto Wolff, Niki Lauda, and many other people.
“It was a kind of tribute to Bernie’s career.
“He was not treated well by the new Formula 1 bosses. People forget easily what this man has created.
“It was a bit of a sad evening, but very beautiful.”
In me editorial about Eccelstone’s departure from F1, I spoke of the ease at which many younger fans dismiss the work that Bernie did in making the series what it is. There have been mistakes along the way for sure but the sport would not be what it is today if it were not for the efforts of this used car salesman.
It is nice to see many of F1’s luminaries pay tribute to Ecclestone and I suspect some of whom would not be the people they are without his influence. Anyone guess which person is Niki Lauda?
Hat Tip: Briatore Instagram and Autosport
To the left of Niki looks like Damon Hill, but not sure if he’s invited (wouldn’t surprised me if he wasn’t mentioned). The hand sticking out on the left is almost certain of Luca Montezemolo. And there’s Max Mosley with the champagne.
Anyway, the masquerade thing is a bit weird.
I think he just stayed around too long. Time for new blood and new ideas in F1 was 10 years ago.
Spot the elderly F1 fan…
The shaft has came for Bernie, and now it also came out for his gang at the FIA, all the Brabham boys are now all gone, just Lauda remaining.
Please don’t mention that, I’m trying to erase that from my memory.
Sorry for bringing it up Max, it’s hard to dissociate that memory from any mention of Flavio……..
Thank you and good night!
Although with those masks the night might not be that good.
I suspect it would have be been very difficult for Liberty and Bernie to come to an arrangement when Bernie steps down in an smooth and structured way. Bernie is a genius but a maverick, and so used to doing things his own way that he’d be an unmanageable employee. It makes sense that Liberty would chose to make an abrupt break with Bernie. That has meant that recognition of Bernie’s fantastic achievement in building and directing F1 into this massive business for 40 years has been muted. The 100 masked men are among the many who admire what he… Read more »
Really struggling with the tear shedding over Bernie’s 3B$ exit from F1. Perhaps Flavio should stick to positing pictures of himself and his fat belly on the beaches of the maldives
From Autosport about Baku:
He implied the fee was of more significance to then-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone.
“I think it’s our job to do far more to help the promoters to be successful,” said Maffei.
“Frankly Bernie’s attitude was, ‘How much can I extract from them?’
“I heard him call them the victims – ‘How much can I extract, how much up front?’
Bernie built it up, then tore it down into pieces he could fit in his pocket. I’m not a fan.