This is the story of the rise of Bernie Ecclestone from second hand car dealer to ring master of Formula One. As a close follower of motor racing I have often been struck by the almost total dominance of Formula One, mostly to the exclusion of other, frequently better, forms of motor sport. This book confirms pretty well all of my cynical thoughts about the uses and abuses of power in high places. According to Lovell any form of motor sport that threatens F1 is gradually starved of the life blood of promotion and publicity. This is a book which throws a very negative light on sport as big business and indeed on certain governments' eager of a grand prix at any cost. Much space is given to the politics behind various grand prix venues, in particular all the dealings over Brands Hatch, and to Ecclestone's consolidation of control of motor sport's TV coverage, helped in this aspect by Max Mosley, whose rise to power is also described. Also covered are the 'Cash for Ash' scandal with the UK's labour government (in which Ecclestone comes out as the innocent party), the investigation into motor sport by the EU and the deal with EM-Kirsch. Unfortunately, being published in 2004, the book came too early to cover the saga of 'Bernie and the Banks'.
However, I do have a couple of reservations about this book. Notably, is Bernie all bad? On more than one occasion I've read positive things about Bernie, particularly concerning motor racing folk in trouble who received considerable help. This aspect gets little coverage. I think this is because Lovell sees Ecclestone's story is a kind of morality tale. This is made particularly clear at the end and it greatly weakens what would otherwise have been an interesting book.
Metro Publishing, 374 pages
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