Bernie Ecclestone did his best to be as nonchalant as always when he surveyed the wreckage of one of Formula One’s worst ever scandals last night.
He said he thought his old sparring partner Flavio Briatore, the man at the centre of the racefixing storm that has stunned the sport, might have been planning to quit F1 anyway.
“He told me recently he didn’t want to finish up like me,” Ecclestone said, “playing with racing cars at my age. So at least he’s been saved that embarrassment.”
That, though, is just about all Briatore and grand prix racing have been spared after another dark day in what has been a torrid season of non-stop controversy and infighting.
The scandal is the last thing F1 needs but Ecclestone remained defiant last night, insisting the sport, which often seems to thrive on such melodramas, would survive.
“It has recovered from so many things when people have said it was finished and it will recover from this,” Ecclestone said. “It was supposed to be finished when Ayrton Senna died. It was supposed to be finished when Michael Schumacher retired.
“It has been finished so many times that it’s difficult to know when it really will stop but I don’t think it will be now.
“People say it’s been a torrid year but it always is in F1. There’s always something going on. It’s never peaceful. Mirror.co.uk
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has expressed his sadness at close friend Flavio Briatore’s sensational exit from the sport.
The shock announcement of Briatore’s departure was made by Renault, who also confirmed in a statement they “will not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.”
Briatore asserted on Friday, during the course of the Italian Grand Prix weekend, there was no wrongdoing, and that he, the lawyers and Renault were confident of success in their case.
Despite this latest twist in the scandal, the extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council scheduled for Monday at the FIA’s headquarters in Paris will still go ahead. The Press Association
Ecclestone was sad to see Briatore go this way. “I’m very, very sorry that he’s ending his association with Formula One,” Ecclestone said. Of Symonds, he added: “I am surprised at Pat letting himself become involved.”
Asked whether he thought there could ever be way back to the paddock for either of them, he said: “I’ve no idea.” Times Online
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