Motorsport: Straight talk from 'puppet master'

While Formula One's highly regarded puppet master has not been officially involved in the governance of the sport for many years, nothing happens without an acquiescent nod from Bernie Ecclestone.

The 78-year-old patriarch of F1 has been involved with Formula One Management company from day one, and as a result has the biggest say in what happens to the sport - despite what some say to the contrary.

Never one to shy away from speaking his mind, Ecclestone has in the past shot from the hip and almost shot himself in the foot.

Who can forget his comment a few years ago when he said, "You know I've got one of those wonderful ideas ... women should be dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances."

Or, when talking about how he preferred totalitarian states because things get done under such regimes, he said in a London Times interview, "In a lot of ways, terrible to say this I suppose, but apart from the fact that Hitler got taken away and persuaded to do other things that I have no idea whether he wanted to do or not, he was in the way he could command a lot of people, able to get things done."

The controversy over the last two years that has dogged F1 must have Ecclestone shaking his head in disbelief at the lack of direction the sport has, as well as its moral bankruptcy.

There was the McLaren spying drama, followed by Renault spying accusations, then Lewis Hamilton and McLaren's sporting director David Ryan telling porkies to the stewards and now the latest upheaval - Renault ordering Nelson Piquet jnr to deliberately crash.

However, Ecclestone has his own spin on such things.

"The standard of the sport is the same as it always has been. The sport doesn't need to recover from anything because it hasn't been damaged," Ecclestone told the Weekend Herald.

"Things now that perhaps went on years and years ago are known now because we are so super professional. We keep our eye on every single thing.

"Homosexuality has been going on for years and years, and years ago nobody knew anything about it. Then all of a sudden things come to light, and when it's all brought to light people start looking at things and making sure people are following the rules or not."

Ecclestone has been involved in motor racing for over 50 years, building Formula One into the behemoth it is today and he still has the drive of a much younger man to continue in his quest to improve the sport.

"That's what I do and I enjoy what I do so that's why I do it," he said.

"And when I don't enjoy it any more that's when I won't do it any more. We're involved in every aspect of the sport.

"My contribution is I helped the sport to where it is today. I just want to keep growing F1 and I shall continue doing what I am doing as long as I think I can deliver."

Ecclestone began his involvement in racing in the late 1950s when he bought the F1 Connaught team and even tried to race at Monaco in 1958.

He was Jochen Rindt's manager in 1970 when Rindt was posthumously awarded the world championship.

Two years later he bought the Brabham F1 team and went on to have success with Nelson Piquet winning two world championships.

In 1974 Ecclestone, along with Max Mosley, Colin Chapman, Ken Tyrrell, Teddy Mayer and Frank Williams decided the sport needed organising and so set up the Formula One Constructors Association.

By 1975 Foca had won the battle with the FIA for a revised entry system and money to be paid to all the teams.

Shortly after the battle for TV rights raised its ugly head and it was Ecclestone who emerged with his hands on the prize.

"My first interest was motorbikes but then I moved on to cars. I was a team owner for 18 years before I became involved in the management of the sport," said Ecclestone.

"The teams suggested it [getting F1 organised on a more professional basis] as there wasn't anyone really running anything. Everybody was sort of doing their own thing so we just thought we'd try and put it together properly. Max [Mosely, FIA president] had a team at the time as well. He was a lawyer and was helping us quite a bit as well. We just did what had to be done back then."

Of the founding Foca fathers, it was Ecclestone who was always foremost in looking for every angle to make the sport more popular and exciting.

"All the things you do at the time you think are the right things to do, so you just do it," he said.

"I've put lots and lots and lots of things into Formula One racing and motor sport in general. New things that other people haven't done.

"People thought it was mad to race under lights and a few other things but it's all worked."

After so long in the sport, Ecclestone has seen his fair share of drivers and trying to single one out would be nigh on impossible because you can't compare eras.

"When I had my team Jochen Rindt was a great driver back then and today it's that Sebastian Vettel or even Lewis Hamilton or [Fernando] Alonso. There's lots of good drivers and it's hard to pick one, they're all pretty good," said Ecclestone.

Ecclestone may be short in stature at around 1.6m, but he's big in the influence he wields.

The billionaire is one of the best-paid executives on the planet and as far back as 1996 was being paid $118 million a year.

Although his vast fortune may have taken a hit with his recent divorce from his 1.9m Croatian-born wife, there's still more than enough left in his coffers for Ecclestone to wield enormous influence in the world of Formula One.