Former F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone believes he won’t have a legacy when he passes, insisting despite everything he has achieved he will be “quickly forgotten”.
Ecclestone sold his shares in Formula 1 to Liberty Media at the end of 2016 for an estimated $8bn and has since been serving time under the new management as Chairman Emeritus.
The 89-year-old has spent over 60 years of his life in and around the world of F1, even making two entries as a driver for the Connaught team in 1958 racing at Monaco and Silverstone. He failed to qualify on both occasions.
He also spent time as a driver manager to Stuart Lewis-Evans in the 1950s and F1's only posthumous World Champion Jochen Rindt before his passing at the 1970 Italian Grand Prix.
Ecclestone would continue in F1, eventually coming to own the Brabham team during the 1970s, eventually winning two titles with Nelson Piquet in 1981 and 1983.
Also during the 1970s, he would help negotiate TV rights for F1 as well as being responsible for hiring the late Professor Sid Watkins as the series’ official medical doctor in 1978.
After the fatal crash of Ronnie Peterson at the start of that season’s Italian Grand Prix, Watkins had demanded better medical facilities which saw the beginning of an immense overhaul in the approach to safety in F1.
Ecclestone also worked for over 30 years with former FIA president Max Mosley in collaboration with the FIA, negotiating the broadcasting and financial dealings with the teams through FOM.
Speaking on the official F1 ‘Beyond the Grid’ podcast, he said: “I don’t have one, I will disappear and be forgotten within a few months like most people.
“Nobody remembers. The world moves on. New people, new things happen. The world is moving so quick now to what it used to, maybe 20 years ago even.
“It’s easy for people to march on for new things, new ideas.”
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