Bernie Ecclestone Quotes

Bernie Ecclestone serves up gritty, tongue-in-cheek barbs that feel like a backstage gossip session.

24 quotes

1. 'The banks don't have anything - no rights whatsoever. The banks are shareholders of SLEC, and SLEC has no rights. ... I am the CEO of Formula One Management and Formula One Administration, which runs the business in F1. From this point of view, I own F1.'

2. 'The morning after I die. And the first 12 copies go to the Inland Revenue'

3. 'You know, I've got one of these wonderful ideas that women should all be dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances.'

4. 'Waiters are like hookers, never around when you want them.'

5. 'Tell her I'm now in the company of my wife, Slavica, who is much younger, better looking and wealthier than the Queen. Therefore, I'll stay with her.'

6. 'They think they've got me by the balls--their hands aren't big enough.'

7. 'I can't remember a single occasion when I have been kind to a journalist.'

8. 'Why would I rob a train with only two and a half million pounds on it?'

9. I have always been happy to have daughters rather than sons. You never really can be mad at girls for anything in life.

10. My dad always took to his heels when a nappy change was necessary. I am so much looking forward to our child. It is such a wonderfully exciting time right now.

11. I have earned the money and changed the nappies!

12. You have to hope that your opponents are unlucky. Never only rely on your own luck.

13. I also would rather race than strut red carpets in Hollywood - and thank God this is not my job - but also the team principals should be more prominent.

14. But when it comes to F1 I am a huge Lewis [Hamilton] fan because he is a super promoter of the sport. From a pure business aspect - sorry Nico if I have to say this - you are not so good for my business.

15. Actually I think I have forgotten how it was back then. Or probably not - I didn't qualify. There were only 16 cars in the race.

16. Generally I still believe that Lewis [Hamilton] is the best champion that we have had in a long, long time. He manages to get to all different walks of life: red carpet, fashion business, and music - you name it.

17. [Donald] Trump would want to cosy up to him for sure, and he'd be right to do that. Which would be good for the world.

18. [Donald] Trump, I think, is the sort of guy that if he maybe thought he'd made a little bit of a mistake, would find a way out, he wouldn't want to say, "Well, that's what I've done and I'm sticking to it, and I don't give a damn." Which is what the other people in America would be like.

19. Probably when I gave things to Slavica [ Ecclestone], you know the shares of the company, and things like that. And she put it all in trust and the trust sold the shares. Um, would I turn the clock back if I could and so I still owned the company completely? Probably yes. It probably wasn't a good decision, but it was the decision that had to be made. Was I happy that I made it? No.

20. There is no recipe for that. Both [Nico Rosenberg and Lewis Hamilton] are very likely equally talented in the car, so the fight between the two happens between the ears - in the head.

21. It's the engine. They should have never had that. The biggest mistake people have made... I say, "people," because it wasn't just me alone, was not insisting Mercedes supply Red Bull an engine. Because had they supplied the same engine as they had, you would have seen good racing, you would have seen Red Bull up there last year.

22. I never neglected my daughters - quite the opposite - but I suppose I could have and should have spent more time with them.

23. With [Vladimir] Putin, he says he's going to do something, he gets on it, does it.

24. Lewis [Hamilton] is a hero in the UK. The British love Formula One. Sebastian (Vettel) is also not doing much for F1. People hardly recognize him on the street.