Tuesday March 28th, 2000

By Merissa Marr

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone on Monday slammed suggestions he was preparing to relax his grip on Grand Prix racing, saying he would have to be carried out in a coffin before he left the sport.

Ecclestone, who has run Formula One racing with an iron rod for the past 30 years, also said his family trust had no plans to sell a further stake to German media firm EM.TV in the near future but a flotation was still on the agenda.

"I'm going to stay where I am, I don't ever plan to retire. I'm going to stay at this desk permanently and they'll have to carry me out in a box," Ecclestone said in an interview.

Motor racing has made a billionaire out of 69-year-old Ecclestone, the son of a Suffolk trawlerman, who took on board Grand Prix racing in the 1970s and transformed it into the world's most regularly watched sport.

But after major heart surgery last summer and the sale of a 50 percent stake in the motor racing business, the father of Formula One appeared to have been easing his grip on the sport.

"I've been working under a lot of pressure over the last three years with all the negotiations but now I think I will automatically be more relaxed. I think I'm more relaxed working than not working," Ecclestone said.

Ecclestone's family trust sold 12.5 percent of the SLEC empire - which owns Formula One motor racing activities - to investment bank Morgan Grenfell last year and a further 37.5 percent to San Francisco investment firm Hellman & Friedman.

But as part of $1.65 billion deal signed last week, Ecclestone's family now finds itself co-owner with EM.TV after the German media firm bought out the two finance houses.

"It's not up to EM.TV when we float but we're on track for a flotation within two to three years," Ecclestone said.

"Eventually EM.TV may buy an extra stake but it's not on the cards for now. The idea is to go public and both EM.TV and my family's trust will sell down their shares but nothing will change in the running of the sport, I'm still in control."

Steering for the Internet?

EM.TV has put the Internet at the forefront of its strategy, but Ecclestone said there were no plans to take Formula One online for now.

"I don't know what the big fuss is about. It would probably take about 20 minutes to put Formula One online. When we are ready, we will go onto the Internet," he said.

Ecclestone said a European Commission investigation into Formula One broadcasting rights had added stress to his life in recent months but he was hopeful it would soon be resolved.

The European Commission launched its probe last year into whether Ecclestone broke competition law by obtaining exclusive television rights to Formula One racing.

Ecclestone said when he is no longer here, he hopes Formula One will pass to a number of hands rather than just one pair and ruled out his wife Slavica as a possible successor.

"If they thought I was tough, they wouldn't know what had hit them if my wife took charge. But lucky for them, she's not interested in business," Ecclestone said.

Ecclestone, who met 41-year-old Croatian Slavica in the pit lanes at the Monza Grand Prix in 1982, passed all his wealth over to her through a family trust four years ago. The couple have two daughters.

"I want to be in a position that Formula One's management can be easily passed to a few good key people who bring in better ideas. But I hope I'm not around to see that," he said.