F1LOS’ofia: Five Evenings with Bernie Ecclestone

Imagine a photo that looks absolutely fantastic: somehow, you ended up with Bernie Ecclestone in some incredible way.

He is in a good mood, open to conversation, in no hurry and ready to tell you everything about Formula 1 that you wanted to know but were afraid to ask. Or there was simply no one to ask, as there are many stories known only to him, in the recent past to the Great and Terrible Mr. E., now the former head of the World Cup leadership.

Represented? I understand that this is not easy, because even at 92, Bernie remains a heavenly thing, so the chances of him being in his company, and even for a long time, listening to his stories for several evenings, tend to zero.

But in fact this is not quite true. A bow to the ground and many thanks to the British documentary filmmaker Manish Pandey, who we know from the famous film “Senna”: this time he gave us the opportunity to interact virtually with Bernie Ecclestone and film a whole series about him.

The name is simple – Lucky!, and can be translated in several ways, but there’s a catch of sorts here. If you write “Lucky”, then inappropriate parallels with the famous movie “Oh, lucky!” 1973 starring Malcolm McDowell and wonderful songs by Alan Price. Moreover, this is a misinterpretation, because Pandey’s new film is not about human happiness, but about happiness.

There is a word “happiness”, but it clearly has an inappropriate playful connotation. Therefore, I would freely translate the title as follows: “A person who is lucky.”

I also count myself lucky because for five evenings I enjoyed Bernie Ecclestone’s “society”, who looked me in the eye from the screen and spoke, spoke … In fact, the series consists of eight parts, but I had nothing to hurry up, and further During the winter holidays, I stretched out the fun, calmly watched and even watched something: I wanted to go back to some episodes so as not to miss anything – just because it was very, very interesting.

I must say right away that I watched this wonderful series in its original language, so there were no questionable moments regarding “translation problems”. And if some of the twists in Bernie’s speech weren’t immediately easy to understand, it’s only because he says it that way. However, he always had a very peculiar manner.

Of course it’s a little easier for me, because I’ve been writing about Formula 1 for almost 25 years (and I’ve worked at F1News.ru for almost 16 of those), so I’m somehow aware of the historical context against which the movie is dedicated. In addition, I once read the most interesting book by Tom Bauer “Not an Angel. The Secret Life of Bernie Ecclestone” – in fact, this is a biography of the ex-head of management of the World Cup, presented very nicely.

The Russian edition came out under a much less intriguing title: “Formula 1. The history of the world’s most important motor race and its leader Bernie Ecclestone”, which does not detract from the merits of this work, and everyone who wanted to be there 10 years ago .

To really dive into the film’s story, tailor-made the way Manish Pandey and his team wanted, was perhaps also helped by the fact that I, like many fellow journalists, have had the opportunity to interact with Bernie Ecclestone over the years in interview mode, and I have my own idea of ​​this person.

Overall, my five evenings spent in his company were simply unforgettable – for several reasons. First, in all eight parts of the film, Bernie shares insanely interesting information, and second, he does it very differently. It is not for nothing that a caption appears at the end of each episode: “Any arguments, views or comments expressed or made by Bernie Ecclestone on this program are his alone and no one else’s.”

All kinds of stories, often really dramatic ones, present Ecclestone as an eyewitness and direct participant in the events that we usually know from the racing press, from books or simply from Wikipedia. And here Bernie tells about it himself, and even against the background of a unique newsreel, including from his personal archive.

For example, there is footage from the summer of 1951 showing Bernie, then only 20 years old, racing in British Formula 3, driving a green Cooper with only a 500cc engine. cm.

And literally right there, Ecclestone answers the question of why, with all his love of motorsport, he didn’t achieve much success as a racer: “I was racing at Goodwood once, and someone overtook me on the outer radius, although it was was practically impossible. It was Stirling Moss. If you like, you can compare it to the impression you get when you see an artist at work…”

In general, Bernie gradually realized that he was not an “artist”. At that time, he was already quite a successful dealer of used cars, and a business streak was inherent in him since childhood, so he remained in motorsport, but his role changed – he started the career of a talented British racer Stuart Lewis- Evans. According to Ecclestone, he was not a manager, only helping his friend with advice. It was then, in 1957-1958, that Bernie really became “his own” in the world of Formula 1.

Ecclestone was well acquainted with all the great racers of the time, whose names are now covered with legends – these are Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, Mike Hawthorne, Tony Brooks, Peter Collins, Luigi Musso and many others.

Of course, as Bernie himself had been involved in many accidents during his racing years, he also knew about the downside of motorsport – how dangerous it is, which can lead to tragic consequences at any time. But he was hardly prepared for the fact that it would soon hit him: Lewis-Evans was tragically killed in an accident at the Moroccan Grand Prix, the last race of the 1958 season.

There is also footage of that incident in the film. And when Ecclestone talks about him, looking straight into the camera, the viewer feels how hard it is for him to remember all this.

“It was a bad day for me. Stuart and I were really good friends. And he died the day after my 28th birthday, Bernie says. “Then I went back to my business (used car business), believing that I could no longer stay in motorsport.”

As we now know, several years have passed and Bernie Ecclestone returned to Formula 1 – everyone who watches the series knows how this happened, under what circumstances and what happened next. I’m not going to tell it again, I just want to share in general the impressions Manish Pandey’s movie made on me.

This is a beautiful, very well done work, which can be considered as a kind of anthology of the history of Formula 1 from the 1950s to the present, more precisely, to the period when the American company Liberty Media took control took over from the championship by paying $4 for it, 6 billion. After that, the new owners of Formula 1 have decided that they no longer need Bernie’s services.

In one of the interviews about the series, the author, Manish Pandey said, “Everyone knows that Bernie is an extraordinary person. But when you hear his stories, you get inspired and you start to understand that he really likes order very much and strives for everything to be perfectly in order, and he does it with a lot of patience.

At the same time, he treats people with respect. He has an absolutely intimidating reputation, but don’t get me wrong: it’s all because you have the wrong idea about him. If you listen carefully to him and think about his approach to solving certain problems, you can learn a lot about yourself. That was my ultimate goal when I started this series… You can learn from Bernie’s life, from his example.

In general, Mr. Ecclestone’s biography, which he himself expounded, is a very instructive spectacle indeed. Of course, not everything Bernie talks about is captured in a film or video chronicle, and then the creators of the series very successfully resorted to animation, recreating scenes and episodes that mostly took place behind the scenes. I think they did a great job too.

And it’s also worth remembering the words of Fabiana Flosi, Ecclestone’s wife and the mother of their young son – her voice is heard off screen at the end of the series’ final installment. She compared Bernie to a gardener who built a garden, lovingly cared for it for years, and now this garden can grow without him.

Perhaps anyone who has loved Formula 1 for a long time would be willing to agree: Bernie really is an excellent gardener.