Damien Smith
RACING LINES
Ecclestone boosted F1’s image before tarnishing his own
So Bernie Ecclestone now has a criminal record
for tawdry tax fraud.
The long-time tsar of Formula 1 changed his plea to guilty this month in London’s crown court for failing to declare on a trust of £400 million and, at the age of 92, has avoided jail after agreeing a £652 million settlement with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Given that Ecclestone is estimated to be worth £2.5 billion, that shouldn’t pinch too much.
The case follows a string of headlines that haven’t exactly painted the former used car dealer in the best of light in the past few years. Professing his admiration for Russian president Vladimir Putin and making daft (and deeply offensive) remarks about women have left the man they used to call The Bolt strikingly out of his time.