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Alan Henry
Although Formula One Holdings will require a professional management board when it is floated as a public company, the administration of grand prix racing has always responded to a powerful individual touch. These are some of the names that have been mentioned as possible members of the board.
Luca di Montezemolo: The president of Ferrari, who started out as its F1 team manager in 1973 and acted as their liaison man at the circuits reporting directly to Enzo Ferrari. He has a high profile, is close to Ecclestone and well known in a wide variety of sporting spheres. Di Montezemolo would be a prestige name to have linked to a Formula One Holdings board – even as a consultant.
Max Mosley: The FIA president and once Ecclestone’s legal adviser. He is a powerful and highly influential presence within the motor racing and motor industry lobby, but he is simply not interested in a position which would probably be regarded as a clash with his role as the sport’s administrator. Instead, Mosley will stand again for his current post in 2001.
Ron Dennis: The managing director of the TAG McLaren group, Dennis has steered McLaren’s F1 fortunes since 1980, when Ecclestone himself owned the Brabham team. He has no ambitions to run F1 as such, but would be a likely candidate to feature strongly on the board to protect the interests of all of the grand prix teams.
Marco Piccinini: A lawyer and former Ferrari team manager in the early 1980s, Piccinini has remained closely involved as a board member of the Italian company in recent years. An adept political operator who was always a highly persuasive force for Italian interests when he was actively involved in F1.
Helmut Werner: The former chair of Daimler-Benz, the parent company of Mercedes, Werner was originally touted as a board member when Ecclestone tried to float the company through Salomon Brothers two years ago. He is highly respected within the motor industry and the wider EU business community.
Aleardo Buzzi: The retired president of Philip Morris, whose Marlboro cigarette brand has been the biggest and longest- serving F1 sponsor since 1972. Buzzi would qualify as a board candidate for exactly the same reasons as Werner.
ENDS