Grapevine: Ecclestone Shuts Down F1 Magazine

The official Formula One magazine, F1 Magazine, will no longer be available after Bernie Ecclestone decided to shut the publication down.

Ecclestone called in a meeting yesterday with the full-time employees of the magazine, letting them know he has decided to cancel its production. The three year old magazine, according to insiders, was losing vast amounts of money and was not making the impact Ecclestone had hoped to achieve.

Sources in the publication said the magazine, which first made appearence in the Australian Grand Prix of 2001, was steadily declining in circulation, having claimed a circulation of nearly 100,000 copies in its peak time. Sources now claim the circulation of the ailing magazine has recently declined to as low as 20,000 copies.

The magazine hosted some of the leading Formula One journalists, among them David Tremayne, Gerald Donaldson, Peter Collins, Keith Sutton, Jane Nottage, Will Buxton and Tom Clarkson. The latter had left rival magazine F1 Racing about six months ago for a role as features editor in F1 Magazine. His departure from Haymarket, publishers of F1 Racing, was regarded as acrimonious in the paddock and it's unclear whether he could return to his previous publication, now that F1 Magazine is closed.

Among others working at F1 Magazine was also Ecclestone's daughter, Tamara, who held the position of publishing assistant in the last year.

None of the magazine executives or journalists were willing to make comments on the record since the news of its demise broke out last night. Furthermore, no official annoucement was made by Ecclestone or his company, Formula One Publishing.

The magazine's latest edition featured Toyota driver Cristiano da Matta in Shanghai on the cover. This will be F1 Magazine's final edition and according to the magazine's "money back guarantee" policy, subscribers will get their money back for the remaining period of their subscription.