How Ecclestone’s new F1 documentary defies expectations

Dealing with Bernie Ecclestone was never easy. Whatever the circumstances, or your apparent strength as inquisitor, he would look you in the eye, pause for an unnerving second or two, and then offer his response in a soft but vaguely menacing tone.

I was reminded of that within the first minute of ‘Lucky!’, a docuseries in which Ecclestone tells his story. To the background of slow, subdued music, that familiar face fills the entire screen while looking straight at you. His pale features and mop of grey hair, set against a stark white background, present a spectral, spooky image that’s so Bernie – and immediately unnerving. 

Studio lighting accentuates the lived-in features of a man in his nineties. This is Ecclestone, warts and all. Which is the precise intention of an eight-part series, the brainchild of Manish Pandy, writer of the award-winning film ‘Senna’.

A sub-title says: ‘Formula 1. How It Happened.’ Such a broad statement is not an exaggeration. Ecclestone’s motorsport association stretches across eight decades of massive change – much instigated by the man himself. This is not the entire story, of course.

‘Lucky!’ recounts it solely through the eyes of a former motor trader who raced in the 1950s, managed drivers (Stuart Lewis-Evans and Jochen Rindt, both of whom suffered fatal accidents), owned Brabham, marshalled the F1 teams, took on the FIA and changed the face of grand prix racing. Then he was ushered to the exit of a global business that had generated millions – including a countless number for himself. None of this had come easily. For Bernie, this was part of the attraction.

“If I’ve a chance of a gamble – I’m there,”
 he says. Ecclestone’s quick thinking was
 honed through an informal second-hand car market in London’s Warren Street. Footage
 of the automotive horse trading shows dealers, straight from a rogues’ gallery with their cigars, trilbies and double-breasted suits, exchanging wads of cash across bonnets of ‘lovely clean motors’ parked by the kerbside.

'Lucky!' recounts F1's history through Ecclestone's eyes - covering his experiences as a driver manager, team boss and later commercial rights holder

Photo by: David Phipps

This and
 other evocative video clips, unearthed by
 archivist Richard Wiseman, are an essential part of a winning formula that also uses clever animation at key moments and does not
 resort to a single photograph. Wiseman, respected for diligent research in motorsport documentaries, has excelled himself with this one. Even if you aren’t particularly interested in what Ecclestone has to say (a view that’s likely to change as the unusual format becomes intriguingly familiar), ‘Lucky!’ is worthy of any enthusiast’s time, if only to revel in the glorious footage, much of it previously unseen.

Ecclestone reflects on a relationship with Rindt that grew to the point where “we were like brothers”. The poignancy is increased significantly in 1969 when Rindt crashes heavily on Barcelona’s Montjuic Park circuit and is shown recovering at home. When the Austrian asks his wife what her most cherished wish might be, Nina Rindt replies: “That you would stop racing.” Jochen’s cheeky grin not only intimates ‘No chance!’, but also ramps up the pathos because you know what’s coming next.

Bernie’s description of Rindt’s fatal crash and its aftermath at Monza in 1970 may be delivered in the same thoughtful, quiet manner as the rest of his storyline, but there can be absolutely no doubt about its profound effect on a man who usually thrives on displaying dispassion.

"All they did was run their business on the back of the Formula 1 company. F1 teams are like actors in a film. It’s a film that makes the actors, not the actors that make the film" Bernie Ecclestone

Apart from occasional brief clips of interviews with F1 people, Ecclestone is the sole provider of a narrative that is revealing, occasionally brutal, sometimes surprisingly moving, but always underscored by a sense of humour and pragmatism. He doesn’t hold back on drivers, saying Nigel Mansell “should get an Oscar for acting if he didn’t win the championship”, and Michael Schumacher’s obsession with winning meant “sometimes he wasn’t too careful in
exactly how this happened”. Ecclestone repeats his belief that Alain Prost was the best: better, even, than Sebastian Vettel, for whom Bernie clearly developed a warm relationship that transcended any other driver.

Affection isn’t something that comes to mind when he refers to a certain individual. Ecclestone’s negotiations may have been shrewd, but each one was built on a relationship contingent on trust. In 1973, Marlboro’s representative, Patrick Duffeler, agreed a sponsorship deal with Brabham – and then switched to McLaren at the last minute.

“[It] often happens with people,” muses Bernie. “They forget what they said – or they didn’t want to remember. As far as I’m concerned, we shook hands on a deal. That’s a deal, no matter what.”

Duffeler would come to regret that several years later when he represented race organisers and faced the formidable combination of Ecclestone and Max Mosley as delegates for the F1 teams. Bernie probably wouldn’t have mentioned the previous duplicity – but it’s clear he hadn’t forgotten it. “Duffeler screwed me,”
says Ecclestone. Not many of his adversaries could make that claim.

Ecclestone doesn't hold back in his views of F1's megastars in 'Lucky!' including Mansell and Prost

Photo by: Sutton Images

The teams were content to let Ecclestone do the negotiating and take his cut. With Bernie, the actual amount of money was no more than a marker; the result of a canny deal he had relished clinching (as witnessed by an extraordinary clip of the F1 boss stuffing bundles of uncounted banknotes into his briefcase and politely thanking the race organiser before legging it!).

It was business. Bernie’s business. That much is clear when he says: “The teams all believed they owned the business; that without them there would be no business… [But] all they did was run their business on the back of the Formula 1 company. F1 teams are like actors in a film. It’s a film that makes the actors, not the actors that make the film.” Paradoxically, the sole actor comes close to making this film.

Mood music isn’t confined to the opening shots. Pandy cleverly uses Last Night of the Proms, which fell just four days after 9/11
 and two weeks before the 2001 US GP. An
extract shows the American, Leonard Slatkin, lost in the moment as he conducts the haunting ‘Adagio for Strings’. This forms the backdrop to Ecclestone’s insistence on fulfilling Formula 1’s contract (and ignoring the Schumacher brothers’ petition to stay away) at such a crucial time for the USA and its recovery.

It may have been a significant decision among many in a long
 and varied career, but this one is deeply
 moving. I never dreamed I’d say such a thing
 in connection with Bernie Ecclestone. That’s
 the extraordinary power of ‘Lucky!’.

Ecclestone remains a keen observer of F1 and was in the paddock for the 2023 season opener in Bahrain

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images