F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone "risks losing his decades-old grip on Formula One motor racing this year, when legal action stemming from the sale of a stake in the sport eight years ago reaches a climax," according to Keith Weir of REUTERS. Ecclestone is awaiting the outcome of a $100M damages claim "brought by German company Constantin Medien in the London High Court." That decision "should come in January or February." Win or lose, it will not be the last that Ecclestone hears of the matter "because he faces a further damages claim in London and a possible criminal trial in Germany." Ecclestone "has long dismissed talk of retirement" but the question will not go away. There is no obvious heir apparent within the F1 business itself, "a lean organization with only around 300 staff." Ecclestone said, "In the event of me deciding to leave, they would look for someone from outside the industry." Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo "plans to invite team heads to a meeting in Italy in January to start discussing the future of a sport in which many of the smaller teams are struggling to make ends meet." Montezemolo said it would be time to move away from the "one man show" when Ecclestone leaves and spread responsibility among a wider group of managers. Montezemolo: "We have to create a group of governance in which you have a CEO, and then you have one in charge of motor racing" (REUTERS, 1/3).
