Clip The Xmas 
Bernie Ecclestone attempted to qualify for a single World Championship event. He was in a Connaught-Alta, one of a fleet of three entered by himself. He finished qualifying 265.2 seconds off the pace, and his two team-mates failed to qualify as well.
He is, however, the most important single person in Grand Prix history. He took charge of Motor Racing Developments in 1972, from Ron Tauranac. He was the team principal for Nelson Piquet's two drivers' titles, but he'd lost interest by the time Brabham missed the deadline to enter the 1988 World Championship.
Into the governance of the sport he went, and he modernised it, and quickly controlled Formula One. He is now the leader of a billion-dollar industry. He is a divisive figure, but he's not done badly for someone who was four minutes off the pace on a Saturday in Monaco.
He is, however, the most important single person in Grand Prix history. He took charge of Motor Racing Developments in 1972, from Ron Tauranac. He was the team principal for Nelson Piquet's two drivers' titles, but he'd lost interest by the time Brabham missed the deadline to enter the 1988 World Championship.
Into the governance of the sport he went, and he modernised it, and quickly controlled Formula One. He is now the leader of a billion-dollar industry. He is a divisive figure, but he's not done badly for someone who was four minutes off the pace on a Saturday in Monaco.
The commentators were equally stunned, and commented on how we hadn't had a French GP for years, and that moving to all these new venues makes no sense - F1's primary market is and likely always will be in Europe, so to strike so many European circuits off is pure folly, it serves only to alienate F1's base, their strongest fans, the ones who spend crazy money on merchandise and tickets year after year. The NBC team even went so far as to lump the US into this bizarre expansion into markets that don't want or need F1. I'm not sure I'd agree with them there, F1 was in the US before, and it seems like a viable market to me - Americans view the car as practically a god-given right, and have a competitive spirit - based on my observations, auto racing of all stripes fits well with the American psyche.
