Briatore key in Ecclestone’s hope of £100m R’s sale
FORMULA ONE supremo Bernie Ecclestone admits his hopes of selling his stake in Premier League bound Queens Park Rangers for £100m rest on the ambitions of former shareholder Flavio Briatore.
Suggestions Ecclestone may pull out of QPR, who need one more point from their remaining two fixtures to rubber stamp their return to England’s top flight after a 15-year absence, come as the 80-year-old hinted at the weekend he may retire from his role at Formula One if Rupert Murdoch’s media empire takes control of the sport.
Ecclestone has a 62 per cent stake in QPR after buying out Briatore in December last year but says at the time of that deal the Italian got an option to take back the stake if he were to sell.
“I don’t have any choice staying in or going out,” said Ecclestone. “Flavio would probably be the one to sell if anybody.
“It [the sale] is dependent on Flavio. If somebody bought that team today it would be a very good punt indeed. It is probably worth £100m.
“You see a lot of these clubs today that are nowhere as high in the league as we are, playing people that have fallen from the top and beating them so there is no need to spend these fortunes.”