While the season hots up with Hakkinen marginally in front of Schumacher after the french GP,one wonders who will be the eventual winner,For Bernie Ecclestone,the most powerful man in motor racing,being a winner comes naturally,Ecclestone, 68, who started his career as a motorcycle and car dealer, has made his fortune out of Formula One, transforming it from a sport run by ``petrol heads'' into a business run largely by himself. As well as being the ringmaster of the Formula One circus, Ecclestone is chief executive of Formula One Holdings -- the company that owns and controls the exclusive commercial and broadcasting rights to the sport.He has created a $120 million digital television business for Formula One and last month raised $1.4 billion in the bond market, paving the way for a stock market flotation.Ecclestone's television company offers pay-per-view coverage of grands prix in Europe, although not yet in Britain, and plans to make the service available worldwide.The ``Bernie Bonds'' are backed by the broadcasting rights to motor racing. The importance of the television rights can be illustrated by the size of the global audience -- more than 55 billion viewers worldwide in 1998.
Bernie recently has been ordered back to the pit lane by European Commission competition chiefs.The European Commission is investigating whether Ecclestone, who is currently recovering from heart surgery, broke competition law by obtaining exclusive television rights to Formula One racing.