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Ecclestone defends Ferrari's $100 million bonus

Former Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has defended his role in the decision to grant a $100 million bonus to Ferrari for staying in the sport.

Ferrari received the annual pay-out as the only team to have been in F1 since it began. The extra money received by the Italian squad was itself double the total received by now-defunct Manor Racing.

New owners Liberty have hinted at stopping the bonus payout. But in an interview with Sky Sports News' Craig Slater, Ecclestone explained why it came about.

"Why did that happen in the first place? It's very simple. [Former owners] CVC at that time wanted to have a public offering. We wanted to make sure before they went into the market we could guarantee the teams would be there.

"When we looked at all the teams to see who could actually commit to 2020 - and when they committed would be there, because a lot of the teams say 'we'll sign it'

"But they'd have signed anything and then go out of business the next week. It wouldn't have made any difference.

"We got a real commitment right from the top of the big companies so they needed to be rewarded for making their long term commitment.

"They said 'we need something for that' and quite rightly so. And that's what happened."

Ecclestone: No hard feelings towards Liberty Media

Asked whether he thought Ferrari could quit the sport if the bonus were to be phased out, Ecclestone said that nothing was forever.

"Someone told me the other day that since Formula 1 started we've had more than 70 teams, which I didn't believe. But knowing the person that told me, it must be true.

"Nothing's forever so you don't know. If someone upsets Ferrari they could stop. Probably Mercedes will win another couple of championships, then maybe they'll say 'we've seen it and done it.'"

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.