Branson heads Ecclestone on Rich List

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Virgin boss Richard Branson has overtaken Bernie Ecclestone to become the richest Briton in F1, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.

Branson’s personal wealth has been estimated at £2.6bn this year, up £1.4bn from last year as the end of the credit crunch has boosted Virgin’s revenues. He is 18th on the list.

Eccletone, who is ranked 38th, sees his estimated wealth has slip by £91m to £1.375bn, largely because of the losses suffered by F1 during the credit crunch and because of the withdrawals of Honda, BMW and Toyota.

However that’s still far less than he lost last year following his divorce from Slavica Ecclestone. She remains valued at £734m this year, 84th on the list.

Other F1 names in the list include Allsport founder Paddy McNally, who sold the track signage company four years ago. He’s 113th, valued at £562m.

Martin Birrane of Lola, who have declined to apply for a place in F1 this year, is ranked 596th on £110m. So is the Marquess of Bute John Crichton-Stuart, known to F1 fans as Johnny Dumfries, who spent a single season in the sport in 1986 with Lotus.

Former McLaren team boss Ron Dennis is 758th on £87m, and now concentrating on the production of the MP4-12C road car.

Ex-Ferrari driver Eddie Irvine is 808th on £80m with much of his wealth coming from investments made after he left the sport in 2002.

Finally Frank Williams has entered the top 1,000 at 967th on £65m. Outside the top 1,000 are David Coulthard on £45m, plus Flavio Briatore, Earl of March, Nicola Foulston, Jody Scheckter and David Richards. These changes may be due to alterations in their wealth or because they have moved outside of Britain.

An expanded version of the 2010 Rich List will be published on the Sunday Times’ website later this week.

F1 rich lists

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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24 comments on “Branson heads Ecclestone on Rich List”

  1. José Baudaier
    25th April 2010, 20:08

    Holy ****, didn’t know Bernie was this rich. Is it all from F1?

  2. Eddie Irvine has £80 million?!? What sorts of investments did he make?

    1. Well, the first one was to accept that he was playing second fiddle to his team mates and then reap the rewards for his co-operation.

    2. According to Wiki:
      He was a millionaire through property investment before reaching Formula One. Outside of F1, Irvine is said to have built up a multi-million pound property portfolio, owning around forty properties throughout the world. According to the Sunday Times Rich List, published in April 2006, Irvine was the fifth richest person of Northern Ireland at that time, having increased his personal fortune to approximately £160 million.

      He is also the owner of Eddie Irvine Sports, a snooker, pool, kart racing, paintballing, and football facility in Bangor, close to his native Conlig.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Irvine

      1. That makes Irvine probalby a cleverer guy then could be expected from some of his comments on TV and in interviews the last couple of years.

        Or just his comments are the regular things said by people being to richt for their own good.

  3. mika's_toolbox
    25th April 2010, 21:09

    Has Frank had that jump just thanks to him selling 5% of the team? That’s impressive if so.

  4. Flavio outside the top 1000?

    1. Flavio isn’t British

      1. whoops, should read the column more closely next time. I need more sleep……….

  5. Great reading, really helps my broke ass ego to compare myself to these guys, lovely jovely work Keith, you just healed me…

    1. Did you get the information on Stefanovic joining the bidding for the 2011 entry as well as talking about a technoligy and racing facility in Serbia?

      Makes you wonder, where he would rank with his personal wealth.

  6. Which driver is earning the most money in 2010?

    Can we get a salary charts of all the drivers of 2010?

    1. If we count Kimi in, he would probably rank among the best payed guys. Schumacher gets around 10 million a year and i Alonso might get about 20 million.

  7. I guess Alonso earns most

    1. He should do. Kimi easily won that last year with Alo second. Button and Rubens will be earning more than last year too

      1. From F1 Racing Magazine, Number 169:

        Per lap in 2009 and in order
        OS=over season,

        Kimi:£29,670.33/£27 million OS
        Lewis:£12,168.14/£11 million OS
        Alonso:£10,676.15/£9 million OS
        Rosberg:£5,313.50/£5 million OS
        Trulli:£4,949.24/£3.9 million OS
        Vettel:£4,250.29/£3.6 million OS
        Bourdais:£3,826.53/£1.5 million OS
        Webber:£3,602.62/£3.3 million OS
        Button:£3,177.97/£3 million OS
        Kubica:£3,125/£2.7 million OS
        Heikki:£2,538.07/£2 million OS
        Piquet:£2,053.39/£1 million OS
        Heidfeld:£1,791.71/£1.6 million OS
        Glock:£1,486.99/£1.2 million OS
        Buemi:£1,159.79/£900,000 OS
        Fischella:£970.87/£900,000 OS
        Alguersuari:£931.68/£300,000 OS
        Rubens:£614.12/£600,000 OS

        sutil, Badoer, Kobayshi, Liuzzi, Nakajima and Grosjean not salaried. Massa not included because of injury.

        1. Does it mean Sutil, Badoer etc etc drive for free?

  8. Who’s Eccletone? Bernie’s evil twin?:)

  9. I would like Bernie to let us know how he keeps in such good shape !
    Please Bernie let us know

    1. Bigbadderboom
      27th April 2010, 12:56

      Have you not seen the ladies Bernie keeps company with, now thats a hell of a way to keep in trim! Perhaps their youth is what keeps him young!

      1. what, like he eats their kidneys or something?

  10. can i have at least 1mill please? ill be your bestest friend!

  11. What am I doing wrong that some of the rich are reportedly 30% richer and its supposedly a credit crunch. Anyway, its not a grudge just a request for some tips and advice…

  12. Meaning Bernie is the good one?

Comments are closed.