Bernie Ecclestone knows how to play the cloak-and- dagger game of Formula One politics better than anyone else. This weekend, and for the first time in his long career masterminding the sport, reports emerged suggesting that the company that employs him to run Formula One is considering getting rid of him.

Unnamed sources said that the board of CVC Capital Partners, the private-equity company that owns 68 per cent of Formula One, met in London on Tuesday to discuss a plan of action to remove Ecclestone in the wake of his ill-judged praise of Adolf Hitler in an interview with this newspaper ten days ago.

The meeting was described in considerable detail. It was attended by, among others, Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, the marketing agency, and a board member of CVC, and Peter Brabeck, a senior figure at Nestlé, both of whom are Jewish and were said to be outraged at Ecclestone’s view that Hitler was a man who could “get things done”.

The suggestion was that CVC had decided enough was enough and that the 78-year-old billionaire, who has run the sport for the past 30 years, should be “moved upstairs”.

The Times put the claims to Ecclestone at the Nürburgring during an interview in one of his two motorhomes in the paddock as the crowds were arriving in the rain for yesterday’s German Grand Prix.

The Formula One commercial rights-holder was surprised. He described the reports as “b*****ks” and took the unusual course of action of phoning Donald Mackenzie, the normally media-shy managing partner and co-founder of CVC, to set the record straight.

But rather than speak to Mackenzie himself, Ecclestone handed the phone — the ringtone of which is set to the theme tune from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly — to The Times. After being told of the rumoured meeting, Mackenzie decided that it was time to go on the record. “It’s absolute rubbish — we had no meeting, no meeting took place to discuss the future of Bernie Ecclestone,” he said. “It’s complete and utter crap.”

So is Ecclestone’s position safe, despite the furore he has caused in recent days? “Of course Bernie Ecclestone’s position is safe, he’s the chief executive,” Mackenzie said.

He added that he had not even seen Sorrell recently, let alone discussed Ecclestone’s future with him. “There were no discussions at CVC either in board meetings or at any other level about replacing Bernie,” he said. Mackenzie made clear, however, that the Hitler comments had been a cause for very serious concern and had been raised with Ecclestone.

“We are quite clear and on the record that we were not happy with his statements about Hitler and we told him so,” Mackenzie said. But he underlined again that Ecclestone was still very much in charge of a business that generates a gross income of$1 billion (about £617 million) a year. “All meetings and deals with the teams are done usually with Bernie present or with his full knowledge,” Mackenzie said.

The phone was handed back to Ecclestone, who could not help having a joke at his own expense with Mackenzie. “Oh,” he told him in his characteristic whisper, “I was hoping the story was right — I was looking for the golden handshake.”

With political manoeuvring and infighting in the sport at fever pitch in the wake of Ecclestone’s recent difficulties and with the threat of a breakaway series by the teams still shaking Formula One’s foundations, plus the endless machinations of Max Mosley, the president of the FIA, over his future, there were any number of theories about who could have come up with what appears to be a clear attempt to cut Ecclestone’s legs from underneath him.

The gambit comes at a delicate time, with Mosley apparently facing a fait accompli by rebel teams who are reported to be in the process of agreeing a deal for the future of the sport with CVC that will be presented to Mosley in the form of an ultimatum: either he accepts it and signs, or the teams will race under their own banner outside the auspices of the FIA.

Mosley’s office is still talking in deliberately vague terms about his future, notwithstanding the fact that Ecclestone told The Times on Friday that he was certain his old friend would honour a recent high-profile agreement not to stand again for re-election as president in October.

A rival to Mosley’s possible ambitions to stay showed his face at the Nürburgring. Ari Vatanen, a respected Finnish former world rally champion and MEP, has declared that he will run for the position.

Among those who welcomed his candidacy was Martin Whitmarsh, the chief executive of McLaren Mercedes. “I don’t know Ari particularly, but I think he is clearly fresh and new, and I think refreshing the sport would be quite good,” Whitmarsh said. “He has been a successful politician. I think it is a plus because whether we like it or not, none of us were signed up here to get involved in politics, but there is a fair amount of politics involved in Formula One.”

CVC Capital Partners is a private-equity company, founded in 1981 and based in London, which manages funds that own 68 per cent of Formula One. The company’s net debt in relation to its investment in the sport is in excess of $2 billion (about £1.2 billion), on which it pays annual interest amounting to more than $150 million.

Driving force

Led by Donald Mackenzie, the managing partner, CVC employs Bernie Ecclestone to run Formula One on its behalf. The company is determined that there will be no rebel breakaway series organised by the teams, which could severely harm its investment.

The CVC fund owns 52 companies worldwide, with combined annual sales of ¤88 billion. Among other businesses in its European portfolio are Saga/AA, an “affinity brand” concern, Cortefiel, one of the largest specialised clothing retailers in Spain, and the Flint Group, a global supplier to the printing industry.

Words by Edward Gorman