Briatore won’t replace Ecclestone

(GMM) The president of Renault's F1 team has played down undying speculation that Flavio Briatore is first in line to succeed Bernie Ecclestone as the sport's next 'supremo'.

Alain Dassas said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper 'Marca' that he doubts Briatore, 56, will ever stroll the paddock in 75-year-old Ecclestone's white shirt.

"Flavio is an excellent manager," Frenchman Dassas said, "who creates an atmosphere and a team spirit like I have never known before.

"But as for replacing Ecclestone … I don't think he is the kind of person who would want that position.

"I can't see it happening."

Dassas also described Briton Ecclestone as an "intelligent" and "sagacious" man but stopped short of predicting for how much longer he will run the sport.

He also responded to suggestions that Bernie, together with FIA president Max Mosley, rule Formula One as if it were a dictatorship.

Dassas said: "I tell you an anecdote — a journalist once asked Bernie if he thought he and Max are a 'kind of Mafia'.

"Bernie amusingly responded: 'Wrong. We are not 'a kind of Mafia', we are the Mafia'."