Bernie Ecclestone has dropped nine places on the annual index of Britain’s richest people according to the Sunday Times Rich List, placing the Formula 1 mogul 42nd.
According to the report, Ecclestone’s wealth took a £460 million ($662m) hit over the course of the year – the largest drop in his fortune since his divorce from his second wife, Slavica, in 2009.
A number of factors including the state of the sport – of which Ecclestone still owns a small percentage – thanks to decreasing television audiences and uncertainty over its future, contributed to the decline.
The financial hit isn’t likely to cause Ecclestone to lose too much sleep as his fortune is still valued at £2.48 billion ($3.5bn).
Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton has been named as Britain’s richest sportsperson with an estimated net worth of £110m ($158m) – ranking him inside the top 1,000 for the first time – partly in thanks to a recent three-year deal with Mercedes which was valued at £60m ($86m) before financial bonuses which could see his value rise significantly.
Other notable F1 personalities on the list include McLaren boss Ron Dennis who is valued at £300m ($432m), Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff and his wife Susie, who are jointly valued at £240m ($166m).