‘Do it, Daddy!’ Bernie Ecclestone’s daughters will share a £500MILLION windfall if F1 is sold to an American media tycoon

Tamara Ecclestone, 32, and Petra Stunt, 27, will share £500million if the deal goes ahead
They are beneficiaries of a trust which owns 8.5 per cent of F1
Tycoon John Malone wants to put the sport on his cable channels
Bernie Ecclestone owns 5.3 per cent of F1

By Rupert Steiner Chief City Correspondent For The Daily Mail

Published: 20:26 GMT, 6 September 2016 | Updated: 22:49 GMT, 6 September 2016

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Bernie Ecclestone’s daughters are set to share a £500million windfall if Formula One is sold to an American media tycoon.

Heiresses Tamara Ecclestone, 32, and sister Petra Stunt, 27, are in line to pocket the eye-watering fortune should John Malone seal a £6.3billion deal to buy the sport.

The heiresses are thought be the beneficiaries of a trust which owns an 8.5 per cent stake in F1 which would be worth £535million.

Petra Stunt (left) and Tamara Ecclestone (right), pictured with their F1 boss father, Bernie Ecclestone, are in line for a £500million windfall

Mr Malone’s Liberty Media already owns a host of cable channels including the Discovery Channel.

It is thought the tycoon wants to put F1 on his cable channels in what would be one of the biggest sporting deals in history.

Mr Ecclestone’s socialite daughters have already amassed a fortune.

Their dad, F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, owns 5.3 per cent of the sport, which looks set to be sold to US tycoon John Malone

Mrs Stunt splashed out £63million on a French-style mansion in Los Angles which is bigger than the White House and one of the most expensive ever sold in the US.

Once owned by Aaron Spelling, the Hollywood producer behind Dynasty, Charlie’s Angels and Beverly Hills 90210, it sports a hair salon, a florist, an orchard, and a suite where Prince Charles once stayed.

She is married to high-flying businessman James Stunt who drives around London in a Lamborghini with personalised number plates and once paid more than £50,000 to have dinner with David Cameron.

Bernie Ecclestone's daughter Petra Stunt with her husband, high-flying businessman James Stunt (left), and Tamara Ecclestone with her husband Jay Rutland (right)

Ms Ecclestone lives with her husband, former city banker Jay Rutland in a £70million house in west London. The couple married in a £7million wedding in France in July 2013.

Their daughter Sophia was thrown an extravagent first birthday party last year which featured a petting zoo and is thought to have cost £70,000.

Others are also set to benefit from the sale of the business.

Media tycoon John Malone is believed to be interested in buying F1 so he can show the motorsport on his cable channels

Private equity firm CVC owns 35.5 per cent of F1 and other shareholders include Waddell & Reed, an American fund manager which has a stake of just under 20 per cent, while Mr Ecclestone himself owns 5.3 per cent.

He has been widely credited with transforming F1 from something run by enthusiasts into one of the world’s richest sports generating £1.1billion sales annually.

A controversial figure, Mr Ecclestone, 85, holds an iron grip over the sport and plays rival teams off against each other.

On one occasion when they grouped together to challenge him, Mr Ecclestone said: ‘They think they have me by the balls but their hands aren’t big enough.’