Over the past few months, reports have been circulating that Bernie Ecclestone was considering appointing a marketing director for F1. Most recently, following the first meeting of F1's sponsor's organisation Formula 100, Marketing magazine alleged that F1's sponsors "are now urging the appointment of a senior figure to raise the profile of F1." The report added that speculation has linked ex-Vodafone global brand director David Wheldon with the role but this looks to be far from the case.

Speaking to Pitpass' business editor Chris Sylt, Ecclestone revealed that he does not need to hire any marketing staff because Patrick McNally, the founder of F1's Paddock Club corporate hospitality outfit, "does the marketing for the whole company."

McNally, a former trackside advertising salesman, founded the Paddock Club in 1984 led by Ecclestone's vision for the future of F1 which involved big-spending blue chips who would sponsor the sport due to its extraordinary exposure. They would need entertaining in a business-to-business environment and the more luxurious the better. McNally set up Swiss-based company Allsport Management to run the Paddock Club and Ecclestone granted it exclusive rights to organise hospitality at F1 circuits. It hasn't looked back.

Tickets for the Paddock Club cost as much as £2,850 for a three-day pass and guests are treated to perks such as a champagne bar, a manicurist, an on-site hairdresser, and driver appearances. It has made McNally a very rich man. Beta Prema, the UK investment vehicle of finance firm CVC, paid an estimated £165m for Allsport in May 2006 and, according to the Sunday Times Rich List McNally's fortune now stands at £562m.

His toys include a mansion in Wiltshire and a chalet in Verbier and he also holds the distinction of being a former boyfriend of the Duchess of York. Crucially, however, he remains a director of Allsport and a 1% shareholder in the Jersey-based company Delta Topco which ultimately owns F1's commercial rights. This gives him the connections he needs to work on the marketing of F1 which often comes through the sponsors signed by the sport.

"There are an awful lot of companies who want to get involved in Formula One," Ecclestone recently said at the Business of Motorsports in Asia conference so it looks like McNally's job could get even easier.