68. Alejandro Agag

Alejandro Agag was born in Madrid in 1970 and enjoyed an international upbringing in Madrid, Paris and New York, gaining fluency in English, Spanish, French and Italian. After graduating from university he moved into politics, quickly establishing himself and becoming the personal assistant to the Spanish Prime Minister at 25.

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In 1999 he won a seat in the European Parliament, becoming the youngest Spanish person to ever do so at the age of 28. In 2001 he decided to leave the world of politics and move into motorsport where together with his business partner Flavio Briatore, they purchased the F1 TV rights in Spain.

Agag business activity within sports mainly focuses on motorsport and football. According to the Spanish newspaper ‘El Pais’, Agag, together with Flavio Briatore, acquired very early on the Formula One T.V. rights for Spain. This was achieved via a U.K. based company and played a key role in the huge expansion of Formula One in Spain where television audiences have multiplied over the past few years. Agag is also very heavily involved in the ‘sponsorship’ side of the business, he is said to be behind some of the major deals lately achieved in the sport.

Alejandro Agag owned the Barwa Addax GP2 Series Team which won the title in 2008 and was runner-up in 2009. He took over the Team from former F1 driver, Adrián Campos, in mid-2007. The team’s main sponsor is the Qatari real estate company, Barwa. Three drivers from Addax, Romain Grosjean, Vitaly Petrov and Lucas di Grassi, have made it to Formula 1. In 2010, Agag started competing in GP3 with the Addax GP3 Team.

Through his connection within the sport, Agag has formed friendships with Flavio Briatore, Bernie Ecclestone and Lakshmi Mittal. Together, they bought the English football club Queens Park Rangers in 2007.

Agag served as chairman of QPR for a few months during the take-over then remained in the club as a shareholder. The plan was to have QPR promoted to the English Premier League, a feat that was achieved in 2011.

He is currently in charge of the Formula E Championship, an electric car racing series. The inaugural season began in September 2014 and lasted until June 2015. Formula E Holdings, whose CEO is Alejandro Agag, has set up races in ten different cities around the world which are Beijing, Putrajaya, Punta del Este, Buenos Aires, Miami, Long Beach, Monaco, Berlin, Moscow and London. The races take place in street circuits and began in Beijing on 13 September 2014.

On 5 September 2002, Alejandro Agag married Ana Aznar Botella, the daughter of then Prime Minister José María Aznar and politician Ana Botella, at El Escorial in Madrid. Guests included King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia of Spain. British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi served as witnesses.