For sale... for a grand price: F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone sells Chelsea flat for £14m

His daughters, Tamara, 26, and Petra, 22, are perhaps the most pampered first-time buyers in the country. Tamara is reportedly buying a £45million home near Kensington Palace in Central London while Petra bought a £66million Grade II listed mansion near Sloane Square, in nearby Chelsea, from JCB tycoon Sir Anthony Bamford in December. Both properties were, of course, paid for with more than a little help from Mum and – especially – Dad.

Bernie Ecclestone's Chelsea flat, on the right of the pictured building

Dad is billionaire Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, who reportedly had to give ex-wife Slavica more than £1billion of his fortune when they divorced in 2009, although the details of how his £2.4billion fortune was divided up remain confidential But Bernie is a savvy operator with his own investments.

A four-bedroom first-floor apartment, which the 80-year-old bought in a conversion of a beautiful art college building in Chelsea’s Manresa. Road in June 2006 for £6,875,000, is back on the market with agents Aylesford for £14million.

This equates to more than £3,000 per square foot – not a London record but very high for the area. Rival agents say he’ll be lucky to get the price, but the Manresa Road development that houses the flat was the first serious property venture by the Candy brothers in Central London, so anything is possible.

Bernie with daughters Petra, left and Tamara, who are moving into the property market with a little help from their father

The usual luxuries include 24-hour security and porterage, direct lift access, air-conditioning and underfloor heating – services for which the occupiers are charged a staggering £60,000 a year.The apartment has been lived in occasionally by Slavica and their daughters since the divorce, but is now surplus to Bernie’s requirements as he has a place in nearby Chelsea Square.The flat first came on the market in October 2010 but was withdrawn ten days later. It then came back in November but was withdrawn again just before Christmas and returned to the market last month, but with no takers so far.

The £45 million Kensington house Tamara Ecclestone has been bought by her parents

Petra in one of the rooms of the six storey house in Chelsea that her father Bernie Ecclestone bought her

With a south-west-facing roof terrace overlooking the mouth-watering communal gardens, it also comes with two secure underground parking spaces. Making money on property deals has been a profitable sideline for Ecclestone.

In 2001 he bought 18-19 Kensington Palace Gardens from billionaire art collector and property investor David Khalili for £50million, but he never lived in it because Slavica didn’t approve.He then sold it to Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal for £57 million in June 2004. It is now thought to be worth as much as £125million

Petra Ecclestone said this walk-in closet at her £56m mansion was only day wear - her evening frocks were in another room