Bernie Ecclestone has called for Russian drivers to return to F1 while launching a bizarre show of support to Vladimir Putin. The former F1 supremo took part in an interview with Good Morning Britain in which he pleaded for the banned drivers to be reinstated.
Speaking from Ibiza, the 91-year-old said: “I’m not in the position now to have done anything about that. I’m not sure I would have stopped that. I think it's wrong to stop Russian athletes, including drivers, from taking part in their sport. They didn’t get involved in this in the first place so they shouldn’t be punished.”
Ecclestone proceeded to comment further on Putin’s invasion in Ukraine, and defended him in an alarming way. “I would still take a bullet for him. I’d rather it didn’t hurt but I would still take a bullet,” he added. "What he’s doing is something that he believed was the right thing he was doing for Russia."
When asked why he would take such drastic action, Mr Ecclestone said: “Because he’s a first class person, and what he’s doing is something that he believed was the right thing. Unfortunately he’s like a lot of business people, certainly like me, we make mistakes from time to time. And when you’ve made a mistake you have to do your best to get out of it.”
In another controversial statement, Ecclestone said the war in Ukraine could have been avoided by actions taken by President Volodymyr Zelensky. Presenter Kate Garraway said: “So just to understand you clearly, you think that President Zelensky should have done more to avert this war and it could have been avoided by Zelensky’s actions, not by a change in Putin’s actions?” To which Ecclestone replied: “Absolutely.”
Ecclestone said the war in Ukraine was not “intentional”, and claimed Ukraine could have avoided the conflict and proceeded to slam Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy.
“And I’m quite sure Ukraine, if they’d wanted to get out of it properly, could have done,” he claimed. “I think if it had been conducted properly, I mean the other person in Ukraine, I mean, his profession, I understand, he used to be a comedian.
“I think he seems as if he wants to continue that profession, because I think if he’d have thought about things, he would have definitely made a big enough effort to speak to Mr Putin, who is a sensible person and would have listened to him and could have probably done something about it.”
In a statement, F1 said: “The comments made by Bernie Ecclestone are his personal views and are in very stark contrast to position of the modern values of our sport.”
