Bernie Ecclestone has cancelled his plans to attend the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend after the backlash from his defence of disgraced ex-F1 racer Nelson Piquet and Russian warmonger Vladimir Putin.
The 91-year-old has been avoiding his usual trips to follow the sport on race weekends ever since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. He had planned to end his hiatus at the Red Bull Ring, but that was before a series of car-crash interviews on the eve of the British Grand Prix.
In the days leading up to the race at Silverstone, Ecclestone leapt to the defence of three-time world champion Piquet after footage surfaced of him directing a racial slur at Lewis Hamilton. He also repeated his claim that he would "take a bullet" for "first class person" Russian leader Putin.
Those remarks were widely condemned, including by Hamilton who questioned why "old voices" are given a platform to express such opinions. And F1 bosses also got involved, asserting that Ecclestone's views "are in very stark contrast to the position of the modern values of our sport".
The sport's leaders were aware that Ecclestone was planning an appearance in Austria this weekend. But that seems to no longer be a worry, as a source told the Daily Mail : "The potential problem of Bernie showing up seems to have gone away."
Responding to the 91-year-old's controversial comments, Hamilton told reporters at Silverstone : "In the last couple of weeks, I don't think a day has gone by when someone who has not been relevant in our sport for decades has not been saying negative things and trying to bring me down.
"But I am still here and still standing strong. I'm focused on my work and pushing for diversity and inclusion in our sport. Formula 1, the media, we should not be giving these people a platform. I've always tried to be respectful to these individuals but why did we give these guys a platform? They are not with the time, they are not willing to change.
"These micro-aggressions and racial undertones are just creating more divides. I love when Michelle Obama says when they go low, we go high so I try to do that. I'm still here and it’s not going to deter me from doing what is right and doing what I love, which is working in this sport.
"To hear from someone that ultimately believes in the war and in the displacement of millions of people and in the killing of thousands of people, to hear from someone who supports the person who is doing it... that is beyond me. I can't believe that is what I heard today."
Responding to those comments, Ecclestone accused the Brit of having "forgotten a lot" and claimed that he once offered to supplement Hamilton's salary to keep him in the sport when in a contract dispute. "When Mercedes didn't pay him what he asked for, I immediately said I'd pay the difference! Because Formula 1 needs a person of colour, a Chinese and a woman," he claimed.
