F1 have issued a response to Bernie Ecclestone’s Good Morning Britain interview, in which he left presenters Kate Garraway and Ben Shepherd stunned with an alarming defence of Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine. The 91-year-old also criticised President Zelensky and claimed his nation could have avoided the conflict with Russia.
In a statement on the sport's former chief's comments, F1 said: “The comments made by Bernie Ecclestone are his personal views and are in very stark contrast to the position of the modern values of our sport.”
Ecclestone gave his view on Putin’s invasion in Ukraine, and proceeded to defend the Russian in an extraordinary manner..
“I would still take a bullet for him. I’d rather it didn’t hurt but I would still take a bullet,” he said. “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.” Earlier this week, quotes made by Nelson Piquet in November last year surfaced in which he used a slang term for the N-word when discussing Lewis Hamilton's crash with Max Verstappen at Silverstone last year.
During his interview, Ecclestone launched a staggering defence of the former driver and his close friend. He said: "I've known Nelson for an awful long time. I was with him a couple of weeks ago. It's not the sort of thing Nelson would say meaning something bad.
"He probably thinks lots of things he says which might upset us or might feel a little bit offensive.... to him it's nothing. It's just part of conversation. Nelson would never go out of his way to say anything bad, certainly. I think what probably happened, knowing Nelson as I know him, as his daughter is the girlfriend of Max Verstappen, probably after seeing the accident, he probably exploded and carried that forward."
The Brazilian apologised for his comments but made a desperate claim they were not intended to be racist. His remarks have reportedly seen him banned from the paddock. Following the revelation, Hamilton issued a response on social media and called for action to drive racism out of the sport.
“It’s more than language. These archaic mindsets need to change and have no place in our sport,” he tweeted. “I’ve been surrounded by these attitudes and targeted my whole life. There has been plenty of time to learn. Time has come for action.”
