Ecclestone refuses to back human rights lobby

BERNIE ECCLESTONE says Formula One has an ‘absolutely 100 per cent’ clear conscience about staging a race in Baku. The European Grand Prix returns to the calendar after a four-year absence this weekend, with the capital of Azerbaijan hosting Sunday’s event for the first time despite widespread criticism of its human rights record. Amnesty International said in a statement that F1’s arrival ‘must not steer attention away from the government’s onslaught on civil society’. The human rights organisation also called on F1 chief executive Ecclestone (below) to urge President Ilham Aliyev to release prisoners of conscience. Ecclestone refused, telling reporters: ‘The minute people tell me what human rights are then you can have a look at them and see how and when and where it applies. ‘Do any of you know what human rights are? There are a lot of people starving in the world and you’d think they have something to complain about.’ When told that many critics of the government had been imprisoned, Ecclestone, 85, said: ‘So they should. It depends what they say. Depends what they write.’ Asked whether the sport had a clear conscience about staging the race in Azerbaijan, he said: ‘Absolutely 100 per cent.’ He explained: ‘If people have got a genuine complaint, there is not a lot we can do. ‘I think you’d get into trouble in most countries if you were very, very anti some government or political people — or, in fact, anybody. ‘We have assurances from here that they are looking into all these things. And certainly while we are here none of you guys will be in trouble and you can write what you want.’ Britain’s Lewis Hamilton has closed to within nine points of Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in the standings after wins in Monaco and Canada.