Outrage at Ecclestone support for evil despot
FORMER Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone sparked fury after describing Vladimir Putin as a “first-class person” for whom he would “take a bullet”.
Ecclestone, 91, also claimed Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky could have avoided the bloody conflict.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said yesterday’s comments were “absolutely extraordinary”.
Formula 1 said they were the tycoon’s “personal views and are in very stark contrast to the modern values of our sport”.
Ecclestone had warm ties with Putin, setting up the now-axed Russian Grand Prix in 2014.
He said: “What he’s doing is something that he believes is the right thing for Russia.” It was put to Ecclestone that Putin’s actions had caused thousands of deaths but he replied: “It wasn’t intentional.”
The billionaire also defended three-time F1 champion Nelson Piquet, who apologised for using a racial slur against Sir Lewis Hamilton.
On ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he said the Brazilian would “never go out of his way to say anything bad”.
Last night Hamilton hit out at Ecclestone’s pro-Putin rant and laid into the show for giving the tycoon a platform.
The seven-time world champion said: “There needs to be some accountability.
“To hear from someone that believes in the war, and the displacement of millions of people and killing of thousands people, and supporting that person [Putin] who is doing that, is beyond me.”