Bernie Ecclestone has labelled Lewis Hamilton’s comments as “a load of rubbish” in response to his shocking views on racism.
Lewis Hamilton was thrown into the spotlight after an old interview of Nelson Piquet’s resurfaced on the internet and showed him describing the Briton using racial slurs.
Sir Jackie Stewart, a three-time world champion, recently suggested that Hamilton should “resign” due to his lack of performance this year.
While Ecclestone claimed on ITV’s Good Morning Britain that he would “take a bullet” for Russian President Vladimir Putin and called him a “first-class person.”
Prior to the British GP, the seven-time world champion was upfront in his comments regarding the racial slur he was subjected to from Piquet. Hamilton urged for change and criticized the “archaic” narratives by people formerly involved in the sport.
He said, “I put to F1 and to the media that we should not be giving these people a platform; these old voices. Who, whether it is subconscious or conscious, does not agree people like me should be in this sport.”
F1 driver Sir Lewis Hamilton says he does not think ‘older voices’ should be given a platform in the sport.
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— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 30, 2022
The Mercedes driver appeared to be aiming his comments at Ecclestone, who claimed that Piquet would “never go out of his way to say anything bad”. He was surprised Hamilton would not “brush aside” the remarks.
Read also: Sebastian Vettel defends Lewis Hamilton after Nelson Piquet’s racist comments
Bernie Ecclestone hits back at Lewis Hamilton for talking “rubbish” over older voices in F1
The former F1 boss Ecclestone has been under fire after his defensive comments on Putin. And now, Ecclestone has responded to Hamilton’s remarks in an interview on TalkTV’s Piers Morgan Uncensored.
Having been shown a clip of Hamilton’s earlier press conference. Ecclestone referred to the Mercedes driver’s remarks as “a complete load of garbage”.
He further added, “If he’s referring to me, he should think a little bit. I’m not racist, quite the opposite actually, and to say things like that is completely crazy.”
Ecclestone had previously appeared on Good Morning Britain to defend Piquet. When questioned about the former world champion’s use of the racial slur, Ecclestone said using the N-word was comparable to mocking someone’s height.
He responded, “Well it’s probably not appropriate with us, but probably it isn’t something terrible that happens if you said that in Brazil.
“People say things if people happen to be a little bit overweight, or undersized like me. I’m quite sure a lot of people have made remarks about that.”
Meanwhile, the British Racing Drivers’ Club has terminated the honorary membership of triple F1 world champion Nelson Piquet.
Read also: F1 Twitter fights over Max Verstappen’s comments on Lewis Hamilton racism row
