“It is not Afghanistan”– Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone agrees with Lewis Hamilton by calling Belgian GP farcical

Tanish Chachra | 30/08/2021
“No, not at all" - Bernie Ecclestone opines Lewis Hamilton will never be as great as Michael Schumacher

“It is not Afghanistan”– Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone claims that he wouldn’t have abandoned the race if he was under the charge.

FIA and formula 1’s handling of the Belgian Grand Prix have been heavily scrutinized, and Bernie Ecclestone has also joined the camp of dropping his criticism.

According to him, he wouldn’t have abandoned the race at his own discretion and would have taken the advice of all 20 drivers; additionally, he mentions that F1 races happened in more severe conditions under his charge.

‘I would have said at 3pm when the race was due to start, let’s try again at 4pm or 4.30pm. It doesn’t look as if conditions will improve but I don’t know. But regardless of what’s happening it will start then,’ said Ecclestone to Sportsmail.

‘If you want to race fine; if not, fine. Nobody could put a pistol to anyone’s head. It was up to them. If I was at the back of the grid, I might decide it’s not worth the risk because it’s bloody dangerous out there.

‘If I wanted to score points for the team and for myself, I might think I wanted to go ahead. People make their own minds up, and it is not Afghanistan. We have raced in worse conditions than that and not called off the race.’

Hardly agree with Lewis Hamilton, but this time I do

Lewis Hamilton, after the race, accused F1 of choosing their commercial interests over everyone, and on this, Ecclestone, who boasts that he hardly agrees with the Briton, says he is right.

 ‘I agree with Lewis. I don’t always but on this he was right,’ he concluded. The event lasted for over four hours, but not even a shred of racing happened, but Max Verstappen, in the end, was awarded the win.

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Bernie Ecclestone Lewis Hamilton Mercedes

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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