Former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone has a history of passing controversial remarks about Lewis Hamilton and may have just made some more contentious comments about the British driver. The 92-year-old recently claimed that while the seven-time champion is good at racing, he is not “one of us.” Ecclestone instead named Max Verstappen as a man of the people in his latest interview with the Daily Mail and placed him above Hamilton in the list of all-time greats.
This is the second time that Ecclestone has passed controversial remarks about Hamilton this year. Earlier this year, the British business magnate slammed the 38-year-old for his political views.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Ecclestone said (as quoted by crash.net), “People don’t go to a Formula One race to have a lecture. Definitely, drivers should have free speech, but it’s a case of when and how they use it. It’s wrong. It’s all completely wrong. I’m 100 per cent against it“.
“Nobody is like Lewis…“: Bernie Ecclestone heaps praise on Max Verstappen
In his most recent interview with the Daily Mail, Bernie Ecclestone explained why he believes that most people do not relate with Lewis Hamilton. As quoted by crash.net, the 92-year-old said, “In our sphere of Formula One, nobody is like Lewis. Nobody is. I think in the early days, he was a bit different from other people“.
Ecclestone then also explained why Hamilton is unlikely to be a role model in F1. The former F1 CEO made his point by comparing the British driver to arch-rival Max Verstappen.
📰:Bernie Ecclestone believes Hamilton’s first title should not be counted as a championship win because it was not legitimate due to the ‘crashgate’ incident in Singapore,and Michael Schumacher should be regarded as the sole record holder for number of titles. #F1#BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/oPwxFErZfn
— F1 Naija 🇳🇬 (@f1_naija) March 2, 2023
“He’s (Hamilton) very different from Max. When Lewis stops racing, he can get into a different world – entertainment or whatever – but that won’t be the way Max could go,” explained Ecclestone.
It is this reason why the 92-year-old believes that “Max is one of us.” This is not the first time that Hamilton has faced criticism from the older generation, and he has repeatedly raised concerns about how much work needs to be done to give people the liberty to express their opinions without the fear of being judged.
Hamilton fails to understand the criticism of the older generation
In an interview with the Daily Mail back in 2020, Lewis Hamilton explained why he fails to understand the criticism of the older generation. He said (as quoted by planetf1.com), “I get knocked by many people, particularly by older drivers. They have a bee in their bonnet. I don’t know why“.
The 38-year-old then added that he has the utmost respect for “the past legends” although some of them continue to speak negatively about him. The seven-time champion then ended that interview by making it clear that once he retires, he will not speak negatively about any of the drivers from the younger generation.
