Former Formula 1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone has apologised for comments he made that supported Russian president Vladimir Putin in the wake of the Ukraine invasion.
Speaking in an interview on Good Morning Britain last month, Ecclestone said he’d “still take a bullet” for “good guy” Putin.
This led to F1 condemning Ecclestone’s interview, in which he also suggested Lewis Hamilton should have ‘brushed off’ a racially abusive comment from Nelson Piquet.
F1 said shortly after this that Ecclestone’s comments were in “stark contrast to modern values”.
Two weeks on from the initial interviews, Ecclestone has apologised for the comments he made in reference to Putin, in an interview with Sky that was released on the Thursday of the Austrian Grand Prix.
“Probably good for me to get some things off my chest as well, some things that have been bothering me about what I said and about what people think I said,” Ecclestone began saying in the clip released by Sky.
“So I think often people come out and say things or do things, without really too much thinking.
Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has said sorry for the controversial opinions he expressed on Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/gKeQQ2GIvB
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) July 9, 2022
“Probably I did the same, I could understand people thinking I’m defending what he’s done in Ukraine, which I don’t.
“I was brought up during the last war so I know what it’s like, I feel sorry for the people in Ukraine having suffer for something they haven’t done.”
The 91-year-old former boss of the championship said he hopes Russia and Ukraine can “get together and get an agreement”.
In the clip, he finishes by saying “I’m sorry if anything I’ve said has upset anybody because it certainly wasn’t intended”.
There was no mention of Hamilton in the clip of the interview released.
