Former F1 chief would take a bullet for Putin

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
30 Jun 2022 18:19
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When asked about his opinion of the Russian President, the former F1 chief said Putin is "sensible" and Zelensky was criticized.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Former F1 Chief Bernie Eccleston

Bernie Ecclestone, Former Formula 1 chief, spoke in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin and criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for doing little to avert the conflict in his country.

Ecclestone ran the F1 for 40 years retiring from his role as chief executive in 2017. The Former F1 chief spoke, in an appearance on ITV’s ‘Good Morning Britain,’ very highly of President Putin and called him a “first-class” and “sensible” person.

According to the interview, the presenter asked Ecclestone if he still stood by the Russian President. He said that “I’d rather it didn’t hurt, but if it did, I’d still take a bullet. Because he’s a first-class person. And what he’s doing is something that he believed was the right thing for Russia.”

Despite that response, Ecclestone insisted that the conflict in Ukraine was a “mistake” adding that “you have to do the best you can to get out of it.”

The former F1 chief also criticized Zelensky and said that he was more cut out for his comedian role rather than the Presidency.

“The other person in Ukraine, his profession I understand used to be a comedian and I think it seems that he wants to continue that profession because I think if he’d thought about things he would definitely have made a big enough effort to speak to Mr. Putin, who is a sensible person, and would have listened to him and could have probably done something about it,” said Ecclestone.

When the presenting team of the ITV was unwilling to accept the answers of the 90-year-old businessman, they pressed him by asking about the allegedly targeted innocents and civilians that pay the price of war. In response to that, the businessman said, “It wasn’t intentional. Look at all the times America has moved into different countries which have nothing to do with America,” adding that “Actually in America, it’s their business, they like wars because but they sell a lot of armaments.”

However, with the start of the conflict with Ukraine, the 2022 Russian Grand Prix was removed from the schedule for this year. Furthermore, after F1 executives terminated their agreement with the nation, the move to the Igora Drive circuit outside of St. Petersburg in 2023 has also been abandoned.