Bernie Ecclestone would take a bullet for Putin - F1's reaction

Bernie Ecclestone has said in an interview at Good Morning Britain that he still regards president Putin as a friend and 'would still take a bullet for him'.

This morning, Bernie Ecclestone appeared on Good Morning Britain, and when asked about his opinion on Russian President Putin and the war in Ukraine, he said: "I still regard him as a friend, I'd still take a bullet for him."

He then continued saying that Ukrainian President Zelensky should have listened to Putin to avoid was because Putin 'is a sensible person'.

F1's response was immediate: "The comments made by Bernie Ecclestone are his personal views and are in very stark contrast to position of the modern values of our sport.”

It is not the first time that Formula 1 has had to come out and publicly state that Bernie Ecclestone’a views and opinions are his own and that neither the sport or the organisation echo his beliefs.

Back in January 2020 F1 had to release this statement: "At a time when unity is needed to tackle racism and inequality, we completely disagree with Bernie Ecclestone’s comments that have no place in Formula 1 or society.

"Mr Ecclestone has played no role in Formula 1 since he left our organisation in 2017, his title Chairman Emeritus, being honorific, expired in January 2020.

Without a doubt, F1 has certainly moved on from the Bernie Ecclestone era and seems clear they want to put that behind them.