Bernie Ecclestone: I’d take a bullet for ‘first-class person’ Putin

Formula One has sought to distance itself from remarks made by its former chief executive, Bernie Ecclestone, who said he would “take a bullet” for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, whom he described as “a first-class person”.

Ecclestone, who reportedly has been friends with Putin since the introduction of the Russian Grand Prix in 2014, said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could have been avoided if the latter’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, had done more.

Asked on ITV’s Good Morning Britain if he still regards Putin as a friend, the 91-year-old billionaire said: “I’d still take a bullet for him. I’d rather it didn’t hurt, but if it does I’d still take a bullet, because he’s a first-class person. What he’s doing is something that he believed was the right thing he was doing for Russia.”

After his appearance, a Formula One spokesperson said: “The comments made by Bernie Ecclestone are his personal views and are in very stark contrast to the position of the modern values of our sport.”

Ecclestone, who in 2020 announced the birth of his fourth child with his wife, Fabiana Flosi, 45, is no stranger to controversial remarks.

In a Times interview published in 2009, he appeared to praise Adolf Hitler: “Terrible to say this, I suppose, but apart from the fact that Hitler got taken away and persuaded to do things that I have no idea whether he wanted to do or not, he was – in the way that he could command a lot of people – able to get things done”.

He went on to criticise Zelenskiy, to the incredulity of the Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway, who asked: “So just to understand you clearly, you think that President Zelenskiy should have done more to avert this war and it could have been avoided by Zelenskiy’s actions, not by a change in Putin’s actions?”

Ecclestone replied: “Absolutely.”

He said the war in Ukraine was not “intentional”, adding: “And I’m quite sure Ukraine, if they’d wanted to get out of it properly, could have done.”

Asked if he has had a chance to speak to Putin about “what a mess” the situation is or urged him to rethink what he is doing, Ecclestone said: “No. He’s probably thought about that himself. He probably doesn’t need reminding. I’m absolutely sure he now wishes he hadn’t have started this whole business, but [it] didn’t start as a war.”