Former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone says Black Lives Matter are USING Lewis Hamilton for money and insists he would NOT have allowed drivers to take the knee before races if he were still in charge
- Sir Lewis Hamilton has been leading Formula One’s fight for greater diversity
- He has been an ally to the Black Lives Matter movement and has taken a knee
- Ex-Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone said he would not have allowed it
- Ecclestone feels F1 is now ‘too political’ and Hamilton is being ‘used’ for money
Bernie Ecclestone has said he would ban Formula One drivers taking a knee before races and would stop them wearing anti-racism t-shirts on the podium.
In a wide-ranging interview ahead of the start of the 2021 F1 season, the 90-year-old motorsport mogul took aim at the politicisation of the sport.
He reiterated his stance that Formula One is not racist and he revealed his belief that Sir Lewis Hamilton is ‘being used’ by the Black Lives Matter movement.
‘I’ve said to his father, “Lewis needs to be careful”. Because he’s being used by the people who are supporting this Black Lives Matter and they are taking a lot of money from it. And nobody knows where it goes,’ Ecclestone told the Telegraph.
‘If I’d still been around there wouldn’t have been anyone wearing [anti-racism] t-shirts on the podium, that’s for sure,
‘One hundred per cent, there wouldn’t have been this business of kneeling before races.’
He went on to say he is ‘delighted’ that Saudi Arabia has been added to the calendar for 2021, despite criticisms of its human rights record from Amnesty International.
‘They make a lot of fuss over things for the wrong reasons,’ he said of F1. ‘For political reasons.’
Ecclestone and Hamilton engaged in a public spat over the sport’s battle for diversity and racial equality last year.
Hamilton, 36, previously called Ecclestone ‘ignorant and uneducated’ for his claims that there is no discrimination in the sport.
More to follow.