Bernie Ecclestone was unrepentant yesterday after lavishing praise on Vladimir Putin as he turned up the heat on Cold War diplomacy just days before Formula One lands in the United States.
The Formula One chief executive has never toed the politically correct line, triggering a storm in 2009 when he told The Times that he admired Hitler “because he got things done”. Now Russia’s president, who ordered the firing of cruise missiles into Syria just days before the Russian Grand Prix last weekend, joins Ecclestone’s list of favoured dictators.
In an extraordinarily candid interview with Russia Today under the headline: “America falsely believes it is greatest superpower”, Ecclestone skewers the West and says that there is no place for democracy in F1 — or anywhere else.
There was also glowing support for another president — Sepp Blatter, of Fifa — who he said should not end his 17-year reign as head of football’s world governing body despite the avalanche of scandals and pending prosecutions for alleged corruption.
“I don’t think he should have ever stepped down and I don’t think he should have ever been challenged,” Ecclestone said. “It is because of him we have a lot of countries around the world that are now playing football, and if these people allegedly have been corrupted to make things happen in their country, it’s good. It’s a tax football had to pay.”
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After the interview was published online, Ecclestone told The Times: “I have opinions like anyone else. Putin does what he says he will do while leaders in the West can’t make up their minds. He put on a good grand prix for us, so I have no problem with him at all.”
Ecclestone admits he suffers from unwavering honesty when facing interviewers and, in his defence, he does not utter the words used in the Russia Today headline. But his interview will be treated like gold dust in the Kremlin as Russia looks for propaganda to attack the West. Meanwhile, the Americans, who will host F1 next week, will wonder whose side Ecclestone is on when the sport sets up its tents in Austin, Texas.
Ecclestone sat with Putin during the race in Sochi and in one touching scene, Putin could see that Ecclestone, 84 years old and wearing only a white shirt, was suffering a chill as temperatures dropped in the late afternoon. He motioned to a security guard who brought a jacket for the president to arrange around Ecclestone’s shoulders.
When asked by Sophie Shevardnadze, a political journalist with Russia Today, what Ecclestone thought of Putin, Ecclestone enthused: “Super. I’m his best supporter.”
Ecclestone has guaranteed that there will be a Russian Grand Prix as long as he lives despite tensions between Russia and the West. “I don’t think Russia is concerned about the West. Maybe, the West is concerned — and they should be,” he said.
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Even his Russian interviewer appeared slightly taken aback when she asked if there was any place for democracy in F1. “I don’t think there’s any place for democracy, first of all,” he replied. “Ever? Anywhere?” asked Shevarnadze. “Anywhere,” Ecclestone added.
Ecclestone’s dash to the financial honeypots of the East has been heavily criticised by human rights groups. After China, Russia and Bahrain, next year F1 adds Azerbaijan to the roster, a nation under fire for a catalogue of human rights abuses.
Against that backdrop, though, is the plight of F1’s traditional circuits in its European homeland with Monza and Silverstone in danger of falling off the calendar.
“We are a world championship,” Ecclestone said. “We were based more or less in Europe, so it can hardly be a world championship. Europe is a thing of the past anyway.”
• Chinese investors are said to be the latest planning a takeover of F1. Bernie Ecclestone, the sport’s chief executive, says that F1 could be in new hands by the end of the year and reports last night suggested that China Media Capital is joining a consortium, led by Stephen Ross, owner of the Miami Dolphins American football team, in an $8.5 billion (£5.5 billion) bid.