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Former Formula One team boss Eddie Jordan has slammed Bernie Ecclestone over comments that he would ‘take a bullet’ for Vladimir Putin and said Nelson Piquet’s apology for using an N-word slur in relation to Lewis Hamilton ‘doesn’t stand up’.
Mr Jordan described Mr Ecclestone’s comments as ‘indefensible’ and ‘unacceptable’ after he defended the Russian President as a ‘first-class person’ despite his invasion of Ukraine.
The ex-F1 owner, 91, then doubled down on the hugely controversial remarks before also bizarrely defending Piquet use of the N-word – claiming the term was ‘the same’ as calling someone fat.
But speaking ahead of today’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Mr Jordan told GB News: ‘I’m quite certain Bernie didn’t quite either understand what he was saying or what he was asking him – I’m not trying to defend him because it’s indefensible. You cannot defend a reply like that.
‘Bernie, who I am a big supporter of – I was shocked. I was horrified, and I was so disappointed because when you see the pain and the conflict that’s going on with people, their own people in Russia, and also what’s happening in Ukraine, it was an unbelievable thing for Bernie to say.
‘And it’s excusable. I don’t know how you even come back from there, and I’m sure Bernie is so upset about what he said because I’m sure he didn’t mean to say it in the way it was said.
Mr Jordan described Mr Ecclestone’s comments as ‘indefensible’ and ‘unacceptable’ in an interview ahead of the British Grand Prix
Piquet was banned from Silverstone earlier this week after using a racially offensive expression in Portuguese to describe Hamilton during an interview in his homeland
‘Nevertheless, he is accountable for his own actions and he knows this was said, and it’s unacceptable and hugely wrong for him in the position that he was in.’
Mr Jordan also condemned Piquet’s slur towards seven-time world champion Hamilton.
Piquet was banned from Silverstone earlier this week after using a racially offensive expression in Portuguese to describe Hamilton during an interview in his homeland.
The retired three-time world champion apologised and insisted the word he used was mistranslated, before it emerged he had called him the N-word again.
Mr Jordan added: ‘It’s a shocking thing for him to say, there was no need for him to say such a thing, no matter what he felt about it.
‘And his apology. I’m sorry, it just doesn’t stand up.
‘And I think Lewis has taken this to heart because here’s a guy who has been embraced by the sport.
‘He was a great champion, but nevertheless, this is grossly unacceptable in any walk of life by any personality, irrespective of who it is.’
Max Verstappen, who pipped Hamilton to the world title last year, has also been met with criticism after defending Piquet’s remarks.
The current world champion, who is dating Piquet’s daughter, said the furore had been ‘blown out of proportion’. He has subsequently been met with boos and jeers over the Grand Prix weekend.
British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes-AMG Petronas before the Formula One Grand Prix of Britain at the Silverstone
However, Hamilton has said he does not approve of race-goers, hundreds of thousands of whom are in attendance, booing the Dutch driver.
Mr Jordan said that drivers want to keep politics out of sport, adding: ‘But he’s right, isn’t he, because whether you like it or not, you look at whatever sporting event whether it’s Wimbledon, whether it’s the Open Championship in golf, whether it is motor racing, there is a feeling amongst the competitors, you know, forget the politics.
‘Let’s try and do what we do best, which is sportsmanship, and let’s be very clear about what Lewis has done, not just for himself, but his family.
‘Motor racing in Britain, everywhere throughout the world, he is revered. He is a seven times world champion and his voice has to be and must be heard…
‘Let’s respect him for that, irrespective of how that happened. He is the world champion, let’s respect him.’
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