Bernie Ecclestone claims he’d take a bullet for Putin, brands Skripal poisoning fake news and says ‘good guy’ Vlad should be running Europe
BERNIE Ecclestone said he would take a bullet for Vladimir Putin as he should be the one running Europe, it has been claimed.
The billionaire Formula One boss, 88, reportedly said he believed the Russian leader was ";too busy" to have carried out the Salisbury novichok poisoning, branding it fake news.
Ecclestone told: “If someone had a machine gun and was prepared to shoot Putin, I would stand in front of him.
“Because he’s a good guy. He’s never done anything that isn’t doing good things for people.”
He also said Putin should be the one running the show in Europe because you need a dictator.
He said: "I would like him running Europe. We haven’t got anybody, so it couldn’t be any worse. He does what he says he is going to do. I am not a supporter of democracy. You need a dictator. In a democracy, it gets watered down.”
Ecclestone's friendship with Putin has been noticed before as the pair have sat together during the Formula One Grand Prix of Russia and have warmly greeted each other.
The billionaire also claimed the assassination attempt on Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in March 2018 couldn't have been at the hands of Putin.
'YOU NEED A DICTATOR'
Ecclestone said: "He didn’t do that. He would be too busy to be worrying about that sort of thing. Storytellers make these things up.”
Moscow has strongly denied any involvement in the deadly nerve agent attack that also killed Dawn Sturgess and hospitalised Charlie Rowley after they reportedly came in to contact with the container containing the novichok.
Ecclestone was born the son of a fisherman in Suffolk in 1930 and his first involvement in motorsport was trading spare parts for motorcycles before he branched into car racing in 1949, driving Formula 3 series cars.
Following an accident he withdrew from racing cars himself.
After making successful investments in property he returned to motorsport in a management role making his first entry into Formula One.
He spent 40 years as chief executive of the company until January 2017 when it was taken over by American company, Liberty Media.
Ecclestone’s role changed from CEO to chairman emeritus of F1, with Chase Carey, the 21st Century Fox mogul, succeeding him as chief executive.
He and his family are reportedly worth £2.5billion, according to The Times Rich List.
Bernie's life
Eccelstone's first involvement in motorsport was trading spare parts for motorcycles before he branched into car racing in 1949, driving Formula 3 series cars.
Following an accident he withdrew from racing cars himself.
After making successful investments in property he returned to motorsport in a management role making his first entry into Formula 1.
This role would put him at the top of the sport for nearly four decades as he turned it into a multi-billion-dollar business.
Ecclestone sold the commercial rights Formula 1 to Liberty Media in January 2017.
His family is worth an estimated £2.5billion.
Past controversies:
- Ecclestone was forced to apologise after making comments that Adolf Hilter was a man who “was able to get things done.”
- He also said that his friend of 40 years Max Mosley, the son of British fascist leader Oswald Mosley, "would do a super job" as Prime Minister
- The billionarie has also been accused of avoiding paying tax
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