Ecclestone has something of a history of controversial comments, but his latest remarks are extraordinary even by his own standards.
The sport lacked celebrity drivers like football’s David Beckham to help spark interest, the F1 commercial rights holder said before attending Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final between Barcelona and Chelsea.
“I don’t care who drives,” Ecclestone said. “It would be fantastic to have a female driver who is black and Jewish.”
The only missing element in his dream formula is a successful woman driver: the closest candidate so far being the late Lella Lombardi, who scored half a point at the shortened Spanish Grand Prix in 1975.
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Ecclestone also reportedly said that certain F1 drivers, including Spain’s double world champion Fernando Alonso, were “stupid” because they did not do more to promote the sport, in the manner of Sir Jackie Stewart.
Meanwhile, Ecclestone repeated his demand for Formula One to slash its costs. “We could not continue to waste so much money as before. We can be competitive with reduced budgets.” Telegraph.co.uk
“They (the teams) want to be paid in the same manner as if they had agreed to be committed (to race) for five years but they don’t want to be committed,” said Ecclestone.
“They shouldn’t get the prize money. We are now running more of a cash-on-delivery service. You sign the contract and we will pay you in full,” he added. Reuters UK
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