Ecclestone apologises for Hitler remarks

FORMULA One chief Bernie Ecclestone has apologised for praising Adolf Hitler’s ability to “get things done,” comments which prompted a German Jewish group to call for a boycott of the motor sport.

Ecclestone, 78, made the comments in an interview published in The Times of London last weekend.

“I have no complaints about the quote – it is what I said – but it was not what I meant to say,” Ecclestone wrote yesterday in the same paper, an article he opened with the words “First, an apology”.

“Those who don’t know me think I support Hitler’s atrocities; those who do know me have told me how unwise I was to articulate my points so badly that it should have been so widely misunderstood,” he said.

In the article Ecclestone revisited his remarks about Hitler in an attempt to clarify what he was trying to say.

“During the 1930s Germany was facing an economic crisis but Hitler was able to rebuild the economy, building the autobahns and German industry,” he wrote. “That was all I meant when I referred to him getting things done. I’m an admirer of good leadership, of politicians who stand by their convictions and tell the voters the truth. I’m not an admirer of dictators, who rule by terror.”

Germany’s Central Council of Jews has urged motor racing teams to boycott Formula One.

“No team should work with him any more – a boycott would be more than appropriate,” said the Council’s vice president, Dieter Graumann, who added that Ecclestone was “either empty headed or unbelievably malicious – probably both” and said he risked driving the whole of Formula One into a wall.

Germany’s Grand Prix takes place at the Nuerburgring this weekend. German media also reported Guenther Oettinger, state premier of Baden-Wuerttemberg, had cancelled a planned meeting with Ecclestone because of his comments.