Bernie Ecclestone has cancelled his plans to attend the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend after the backlash from his defence of disgraced ex-F1 racer Nelson Piquet and Russian warmonger Vladimir Putin.
The 91-year-old has been avoiding his usual trips to follow the sport on race weekends ever since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. He had planned to end his hiatus at the Red Bull Ring, but that was before a series of car-crash interviews on the eve of the British Grand Prix.
In the days leading up to the race at Silverstone, Ecclestone leapt to the defence of three-time world champion Piquet after footage surfaced of him directing a racial slur at Lewis Hamilton. He also repeated his claim that he would "take a bullet" for "first class person" Russian leader Putin.
