"Utter nonsense" - Former F1 boss slams Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes for protesting Max Verstappen's F1 title

Bernie Ecclestone, the former F1 supremo, has slammed Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton for lodging a protest challenging Max Verstappen’s F1 title. Ecclestone said the talk about robbing the championship away from Lewis Hamilton is “utter nonsense”.

In an interview with Sky News, the former F1 boss was asked if he agreed that the championship was taken away from Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes. Ecclestone replied:

“If you're talking about what happened in the last race, No. Whether it's been robbed before, I don't know. But certainly, as far as this nonsense about being robbed of the championship – it is complete and utter nonsense."

He then went on to elucidate on his thoughts about the final race.

"If you want to think about it carefully, on the first lap of that race, he (Lewis Hamilton) went off the circuit and came back on again. Verstappen stayed on the circuit and did absolutely nothing wrong. And Lewis wasn't punished at all for this. So he (Lewis Hamilton) shouldn't be complaining too much about whatever he's complaining about now."

Bernie Ecclestone is often credited with making F1 a global sport worth billions of dollars. In early 1980s, Ecclestone, who then owned the Brabham team, consolidated the advertising and broadcasting rights for the sport. Over the next two decades it became the foundation for the sport’s financial viability.

Known for his no-nonsense approach, Ecclestone was the most powerful man in the sport until 2016, when he sold his F1 stake to Liberty Media.

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Bernie Ecclestone is glad Lewis Hamilton didn’t win his eighth title for Michael Schumacher’s sake

Bernie Ecclestone says he’s glad that Lewis Hamilton didn’t win his eighth F1 title. Hamilton's win would have taken him past Michael Schumacher’s record of seven world championships (five of which are consecutive titles).

Speaking to Sky News, Ecclestone said:

“He ( Max Verstappen) won it fair and square, which is a good thing to do. And I suppose people now are probably just as happy to see a new face winning the championship. We've had seven from Lewis (Hamilton) because he's so good."

Talking about his personal take on the F1 World Championship, Ecclestone said:

"I was happy that Lewis didn't win an eighth championship because the seventh championship that he holds along with Michael Schumacher, I wouldn't like to see that broken. It'd be nice for Michael if we lose him one day at least we lost him in a certain time for a champion.”

Furthermore, when the interviewer pointed out that records are there to be broken, Ecclestone added:

“Well, let's see if anyone can break them.”

While Lewis Hamilton may have lost his bid for an eighth world title, the Englishman still has plenty of other records to his name. These include the record for most wins (103), most pole positions (103), most podiums (182), and more.