Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],

It’s not been a good week for Formula One. And this hasn’t got anything to do with 20 race cars doing laps around a circuit.

Two separate off-the-circuit incidents, featuring highly controversial remarks made by famous personalities linked with F1, have really dampened the mood around the sport.

First, comments made by former F1 champion Nelson Piquet during a podcast in November were brought to light, where he used a racial slur to describe seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Piquet, 69, has since apologised for his remarks, but said the word he used had been taken out of context. Formula One has reportedly banned the Brazilian from visiting the paddock at any race in the future.

Then, former F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone said during a television interview in the UK that he would “take a bullet” for Russian president Vladimir Putin. The 91-year-old even described Putin as “a first-class person” and said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could have been avoided if Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky had done more. Ecclestone is someone who had even appeared to praise Adolf Hitler in a 2009 interview.

F1 has distanced itself from the British businessman’s comments, with a spokesperson saying they are “his personal views” and “in very stark contrast to the position of the modern values of our sport”.