In case you haven’t noticed, Bernie Ecclestone is a bit of a strange character. Always on the prowl for more ways to popularise Formula One, the interview-shy Ecclestone isn’t exactly a stranger to controversy.

So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that when asked what new talent he’d like to see join the F1 circus, he replied that “Formula One needs a black, Jewish woman who, if possible, wins some races too.”

The remark was apparently “said in jest”, but Ecclestone’s track record when it comes to women and black people isn’t exactly great.

In 2005, he told the media that “women should be dressed in white, like all the other domestic appliances,” while last year he brushed aside the blatantly obvious racist behaviour directed at Lewis Hamilton by race-goers at the Spanish Grand Prix as “people expressing themselves”.

Ecclestone has also been quoted as wanting, “Formula One to be surrounded by controversy all the time. I like it to be more volatile than football.”

With the 78 year-old president and CEO of F1 seemingly not willing to keep his mouth in check, he’s certainly getting his wish.

[Guardian]