Formula 1 CEO: Female Racecar Driver ‘Wouldn’t Be Taken Seriously’

Women have competed — and won — on some of auto racing’s biggest stages.

But don’t tell Formula 1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone that.

As NBC Sports points out, Lella Lombardi, Maria Teresa de Filippis, Giovanna Amati, Susie Wolff, Desire Wilson and Divina Galica all have participated in either F1 races or Grand Prix weekends, and Carmen Jorda currently is competing at the developmental level.

But that didn’t stop Ecclestone from saying some controversial things about women racing in F1 during an interview with TSN Toronto 1050.

“I doubt it, because if there was somebody that was capable, they wouldn’t be taken serious anyway, so they would never have a car that is capable of competing,” he said.

But, as we already pointed out, women have competed at different levels in auto racing and even in F1. Ecclestone basically admitted that later in the interview.

“This female driver business — there was a girl that was driving in GP3 for a whole season, so it’s not something that hasn’t happened,” he said.

You can listen to all of Ecclestone’s nonsensical comments below.

Thumbnail photo via Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports Images