Ecclestone has stated that he wants a Canadian Grand Prix in the press, and the teams are all on board with getting Formula 1 in front of the North American audience, or so the motor racing media would have us believe. But is the $75 million that the Toronto Globe & Mail is reporting as the offer enough to attract the notoriously money-hungry bosses of F1?

The Globe reports that the $75 million deal over five years, offered at a London meeting two weeks ago, was “much less” than a similar offer made last November, which Ecclestone rejected. Bernie must be kicking himself about that particular rejection, because he may be forced to take the lower figure now due to changed economic conditions.

Under the new Concorde Agreement between the teams, they are now agitating for more exposure to markets like North America, so it looks like a deal is inevitable. Ecclestone may have to take a loss on this one.

F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has often been called a nazi, but little did we know that his idolatry went as far as praising Hitler.

In an interview with The Times, Ecclestone said that Hitler was a great dictator that “got things done,” and who’s mistakes were caused by the persuasion of others.

“In a lot of ways, terrible to say this I suppose, but apart from the fact that Hitler got taken away and persuaded to do things that I have no idea whether he wanted to do or not, he was in the way that he could command a lot of people, able to get things done” Ecclestone told the paper.

“In the end he got lost, so he wasn’t a very good dictator because either he had all these things and knew what was going on and insisted, or he just went along with it . . . so either way he wasn’t a dictator.”

Besides the comments being offensive, WWII historians and students know very well that the opposite was true; the fall of the Third Reich was not due to Hitler being persuaded to make bad decisions, but by Hitler imposing his will and ignoring those around him. The list is long (and these are but a few examples): at Stalingrad the General’s on the ground knew that the exposed flanks manned by the minor Axis powers were a great risk, but Hitler ignored advice to reinforce the flanks and Stalingrad was encircled. Over Britain, Hitler ignored the advice of his generals and switched to bombing cities instead of critical defense infrastructure (after the British had bombed Berlin), turning the tide of the Battle of Britain by giving the RAF a break. That decision also resulted in the cancellation of Operation Sealion, the invasion of Britain. Even as Germany switched to the defensive, Hitler ignored time and time again the advice of those around him, causing enormous losses.

The comments should really come as a great surprise though: Ecclestone’s friend and head of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) is a noted fascist, not only because he is the son of Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British Union of Fascists, but because he likes dressing up as a Nazi in sex play. Double bonus: Ecclestone believes Mosley would make a great Prime Minister of Britain.

(img: The Daily Mail)