Formula 1 officials say they "completely disagree" with comments made by the sport's former chief executive Bernie Ecclestone that Black people were often more racist than white people.
"In lots of cases, Black people are more racist than what white people are," Ecclestone said in an interview with CNN.
Shortly after the interview, F1 officals quickly distanced themselves from Ecclestone.
"At a time when unity is needed to tackle racism and inequality, we completely disagree with Bernie Ecclestone's comments that have no place in Formula 1 or society," they said in a statement.
"Mr Ecclestone has played no role in the sport since he left our organisation in 2017, his title Chairman Emeritus, being honorific expired, in January 2020."
Six-times world champion Lewis Hamilton also condemned Ecclestone for "ignorant" comments
"It makes complete sense to me now that nothing was said or done to make our sport more diverse or to address the racial abuse I received throughout my career," added the Briton on Instagram.
"If someone who has run the sport for decades has such a lack of understanding of the deep routed [sic] issues we as Black people deal with every day, how can we expect all the people who work under him to understand. It starts at the top."
Earlier this month Hamilton was "completely overcome with rage" as he urged people to speak out against racism.
Hamilton criticised his sport for its silence over the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minneapolis last month after a white U.S. police officer knelt on his neck.
"I'm surprised that [racism] concerns him [Hamilton] even... I'm really unhappy if he took it seriously," Ecclestone said.
"I'm surprised if anyone in Formula 1, certainly the teams and the people like the promoters, have any concern about [racism]."
Ecclestone was replaced as chief executive of Formula 1 in 2017 after nearly four decades in charge.
Reuters
