LONDON, (Reuters) – Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton condemned Bernie Ecclestone for “ignorant” comments about racism after the sport had distanced itself from the 89-year-old former supremo.

Six-times world champion Hamilton, who has launched a commission to help motorsport engage more young people from black backgrounds, said the “ignorant and uneducated” comments highlighted “exactly what is wrong”.

“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.

Hamilton has criticised his sport for its initial 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.

Ecclestone, who made a fortune from the sport he ran for nearly four decades until he was ousted in 2017 when U.S.-based Liberty Media took over, said he was surprised Hamilton was concerned with racism.