Formula 1 has issued a statement following recent comments made by former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone on the subject of racism and equality.

Meanwhile,Lewis Hamilton had while reacting to the comments, vowed to “not stop pushing for an inclusive future” following recent comments made in an interview with CNN by Bernie Ecclestone regarding race and equality.

“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,” the statement read.

“Mr. Ecclestone has played no role in Formula 1 since he left our organisation in 2017, his title Chairman Emeritus, being honorific, expired in January 2020.”

On Thursday, as part of the new #WeRaceAsOne initiative, Formula 1 announced details on a new Task Force and Foundation to increase diversity and inclusion, with current Formula 1 Chairman and CEO, Chase Carey providing the initial start-up funding for this foundation with a $1m personal contribution.

Hamilton took to Instagram to post a rebuttal to the remarks made by Ecclestone, initially writing “damn, I just don’t even know where to start on this one”, before going on to say: “So sad and disappointing to read these comments.

“Bernie is out of the sport and a different generation but this is exactly what is wrong – ignorant and uneducated comments which show us how far we as a society need to go before real equality can happen.

“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.