The new date is Jun 30, 2022.

Several business and political leaders in the U.K. have been critical of the Russian leader following his decision to invade neighboring Ukraine, but British billionaire and former F1 CEOBernie Ecclestone called him a "first-class person" in a TV interview on Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends Formula 1 2018 VTB Grand Prix Russia in Sochi

There has been controversy due to his vocal support for Russian President Putin.

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When asked if he still considered Putin to be his friend, the Formula One boss said he would take a bullet for the Russian leader.

The former F1 boss said that Putin is doing something he believed was the right thing.

He brought up his past as a comedian and said that it seems that Zelensky wants to continue that profession.

The billionaire said if Zelensky had made a big enough effort to speak to Putin, tensions between the two countries might have been resolved.

The large number of deaths caused by Putin's invasion was not intentional, according to the man.

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Formula 1 said that the comments made by Ecclestone were his personal views and were in stark contrast to the modern values of the sport.

Key Background

The former F1 chief has said positive things about Putin before. The cancellation of the Russian Grand Prix did not make sense and would not affect Putin, he said earlier this year. He said in 2016 that Putin should be running Europe. A number of autocrats have expressed admiration for Putin. He caused a lot of controversy in 2009, when he said Hitler was able to get things done, and lamented that democracy had failed in Britain. He said he didn't know if Hitler wanted to do things or not.

$3 billion is a large sum of money. Forbes has a real time tracker that shows the net worth of billionaires.

Contra

Unlike in the West, where billionaires break ranks with their group on certain issues, very few billionaires in Russia have done the same. There are some Russian business tycoons who have spoken up. The most vocal critic of Putin's " crazy war" has been the banking tycoon and former billionaire, who claims he was forced to sell his stake in Russia's second-largest bank without any chance to negotiate. They have called for a quick resolution of the conflict.

The race was criticized by F1 over comments made by Putin.