Kravitz sorry for 'stupid and insensitive' Bottas comments

Ted Kravitz

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Kravitz sorry for 'stupid and insensitive' Bottas comments – and good on him for apology!

Sky F1 reporter Ted Kravitz issued a very public 'mea culpa' and credit to him for doing so!

Stuart Hodge

Sunday 5 March 2023 13:08 Updated: 13:47

Ted Kravitz has apologised for comments he made to Valtteri Bottas this week, describing them as "stupid and insensitive".

The Sky Sports F1 reporter told viewers about the incident during his popular 'Ted's Notebook' show following Saturday's qualifying session for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

He explained how he had commented on Bottas' appearance on Thursday, without knowing that the Alfa Romeo star had revealed earlier this year how he had come close to suffering from an eating disorder in the past.

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Kravitz keen to clear up Bottas incident

Kravitz, clearly keen to atone for the incident, said: "Now I want to spend a little bit of time just to tell you about something stupid and insensitive I did not knowingly with Valtteri Bottas on Thursday.

"So I saw him, I hadn't seen him during testing, and he's lost a bit of weight around his jaw and I was quite surprised. I said 'Oh wow you look so slim, and as my Mum would say you should eat some more food, you look slim'. He was like 'no, I'm slim and I'm healthy'. When he said healthy, I thought... strange thing to say.

"And I was made aware of an interview he did earlier in this year which I hadn't seen, where he was talking in the past - I think it was 2014 - when he'd had close to what he described, close to an eating disorder. When he had dieted so much that he was unhealthy and losing weight."

Bottas brave to speak out about past struggles

Kravitz was clearly mortified to learn of Bottas' past struggles, and told viewers that he had spoken to the Alfa Romeo team since, and will be doing likewise with Bottas.

"I felt so terrible about joking about him slimming down, that I have since talked to his team and when I see him I'll clear it up, saying I had no idea he was close to an eating disorder, and apologise for any offence that I've done.

Bottas spoke out about his past struggles

"To have the bravery to come out and talk about what in the past was pretty much close to an eating disorder in terms of getting down his weight to what they needed for the car, I thought was really impressive and good for Valtteri for speaking out about it."

GPFans says: Well done Kravitz!

It would have been very easy for Kravitz to have apologised personally to Bottas, off camera, or to have let the comments fade into history on a busy race weekend.

To front up deserves a lot of credit and to issue a public 'mea culpa', even more so.

That's why we love you Ted – keep fighting the good fight!