Formula One icon Bernie Ecclestone insisted he had not done enough to earn a knighthood after turning down the offer from Queen Elizabeth II. The 2026 New Year Honours List was released on Monday, but Ecclestone rejected a knighthood in the past.

The 95-year-old is credited as one of the most influential figures in Formula 1 history. Starting as a driver, he later became a team manager and remained part of the sport for decades. Ecclestone notably founded the Formula One Group in 1987, which controlled the sport’s commercial rights. Despite his successes in motorsport, the F1 supremo felt his achievements didn’t deserve a knighthood and was brutally honest when explaining his reason for declining the honour in the 1990s.

“Whatever I did, I did for myself,” he told The Telegraph earlier this year. “If somebody benefited from that, good. But it was never my intention.

“I thought these awards should only be for people who had captured a country, gone back to the Queen and given her the keys. ‘There you go, we’ve captured India.’”

While believing that he did not warrant a knighthood as he had acted in self-interest, Ecclestone associating the honour system with the country’s colonial past would have made some wince. However, he previously made a similar point in 2017, claiming that only those who acted on behalf of their country should be rewarded.

“If England benefited from it, then good, I didn’t go out particularly to do that,” Ecclestone explained. “I think the whole system is wrong.

“I think if somebody actually dedicates themselves to do something for the country and is proud to do it, they should be recognised for that.”

Four F1 drivers have previously been knighted, with Lewis Hamilton joining Sir Jackie Stewart, Sir Stirling Moss and Sir Jack Brabham in 2021. Former McLaren team principal Ron Dennis also received a knighthood last year, though he was honoured for his contributions to industry and charity.

When reflecting on his experience of being knighted, seven-time world champion Hamilton shared a surprise revelation from Prince Charles. The two had previously met when Hamilton was a teenager and the future King recalled their past encounter.

“I was 13. I went to McLaren when I was 13 years old. I went to the factory and he [King Charles] came to open the factory up,” Hamilton told Jimmy Kimmel Live. “I was sitting in my go-kart where they have all the cars and I sat there and he came in, he knelt down and asked me what I wanted to do and what my dreams were, and told him one day I wanted to be a Formula One world champion.

“So coming to all the way down the line, I’m at the palace, and you have to take these certain steps to get to the prince, very, very, very formal. You walk in, like take three steps, turn 90 degrees, take another four steps and then turn left, bow, two steps and then take the knee, and I took the knee and he puts the sword on your shoulders.

“But when I go back off, he’s like, you’ve come a long way. So he said he remembered speaking and we had a real short chat.”