Bernie Ecclestone, 89, has fourth child with 44-year-old wife

Bernie Ecclestone is a father again at age 89 after wife Fabiana Flosi, 44, gave birth to a baby boy on Wednesday.

The billionaire former Formula One boss is a father for the fourth time, welcoming baby Ace into the world.

‘DIDN’T KNOW’: Widow's shock claim about Peter Brock's death

‘INSANE’: Daniel Ricciardo gives backing to Formula One shake-up

The grandfather-of-five, who turns 90 in October, told Blick: “We have a son named Ace. I am so proud.

Fabiana added: “It was all so easy. The birth was over after 25 minutes. I thank god.”

Ace is Ecclestone’s first son after he had three daughters with previous partners.

He has Deborah, 65, with first wife Ivy Bamford, as well as Tamara, 35, and Petra, 31, with second wife Slavica Radic.

Ecclestone and Brazilian Flosi have been married since 2012.

“There's nothing that unusual is there?” Ecclestone said earlier this year about becoming a father again.

“I haven't had a job for a little while so I have had plenty of time to practise! I don't see there's any difference between being 89 and 29.”

Flosi said she hopes her son doesn’t follow his father’s footsteps into F1.

“Like all parents we have only one wish: the child must be born healthy,” Flosi said earlier this year.

“Hopefully he will never express any interest in doing something in Formula 1!”

Ecclestone causes controversy with racism claims

Ecclestone has been at the centre of controversy recently after telling CNN in an interview that "in lots of cases, Black people are more racist than what white people are".

Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton condemned the 89-year-old’s “ignorant” comments after Formula One moved to distance itself from the former supremo.

Formula One, whose chairman Chase Carey announced on Thursday a personal donation of $US1 million towards a foundation to promote diversity in the sport, responded with a stinging statement.

“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 One or society,” it said.

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

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”.

“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,” added the Briton on Instagram.

“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. It starts at the top.”

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

“I'm really unhappy if he took it seriously,” he said.

“I'm surprised if anyone in Formula One, certainly the teams and the people like the promoters, have any concern about (racism).”

with AAP