Just like most Formula 1 fans, I have eagerly been expecting the start of the 2022 season. Recent rule changes promised for closer and harder racing that, if mixed with a fight for the championship as gripping as 2021 season’s one, would guarantee thrilling races for the months to come. Yet, I cannot help but notice how the season will kick off in two countries shaken by war and conflict. And recent events made the Formula 1 managements double standards blatantly obvious. Time for a reflection.
Cancelling Russia – Racing in Bahrain
Last week saw the spectacular season opener in Bahrain – a shady country that is said to have brought female activist Najah Yusuf into jail for criticizing this very event a few years ago. Yet, repeated expressions of concern by various NGOs [1]https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde11/3393/2020/en/ [2]https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/bahrain about Human Rights conditions in this country could not overshadow what was happening on track, possibly because the small island-country of not even 800 km2 really isn’t on many people’s radars it seems.
“We are watching the developments in Ukraine with sadness and shock[…] and the conclusion is, including the view of all relevant stakeholders, that it is impossible to hold the Russian Grand Prix in the current circumstances.“
Formula 1 statement on the Russian Grand Prix, Feb. 25th 2022 (Emphasis added by author)
Ignoring the invasion of the second-biggest by the biggest country on the European continent, however, is something that the Formula Management obviously thought it couldn’t afford. While the announcement of the withdrawal from the Russian Grand Prix scheduled for September was an expected, calculated decision, it was a statement that was – yet again – preceded by the conscience of a former World-Champion and current driver, Sebastian Vettel, who autonomously declared that he will not drive in Sotchi this year.
And while the Formula One circus has eventually turned away from Putin’s prestige race, it was now, for its second race of the season, headed to a country where only two weeks earlier 81 (eighty-one!) men have been executed on a single day and where homosexuality is punishable by flogging and imprisonment.[3]The bbc has recently published an extensive summary of why the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is so controversial: https://www.bbc.com/sport/60877612
Just like the FIFA and the Olympic Committee, the Formula One Management has a track record of threadbare justifications for making business with some of the cruellest governments on the European and Asian continent, something that Amnesty International has been labelling “sportswashing”.
A Questionable Grand Prix in light of a Desperate Plea to the former World Champion
The Guardian has extensively reported[4]https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/mar/24/f1-saudi-arabia-lewis-hamilton-abdullah-al-howaiti-human-rights [5]https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/mar/25/saudi-arabian-grand-prix-at-risk-of-cancellation-after-houthi-missile-attack about a letter that was sent to Lewis Hamilton in advance to this weekend’s race. In it, the family of Abdullah al-Howaiti, who was sentenced to death by the age of 17, pleads for the seven-time World Champion to intervene.
While The Guardian reports that Hamilton has been somewhat vocal about this case of a breach of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the newspaper also cites this official remotely connected Formula 1 quote, which, I daresay, reads as a grim joke: “We take our responsibilities on rights very seriously and set high ethical standards for counterparties and those in our supply chain, which are enshrined in contracts, and we pay close attention to their adherence.”
Modern Motorsport question: Is a Terrorist Attack a war?
To be fair, no statement in the world, however sincere, could remove the injustice this family has to endure. The words by the Formula 1 Management have, however, further been exposed as double standards in light of this week’s events – the impact of which seems to not have reached the motorsport community sufficiently.
As Russian missiles were hitting targets in L’viv while President Biden was visiting refugees in Poland, a connection was immediately made. It has often been stressed how close this Ukrainian city in the west is to the Polish border – NATO territory – and the bombing of a fuel depot 240 miles away from the President of the United States has had an unsettling effect.
Yet, there was attack in another part of the world on an oil-depot which was only twenty miles away from the highest profile racing event of the world. So close, in fact, that Red Bull driver and former World Champion Max Verstappen could smell the fire, reporting his team while driving on track “I am not sure if it is my car […]”.
When asked by SkySports about the decision to stick to the schedule and keep on racing for the following two days, the Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali became somewhat philosophical: “It is a matter of definition. Is a terrorist attack a war?”, and further stresses “[…]rationality over everything. It has been, for sure, an intense day and sharing, with openness, is the right way to do it in the modern Formula 1.”
That openness, however, left a little to be desired as the field of drivers reportedly was “pretty united in their initial discussion” as Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff admitted, referring to the four hour long debate among drivers whether or not to race. “But then we were able to convince them the race was the best thing to do”, he concludes.
“The best thing to do”: Business as usual
Was it, though? And for whom? Questions, that hopefully will be debated in the weeks to come, when all relevant facts will be taken into consideration:
On Friday, according to the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, at least one ballistic missile and 10 bomb-laden drones launched in Yemen by Iran-backed Houthi rebels were intercepted. What has caused big turmoil is, however, the one attack that did hit its target: An oil facility not far from the race track run by Saudi Arabian oil company Aramco, which is a major Formula 1 sponsor.
Taken aside the question whether the attacks were launched despite or because of the Formula 1 race weekend, these attacks made one thing very clear: While the Formula 1 management cancelled the Russian Grand Prix deeming it “impossible to hold the Russian Grand Prix in the current circumstances“, they knowingly scheduled a race in a country that has been extensively reprimanded[6]https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/human-rights-group-accuses-saudi-forces-yemen-abuses-69784216 [7]https://news.un.org/en/story/2015/03/494792-senior-un-officials-deeply-concerned-over-civilian-casualties-wake-recent#.VR5H1fnF9ps [8]https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35842708 for causing civilian casualties in its war in Yemen and other Human Rights violations.
I have always thought that this 2020 press conference was an impressive example of how it is only drivers who have gained somewhat of a standing in form of World Championship titles are the only ones daring to speak up a little. In this case, Lewis’ words “I am really very, very surprised that we’re here. […] For me it is shocking that we’re sitting in this room” led to the cancellation of the 2020 Australian Grand Prix. Other drivers are risking the extension of their contracts if they are causing stakeholders and sponsors of Formula 1 too much of a headache.
This is why I believe Toto Wulff’s statement to be troublesome. By now, enough information from the hours-long driver meeting seems to have been leaking through that we can tell that many drivers initially wanted the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to be cancelled. The “convincing” that Wulff is admitting to is also a conflict of power and the reason why the individual opinions of the drivers are kept secret. After all, preparations for next year’s Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia may have already started and it would need another strong statement by a former World Champion to bring these to a halt.
Packing up and leave
As a commentator for Sky, at least former Formula 1 driver Ralf Schumacher was able to speak his mind: “I’m really surprised what we are still doing here. You should pack up as soon as possible and leave a country like that”, he is reported to say while also conceding that the pressure on the Formula 1 management may be “enormous”.
While the war in Ukraine has been a wake-up call to the entire Western world for how close to a war we’ve been for years, this attack on Friday proves to me just how close we are moving our first-world pleasures to real war zones. While I love the sport, I have begun to think about ways to express my concern. While watching the race on Sunday, I did feel a little bit of shame.
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