“He is South American, and so he is not as focused as Max Verstappen” - Racism and Politics in Formula 1

Hope - @hxpexo 

In recent weeks there has been criticism of Helmut Marko’s comments about Sergio Perez being a lazy driver, not only being personally critical of Checo but also of his ethnicity. The current Red Bull motorsports advisor blamed the poor qualifying sessions and inconsistent performance on Checo’sethnicity, suggesting this is typical of all South Americans.

The further irony of this ignorance being Checo is not South American, he is of Mexican heritage and from the North American continent. Reports say this is also not the first time that Marko has gotten Checo’s heritage wrong.

Checo seemingly accepted Marko’s public and private apology saying he did not take the comments personally. Perez did acknowledge that in ‘isolation’ the comments can be ‘very disrespectful’ but seemed keen to move on from the comments. Though Marko is not employed directly by the F1 team, as he is only answerable to the Red Bull headquarters, the team said they acknowledge and support Marko’s apology. Christian Horner says it was for this reason Red Bull racing did not put out a statement, he has come out saying Marko regrets his comment and has learned lessons from this.

The FIA have since issued a warning to Helmut over the comments, reminding him of his ‘responsibilities as a public figure’. This serves to ensure that Marko complies with the FIA Code of Ethics.

This comes after Lewis Hamilton condemned the comments made by Marko in an interview to Sky Sports F1, even going as far to say he’s not surprised. Hamilton condemned the lack of action from Formula 1, saying they need to do more to fight discrimination. In a statement to Sky Sports News Craig Slater did add that senior Red Bull racing figures want to make clear that they do not condone the comments and reject the racist values that were clear in Marko’s comment. However, is this enough? Is it enough to condemn the words and take no further action?

This is not the first-time racist comments have been thrown a driver’s way from someone with a significant platform. We all know too well that social media is a breeding ground for harmful language and comments about those in the spotlight, but it is not just internet trolls who throw such hateful language in the way of the drivers.

Lewis Hamilton has fallen victim to these sorts of comments in previous years, as the only black driver currently on the grid. Nelson Piquet was fined for racist and homophobic comments directed at Hamilton earlier on this year for comments he made back in 2020. As many of the drivers have seen attacks on their race and ethnicity it is no wonder many wish to stand up for minorities and advocate better treatment and rights for those under attack.

We Race as One was an initiative set up during COVID-19, in order to fight against the offsets created by the pandemic, as well as condemning racism and inequality. The F1 website claims the initiative to promote diversity and support other social causes to use the sports influence to make a meaningful impact. This somewhat outlined drivers roles as ambassadors as well as sportsmen.

Lewis Hamilton and many of the other drivers demonstrated this when they stood up to racism during the height of the BLM movement back in 2020. Hamilton was initially critical of F1’s lack of action around BLM, their response to this was to set up the previously mentioned initiative. This saw the pride colours on cars, Black Lives Matter t-shirts on tracks and many other ways of displaying this new sense of solidarity.

However, this is something the FIA have been keen to curbthis season. The governing body of F1 have made an effort to stop drivers from making political statements, particularly at F1 related events. In the words of the FIA, drivers can "express their views on any political, religious or personal matter" in "their own space", however may face sanctions if they express these views whilst on the track, unless there are “exceptional circumstances”. Even in these cases drivers must submit their proposed statements four weeks in advance to the FIA.

This is a rule the body were forced to clarify after Hamilton and others were critical of the new law. Hamilton even explicitly said he will defy the law and that the new rule will not stop him from speaking out.

This may still mean that drivers are less likely to be vocal on criticising countries that the races take place, which usually would be subject to comments regarding human rights laws. This punishment for speaking up has been in place throughout this season and will undoubtably remain for the coming seasons, as the FIA try to separate the spheres of politics and sport.

However, I think comments like this show that ‘politics’ is almost entirely unavoidable. This may be due to my background as a student who studies politics, but at the start of the season when the drivers were asked if they felt safe racing in certain countries, answers even had to be censored there. The FIA’s role in taking away the voices of those who have powerful platforms into discourse where awareness needs raising, in my opinion, is entirely harmful to the sport and is a regressive idea. In a world where minorities are still under attack, those who wish to use their voices for influence should have every right to use their platforms to advocate for positive change.