Last Sunday at the Hungaroring, four drivers were punished with a reprimand for wearing protest shirts during the performance of the national anthem. Sebastian Vettel was especially the protagonist.
Since last year, the Formula 1 celebrates a small act of vindication against racism and in favor of equality and diversity before the start of the race and the performance of the anthem.
But, while in said act allows to wear any type of shirtDuring the anthem, the pilots are obliged to show only their competition jumpsuit to avoid any type of message associated with the host country.
However, last Sunday at the Hungaroring four riders did not remove their shirts: Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel, the latter wearing a t-shirt in support of the LGTBI + collective.
“Obviously, it is not up to us to make the law, that is not our role. But we simply express our support to those who are affected by it. “The German said the previous Thursday as a preface to a particularly significant claim in Hungary, a country in which discriminatory laws have been passed towards said group.
After being called to testify by the stewards, Vettel said that “I would be happy if they disqualify me for wearing the shirt. They can do what they want with me, I don’t care. I would do it again”.
Reprimand
Subsequently, all the drivers involved argued that since it was a wet race the protocols were much more complex and they did not have time to remove their shirts. Finally, the FIA He sanctioned the four with a reprimand without any effect on the sporting level.
Lewis hamilton, the main promoter of the involvement of Formula 1 in social demands, later spoke about what happened, noting that he considers “Wonderful that Seb took that stance this weekend to speak up for members of the LGBTQ + community here”.
I talked about it at the beginning of the weekend. I think it was important that he did. You probably won’t have too much trouble, but we need to get noticed. We are promoting diversity and inclusion, and that community, 100%, is in that group. I am proud of him for what he did., settled Hamilton.