Saudi Arabia added to 2021 calender

[TheDeuce]

patmahe said:

Not trying to be all virtue signally about this but I don't think F1 should be going to places with such a poor record regarding human rights. I'm choosing not to watch this race even though I'm an F1 fanatic and loving the 2021 season. The line has to be drawn somewhere and viewership figures (money) are the only language the organisers seem to understand.

F1 can paint this any way they want but it's a money decision plain and simple.

The middle east is fked up in many ways by western standards. Why don't you want F1 to go there as a beacon and motivator for change? Don't you think a few young and confused people in Qatar might have been influenced and bolstered by Lewis's LGBT whatever helmet this weekend gone? Or the local girls watching the race and seeing female's working alongside males in the garages?

It's fine to show displeasure at what goes on in the ME region, but it's plain selfish imo to argue to keep western influence out of that region - if you agree western ways are better, you should support sharing and spreading of those ways. You can't do that without actually going to other places..

[TheDeuce]

mick987 said:

LM240 said:

Schermerhorn said:

patmahe said:

Not trying to be all virtue signally about this but I don't think F1 should be going to places with such a poor record regarding human rights. I'm choosing not to watch this race even though I'm an F1 fanatic and loving the 2021 season. The line has to be drawn somewhere and viewership figures (money) are the only language the organisers seem to understand.

F1 can paint this any way they want but it's a money decision plain and simple.

So is China. Their campaign against the Uhyguirs has not stopped.....

So is Bahrain. Remember when F1 boycotted the race over the Arab Spring only to return a year later?

So is the UAE and their slave-built empire...

So is Narco-Mexico.


F1 will always prostitute itself to the highest bidder.

Or are we being selectively outraged depending on which country it is?

If it’s a moral stand, don’t dig too deep or you’ll probably find reason not to watch a race anywhere.

Plus remember, no one will know/care you’re not watching or have any impact other than robbing yourself of your own interest.

We should ban F1 they use petrol and oil, have no women drivers, have no trans drivers and don't get me started on the lack of gay midget drivers.

Also.. They've only gone and stuck a token black guy in one of the cars despite having no talent...

Joking aside - it does fascinate me that me that one of the most meritorious, gender and race neutral sports on the planet, going to less awakened parts of the world is somehow seen as a bad thing. The only reason the west is so open minded about equality is because multiple travelling and invading forces have proven that the domestic way of thinking is not always the best.. So, duh, obviously if we think Western culture is more palatable than eastern culture, go to the east and share our culture over there.

I'm well aware that the Mid east are prone to use such sports to 'wash' themselves of various other less globally accepted practices. But that intent doesn't actually mean there is not value from sharing sports and, thus, culture.

[TheDeuce]

jsf said:

I dont recall Emily pankhurst invading the UK.

Lasting social change comes about by internal pressure and desires.

And where do internal desires come from..? At least in part it has to be from what the people witness as a different way of living life.

I'd never claim a big, or even measurable effect from that all western sports, let alone just F1 can do. But showing women at work alongside men working on the cars, and Lewis with whatever 'message' he selects next week, can only help in some small way to set minds thinking. It's not about attributing F1 with anything specific at all, it's about a general willingness to take opportunities to share and influence cultures in general.

There is certainly no reason for western sports to NOT go to such places. At worst they will have a fractional positive effect. At best, they will raise headlines about only going there in the first place because the receiving country wishes to sports-wash. Either way, I'd vote to keep going to such places.

[TheDeuce]

I think it must be about time for the official thread Piginapoke... ?

[TheDeuce]

patmahe said:

Schermerhorn said:

patmahe said:

Not trying to be all virtue signally about this but I don't think F1 should be going to places with such a poor record regarding human rights. I'm choosing not to watch this race even though I'm an F1 fanatic and loving the 2021 season. The line has to be drawn somewhere and viewership figures (money) are the only language the organisers seem to understand.

F1 can paint this any way they want but it's a money decision plain and simple.

So is China. Their campaign against the Uhyguirs has not stopped.....

So is Bahrain. Remember when F1 boycotted the race over the Arab Spring only to return a year later?

So is the UAE and their slave-built empire...

So is Narco-Mexico.

F1 will always prostitute itself to the highest bidder.

Or are we being selectively outraged depending on which country it is?

Yeah, I get what you're saying, but F1 needs to decide what it stands for, no point having 1.6 V6 hybrids claiming they are ultra efficient and environmentally friendly and having 'we race as one' as a thing and then going somewhere like Saudi, with its oil money and questionable human rights record.

I know some will claim it's a force for change and I did like Lewis' stance with his rainbow crash helmet in Qatar, but if F1 really wants to be clean cut it needs to decide that once and for all.

What's not clean cut? F1 has the power to do a little to change views, why should it not go to places where that might be useful?

Why does it matter at all what is uncomfortable about certain countries on the calendar, so long as F1 doesn't make anything worse but can perhaps have a small positive effect longer term.

[TheDeuce]

Ash_ said:

Let's not kid ourselves and believe what's been said by the FIA that they're going there to "change views", their presence will have little impact and they know this, they're going there because they're being paid a ton of cash, no other reason at all. To think otherwise IMO is deluded.

No one has even mentioned what the FIA or F1 say about why they're going. Who cares what their motivation is!? We're talking about whether it's actually a good or bad thing, not how the PR people choose to sell it.