#Solidarity GP 2024

[42bakery]

Wait Dani AND Jorge are both in the commentary booth?

[maxedes]

getting disqualified because their team can‘t do math

[hyacinthsdiamonds]

If Max still has to do community service, can he please be assigned to pick up the trash? Because someone has to rid f1 of these biased stewards and the FIA's inconsistent bull shit.

[slythereen]

charles heard yall trying to let the 455 camp have max and said NOT TODAY!

[amityandeir]

I'm gonna be honest this isn't the top 3 I was hoping for here, but I'm keeping my hopes for a good showing from Oscar.

Let's hope that race gets insane tomorrow

Max and Charles once again being flop husbands together

[eirianerisdar]

Tried to get a screenshot of Rebecca and Alexandra holding hands but it was literally 0.5 seconds long

[scudevils]

alex is NAWT happy with this williams team

[bunnytalksf1]

This is not about swearing, this is about sanitised sport

One of the biggest stories coming out of Singapore this year was that, on the Thursday, FIA President Ben Sulayem made comments about the drivers swearing and said "we are not rappers", which Lewis Hamilton then rightfully pointed out that in that language there was an element of racism.

Whilst it was widely understood to be about language used on team radios during races, the immediate follow-up to these comments was a reprimand for Max Verstappen following a comment in a Thursday press conference where he referred to his car as "fucked".

To me, this felt like a kneejerk reaction and making an example of Verstappen to cement that they weren't joking about the earlier comments of swearing. The reprimand itself isn't a new one: Verstappen has had to do "community service" before, for the fight with Ocon, but a lot of fans simply don't remember it. It was definitely more deserved in that scenario, given F1 doesn't want to let its athletes fight each other after collisions on track.

Everything that followed was the interesting part.

Verstappen, upon qualifying in P2, proceeded to boycott the press conference. He only gave one or two word answers the whole time, and in a show of solidarity with the actual press, he answered their questions outside of the press room and the TV pen, in the middle of the paddock.

A lot of the commentary I've seen on this is just it's funny. Which it is, but its also a legitimate form of protest against an unreasonable reprimand, whilst not harming the other people who work within the sport itself as a consequence. It shows a level of awareness from Verstappen/RBR that the reporters and journalists rely on his comments for their articles, and that their fight is not with them, but with the FIA. It's targeted, and in my opinion, pretty brilliant.

But this isn't about Verstappen.

Collectively, we forget that professional athletes are working class, regardless of the tax bracket that they occupy. Even though Verstappen is rich enough and has enough security in his position in the sport to quit without looking back, a lot of other drivers aren't as lucky. In recent history, we only have to look to Sargeant, replaced mid-season, and now to Ricciardo. The drivers' union, the GPDA (Grand Prix Drivers' Association), is so, so important not only for safety, but for athletes' quality of life within the sport.

The FIA sets the boundaries. To the sport in general, the drivers are what sells, what makes running it commercially viable. They generate the vast majority of the sport's income, whether through the actual act of their driving or through interacting with fans and the media. As far as Liberty Media and the FIA are concerned, the drivers are the profitable commodity that keeps the sport running, except they're not a product. They're people. The FIA, particularly in recent years, has sought greater and greater control over its athletes, what they say and what they do, the interactions they have, and because of social media, often what they do in their private lives.

This is particularly prevalent in regards to political statements, which are now banned altogether during a race weekend, but only for drivers themselves, since McLaren, with no consequence, was allowed to invite an active political candidate into their garage during the 2024 Miami GP.

The bans on political statements came after a few instances in 2020/21 where drivers took the knee and and wore shirts with messages in support of equality. This was, to my knowledge, lead and organised by Lewis Hamilton.

A lot of people want sport and politics seperated. This is not possible. Sport is and always will be political by its existence. Athletes in general, not just in F1 or motorsport, have very little stablity in their positions, their contracts and in their sport. It is not a career that they can keep all their lives. In particular, in motorsport, the drivers rely on their teams for the ability to perform and do their jobs. They often don't keep their own trophies, and have to have replicas made when they win races.

Their identities, and their words in press conferences, have become a commodity to the sport. It drives income. But in this instance, the drivers in general have the ability to push back against the clamp down on expression by boycotting and not giving the FIA the control over what they say, whilst withholding income and revenue from them, too.

Whilst the GPDA is mainly focussed on safety, as the FIA tries to clamp down on and control the drivers, Verstappen's boycott is a brilliant act of protest, and I hope the other athletes follow suit, as this is about preserving the ability to maintain an individual identity within their sport and what is effectively their workplace.

Because for now its swearing, but it demonstrates a dangerous precedence about how much the FIA is allowed to reprimand or fine drivers for simply saying things they don't like, including criticism of the governing body, which is vital to give these athletes agency.

[42bakery]

Did Alonso really say that he's going to fuck Fermín up later?

I'm not making this shit up. Alonso really said is:'Lo que no sabe es que voy a ir más tarde a joderle' which translates as 'what he doesn't know is that I'll go and fuck/screw/bother him later'.

[subaru-copilot]

we’ve been mutuals for like nearly a day so im taking this as permission to invade your ask box and ask who r ur top five fav f1 drivers and why ….

heyyy 👋 so I'll have to be honest and say that above everything else I'm fan of the entertainment, narratives, chaos, and etc.

With that being said:

1. Max Verstappen: He's the reason I started to watch F1, and I'm really afraid that I've cursed the entire RBR team with my cold feet (the first race I've watched was Miami GP 2024!)

2. Oscar Piastri: He was the first driver that I payed attention (besides Max), I didn't even knew who he was (age, looks, nationality) but he was such a poor thing in the Miami GP that I just felt like i would avenge him from this point forward. And then the race ended and he was just a little guy!!! Won my heart and my care. (Also I too was born in 2001 so I think that my solidarity gets bigger cause of this (?))

3. Sebastian Vettel: He's a menace.

4. Mika Häkkinen: He's the sweetest angel of the entire earth.

5. Alain Prost: I think that, as a Brazilian, to say this is kinda of a heresy by itself, so I won't elaborate and incriminate myself any further.

[maxedes]

george swearing on the radio to proof that he has more in him than crikey🙂‍↕️

[42bakery]

Peak sibling rivalry, choose something you are good to compete against your brother.

DAZN has promised a special content with Pol and Aleix, and Pol said padel or tennis because he can win and Aleix said better cycling because he can win

[42bakery]

Maverick put his 2013 winning bike for auction for Valencia?

[42bakery]

Dumb question, but who would Morbidelli help in the tittle fight? His teammate Martín (team orders) or his friend (Academy power)? Because so far, Ducati doesn't care who is the winner

[42bakery]

Tyres are struggling to get heat. I knew Barcelona in November was a terrible idea

[42bakery]

False alarm, it's only Dani, but I swear I heard Jorge's voice

Wait Dani AND Jorge are both in the commentary booth?