The way the allegations of sexual harassment and it’s larger implications about the treatment of team employees were handled on throughout the start of this race weekend have been appalling from all corners. No one referenced the sadly all too familiar situation unfolding at Red Bull, the total lack of transparency, or even a conversation on how situations like this can and should be handled in a fair and transparent manner directly. No, they framed it as “drama,” “distractions,” the emphasis on media speculation and the impact on Red Bull’s performance were a pathetically transparent softball for the drivers to dismiss and go about their day. The purposely vague questions mixing crude allusions to Red Bull’s misconduct with speculation about Max moving to Mercedes gave just enough plausible deniability for impressionable if not ill-intentioned fans to defend this driver or that. Though, I will add, there was a noticeable difference, at least on my timeline, in the reactions of some groups. The drivers, with concerningly few exceptions, have taken the bait with glee and in some cases, actual giggles.
I want to preface this by saying that though I may be deeply critical, right now and whenever someone is tone deaf and egotistical as the display we saw today, but I don’t think one comment or situation makes someone this automatic villain. People are a sum of their parts and barring some very extreme exceptions no one bad thing makes someone automatically a horrible person. It’s about the big picture, how it all adds up, patterns.
Lewis’ thoughts really echo my own. I feel terrible for the person who is at the center of this. The situation has almost inevitably been sensationalized online, turned into a meme rather than a worrying sign about the treatment of women in the paddock. It is a sad irony that if Red Bull truly acted in a fair and impartial manner they could have avoided this if they were transparent. Speaking the truth with one voice would have silenced the people from all corners, each with their own agenda, leaking things out bit by bit. Who knows if the leaked messages could have been prevented but a strong denial of their authenticity would have counted for more had they led with honesty. We don’t truly know almost anything about this claim, though there are undoubtedly clear pieces that paint an alarming picture. It is important though, when issues like this arise, that any sport come together and agree that they should be handled the correct way. I don’t have a perfect magical solution as to how to put some kind of system in place so not just for women, but everyone can abuse without fear of retaliation, I have never worked in HR. But this feels very basic, it should not be a revolutionary prospect to advocate that there be a system. Lewis sums it up perfectly:
Lewis Hamilton: “It’s a really, really important time for the sport to show and stick to its values, hold ourselves accountable for our actions, and it’s a really, really pivotal moment for the sport in terms of what we project to the world and how it’s handled … As someone who loves the sport, it’s definitely disappointing to see what’s going on right now, and it definitely doesn’t look good to the outside world, from the outside looking in, and it doesn’t look good looking in,” Hamilton said. “But I hope it’s not a year that it continues to go on with this. It highlights some of the issues we also have in the sport, when we are talking about diversity and inclusion that includes gender, for example, and making people feel comfortable in this environment is key, and that’s clearly not the case.” (The Athletic, 3/6/24)
George was also well spoken, especially considering that Luke Smith set him up perfectly to brush off the “off-track drama” as the others had. He does say that racing needs to be first but definitely underscores that this situation and the larger topic need to be addressed.
Question (Luke Smith – The Athletic): George, I think just to direct Nelson’s question from earlier to you, how do you feel currently about where F1 is at with all of the off-track drama going on? It does feel like there’s a big cloud over the sport with everything going on off-track at the moment. George Russell: Yeah, I think… Well, two things. I feel that the racing needs to be at the forefront of everything. And this is what we all love and what we’re here to fight for. And it’s a shame when that isn’t the forefront of the media attention. But equally, Formula 1 is at the forefront of technology. I think from an entertainment standpoint, I think we’ve been really pushing the boundaries in the last few years. And we do need to create an environment that is inclusive for everybody. We’re seeing the demographic change over the past couple of years, and it does need to be inclusive. So unfortunately, you need to have these hard conversations and questions. And going back to the earlier point, you want to see transparency within all of these reports, because ultimately, until we see the facts, we can’t really comment. But yeah.” (FIA Press Conference, 3/6/24)
What pisses me off is that it’s literally that easy, a generic statement saying some flowery PR version of “workplace harassment is bad” and while I am not running to give George Russell flowers because he stepped over an incredibly low bar (Lewis, while by no means perfect, has done more to make F1 a better place for literally everyone than maybe everyone in history so he can have flowers any day) it feels noteworthy when literally nobody else bar Lewis was able to clear it. The statements varied with the question but they all shared one particularly enraging theme, that the driver in question was just here to race.
Question: “Despite Christian telling us that the team is united, your dad has said that the team risks being torn apart if Christian stays on in his role. Is your dad right? Do you agree?” Max Verstappen: “Well from my side I’m just focusing on the driving bit. I think that is also the most important for the team right now and that’s also why we came here and that’s our main target and also what we want to focus on you know to not to have this stuff going on race after race, because that’s not good for the team.” (Video via Nini @scuderiafemboy, 3/6/24)
Max’s answers have been shockingly vague, while I have criticisms about Max’s refusal to address the situation directly I do acknowledge that the questions he is asked are all trying to pin him down specifically on if he thinks Horner can still lead the team. While Max has no shortage of options career-wise it is also true that both he and even more so Checo, as employees of a company who just retaliated against an employee that spoke out, are in a tenuous situation.
Question: [asked directly by the media as to whether Christian Horner has his backing to continue as Red Bull Team Principal.] Sergio Perez: “Yes, he does, and I think not only my support but, the full team is fully behind him. He’s obviously a very important person in our organization, and the job that he’s done over the years, speaks for themselves. And I think Christian is a key team player in this organization. And I think he’s fully focused on the racing side. At the end of the day, I’m a racing driver and that’s what I’m here to do. I don’t get into politics, I drive the car as quickly as I can, as fast as I can. I prepare the very best I can. Then I go home, and I have a life out of this sport. I’ve never been really part of what’s going on, outside of the sport. So, my main focus is to deliver on track.” (Pit Debrief, 3/7/24)
In addition to a full throated defense of Horner, he touches on another theme that I found honestly astonishing. The idea that this happened “outside the sport” is raised by a few of the drivers who gave particularly insidious comments and is laughably false. This occurred between two members of a Formula 1 team, it is literally workplace harassment. This took place very much in the sport.
Daniel also backed Horner and he, unlike others we will get to momentarily, did not say he didn’t care about how his female co-workers were treated or harassment allegations are handled. No, he went a step further admitting that he did care, in fact he “hoped” that the “distraction” would go away.
Question: “You know the family Red Bull very very good, do you think that all these things, dirty things, can destabilize a team like this one.” Daniel Ricciardo: “Look it’s…you always, you want things to be smoother than they are, of course. Right now there is a lot of noise and distraction, no doubt. Look, the way they performed last week…[giggles] you would think – For them to be able to still focus on business on-track, that is also a big strength of theirs. Hopefully, these things start to slowly go away, and they could just focus on being a racing team. But of course, for the drivers as well it’s not always easy, but I think they did a good job in handling this.” (@scuder16ferrari, 3/6/24)
When you think about the bordering on criminal way that allegations of workplace harassment have been handled by Red Bull, when you watch how it unfolds, how this person is treated, please remember that Daniel Ricciardo thinks they did a good job.
Before I dive into my main point I need to cover Charles. His comments don’t really fit into the larger point I am making but there if I don’t everyone will think I am letting him off the hook because I root for him. This is not the case, I am also enraged at him and there is a separate point to be made so we shall take a detour. He did get a weird question, it was framed in the context of a potential advantage over Red Bull. In that respect I do think he answered as anyone would have, that he wants to win on merit and not because of this.
Question: Charles there is also another element that could play in your favor, it is the atmosphere that is deteriorating at Red Bull whether we want it or not, with everything that is happening, at your it is more serene. At some point in the season this could play a part, no? Charles Leclerc: “Yes but then it is not necessarily… I mean, me I simply want to win fair and square on the track and to reach that goal we need to focus on ourselves and try to understand what the things to improve on the car are and on this we’re fully focused on what we need to do, on our weaknesses, on the weaknesses of the car. But once again, as I was saying in Bahrain, we’re already very clear on what the things to improve on the car are and we’re in a positive spiral with the team these days. Since the second part of last season, we really identified where we need to work and we immediately saw improvements and we need to do the same now.” (Translation by Nell @flashleclerc, 3/7/24)
His immediate pivot to the car is practiced and he dodges the larger question well but for those who have been watching for a while it was obvious. Because it is familiar. Charles made a choice to say nothing and he has done so before. While he’s happy to show up to the officially mandated events and hold a sign or paint a bee house or to say he supports [insert whoevers month it is here] but he has repeatedly refused to stand up for what is right within the sport. Once someone in the paddock, a context where his word as a driver holds weight, speaks out against abuse or harassment the platitudes are nowhere to be found. It’s cowardly and small and I find myself disappointed but not surprised.
What actually did shock me however, was the extent to which some of the drivers questioned were willing to so brazenly say the quiet part out loud. Asked about everyone talking about “what happens off track,” Valtteri and Lance emphasized they were only here to drive, Valtteri continuing that he was here to do his job which, considering the nature of the allegations, is particularly tone deaf. But unlike Lance, who merely implied by saying that he dosen’t give a flying fuck about the people who work tirelessly to make it possible for you to drive that car, Nico Hulkenberg really laid it out for us during the press conference.
Question (Nelson Valkenburg – Viaplay): Question for Lance and for Valtteri. F1 currently is experiencing a moment that everybody’s talking about a lot more what happens off track than on. As a driver, how do you look at that and is this healthy for F1, for you both? Lance Stroll: I just like driving cars. Valtteri Bottas: Yeah, same for me. In the end, we are here to do our job, which is what we love, which is to race. And there’s always talk in this sport, sometimes more, sometimes less. I feel like this year, off track, maybe a bit much. But I mean, if people read those things, then it’s a good thing for the media, right? Question: Nico, let’s bring you in on this. What do you think? Nico Hulkenberg: The stuff that happens in the paddock right now? Obviously, I’m not really affected. I read it, I see it, but I think we are, when you’re active, you’re so focused on what you do that you don’t really buy into it. Obviously, I’m not up there, so I’m even less affected. I don’t really have an interest or an agenda there. So, yeah, not much to say. (FIA Press Conference, 3/6/24)
They don’t care because it doesn’t impact them. Really laying out the basic lack of empathy and illustrating why this type of work environment is so pervasive: most men don’t give a fuck. Nico Hulkenberg certainly doesn’t.
The one who articulated most clearly the point they are all alluding to here is Lando Norris. It’s not surprising from the man bold enough to defend Nikita Mazepin against the backlash he received for an Instagram video of him sexually assaulting a woman. Or one who doubled down on his pro-groping stance when he spoke out against banning fans who had assaulted female spectators, shouted racist and homophobic slurs, and were generally threatening. Lando Norris never misses a chance to get behind perpetrators of violence and harassment towards women and today was no exception.
Question: [Lando Norris was asked for his opinion on where the sport is at the moment.] Lando Norris: “I mean, thankfully, I’m not in any of it. So, I’m ok. There is noise. It’s definitely not, I think, what we should have as a sport. It should only be about racing and what drivers do between one another when we’re at the tracks. I don’t think the sport should be interrupted by what happens away from the circuit. That’s got nothing to do with racing. So, that can be a headline somewhere else, but it shouldn’t impact what the chatter is or why I shouldn’t be getting asked about what happens in people’s private lives. It’s got nothing to do with me. So, I try and stay out of it as much as possible. It’s got nothing to do with me, it shouldn’t. It’s not why I’m here. So yes, I guess it distracts it and people want headlines and stuff. But it’s got nothing to do with Formula One and it’s got nothing to do with McLaren and myself. Which is also a good thing because it allows us to focus on what we want to do. But as a sport, it shouldn’t be something that happens either.” (Pit Debrief, 3/7/24)
I would like to once again note that this was not his “private life” but literal workplace harassment, coincidentally YOUR WORKPLACE Lando Norris. Like Hulkenberg he says the quiet part out loud, it doesn’t affect him so he doesn’t care. However, the most stomach churning part of these remarks is something that nearly every single one of them said in some form or another, “it should only be about racing,” about what happens on track. Lando just said what the rest of them alluded to. That the safety and welfare of women that work in the paddock has “got nothing to do with racing.” Urging that the focus be on “what drivers do between one another when we’re at the tracks.” There is very little that can shock me in these situations, I am not naive, the implication of “I only care about driving” was never lost on me, but to say it so directly is stunning.
These people are the ones who build the car, who make sure that car gets to the track and has all of the things it needs to run. They are the ones who produce the content for the sponsors that pay for that car. The F1 paddock does not magically spawn on Wednesday night, perfectly equipped with 20 cars sitting in their garages ready to go. It’s people that make that happen, people who are so passionate about racing that they do a job that demands total dedication, late nights, an insane amount of travel, months of the year away from their families, all so these drivers can “drive cars” as Lance so eloquently put it. I wouldn’t expect anyone raised with a silver spoon shoved so far up their ass to have any kind of gratitude toward the hundreds of people who make their passion possible but the inevitability of the betrayal never makes me any less angry at the men who so brazenly enable the vile actions of their peers.
All of these drivers, every single one, know how important the team and the people who work around them are to what happens on track. You can hear it in any post race interview. They know that what happens on track is directly tied to the efforts of the hundreds of people working behind the scenes and they are happy to emphasize this, emphasize their gratitude when those people help them shine. It’s a different story though when it comes to the ability for those people to do their job safely and without harassment. Then they only care about what happens on track. They’re here to focus on racing which is suddenly now detached from the people and the work it takes to allow them to do that. Selfish does not even begin to describe how egocentric one must be to truly not care about the people whose entire job it is to help you succeed. It reveals how empty those post-race comments really are.
Finally, I just want to maybe end on a hopeful note, because the world is awful but there are good people in it. I have met so many amazing people and gotten to do so many amazing things through Formula 1 and through sports in general. This has disenfranchised so many people, and to those for who this whole thing hits a little too close to home my heart truly goes out to you. I relate, when things like this happen it all feels hopeless. It feels like things will never change. It feels like I am 15 again arguing about Ben Roethlisberger or how women at ESPN shouldn’t be forced to sleep with executives for a promotion. I have been a sports fan my whole life and that entire time it has been very clear that it was not a safe space for women. But this is where I want to address a separate group of people, the ones whose snide response is something along the lines of “well why are you here then.” Why support F1 if they don’t give a fuck? Because nobody does, this is not a problem unique to F1, it’s in the NFL, it’s in every sports league, every boardroom, every nation’s capital, and the firehouse of every tiny town across America. IT’S EVERYWHERE. There is nowhere for us to hide even if I wanted to, but I don’t. I’m not going anywhere, I’m going to be here, I’m going to be loud and annoying, and anyone who doesn’t like it can die mad.
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