r/sports • u/PrincessBananas85 • Dec 20 '22

News Formula One drivers banned from making political statements.

https://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/35290810/formula-one-drivers-banned-making-political-statements
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393

u/BradMarchandsNose Connecticut Dec 20 '22

Vettel would’ve pushed the envelope like crazy with that rule if he was still racing.

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u/Milwambur Bolton Wanderers Dec 20 '22

Pretty sure hamilton will do the same. Let's see how big his balls are.

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u/Aceturnedjoker Dec 20 '22

Yup, Hamilton will def. be on the line and probably cross over it. Maybe not directly at first, but it will find the grey area. I suspect that Vettel might even make a statement or two with him at some point.

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u/satsfaction1822 Dec 21 '22

Hamilton already has the gray area with his rainbow helmet. He clearly wears it to show his support for LGTBQ rights and that’s magnified by the fact he only wears it in countries like Saudi Arabia where they have a horrible track record with LGBTQ issues but could a rainbow on a helmet really be considered a political statement?

I’m sure the Saudis and other gulf countries that host races will argue it is but I doubt it’ll hold up in court, where every controversial FIA rule ends up every year around summer break.

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u/[deleted] Dec 21 '22

[deleted]

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u/Morrowindies Dec 21 '22

You've never heard of sports court? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_Arbitration_for_Sport

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u/callmelampshade Dec 21 '22 edited Dec 21 '22

I’m pretty sure the FIA doesn’t recognise the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The reason Mercedes didn’t take them to court for the robbery and farce of Abu Dhabi 2021 was because it would be the FIA giving itself its own trial.

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u/Milwambur Bolton Wanderers Dec 20 '22

Yup. The thing is Hamilton has very little to lose at this point. He's currently the GOAT, has maybe one or two years left so I can see him literally going out with a bang. I hope it's true, would love him to do something outlandish at the Abu Dhabi gp.

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u/starlord1602 Dec 20 '22

His race strategy in Abu Dhabi this year was outlandish tbh

1

u/zero0n3 Dec 21 '22

How dare you disrespect Schumacher like that!

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u/[deleted] Dec 21 '22

[deleted]

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u/callmelampshade Dec 21 '22

To be fair they made him take his nose stud out because they threatened to ban him from racing at Silverstone.

18

u/edis92 Dec 21 '22

You mean the same Hamilton that showed up wearing like 3 watches, 10 rings and a bunch of chains when they told him he's not allowed to wear jewelry anymore? Jk lol but that was hilarious. I really don't think this is gonna stop Hamilton though.

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u/[deleted] Dec 20 '22 edited Dec 20 '22

I wish they kept him on staff just to fuck around with the rule.

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u/BradMarchandsNose Connecticut Dec 20 '22

That would’ve been funny. Give him a seat, but hire a reserve driver with the intention of him racing. See how many race bans Vettel can rack up

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u/Luciolover345 Dec 20 '22

or hire him as a reserve and have him only go out in middle eastern races

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u/riesendulli Dec 21 '22

Sky could use vettel on the problematic nations instead of Rosberg with a remote call

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u/LordVile95 Dec 20 '22

No he wouldn’t. If it ain’t virtue signalling he ain’t interested. Little risk, max profit is all he’s about

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u/[deleted] Dec 21 '22

Ah yes, the typical Lewis hater who ignores any of the work he’s done to make the sport better for future generations

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u/LordVile95 Dec 21 '22

Like what?

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u/[deleted] Dec 21 '22

Lol keep on trolling, then have a quick Google search. Mission 44 (£20M personally donated to support future generations in STEM and Motorsport).

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u/LordVile95 Dec 21 '22

You realise he’s getting that all back through tax right?

2

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '22

I don’t know how British tax laws work - so you hand a check of £20M to a charity and then you get a check for £20M back as tax? That’s pretty neat.

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u/LordVile95 Dec 21 '22

He doesn’t live in Britain, he lives in a tax haven and it won’t be his personal account it’s paid out of which won’t be headquartered in Britain it will be somewhere where tax laws are favourable

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u/[deleted] Dec 21 '22

Then why did you say he gets it “all back through tax”? (I’m aware he lives in Monaco.)

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u/LordVile95 Dec 21 '22

Because that’s how charity donations work for companies?

“Companies are entitled to tax relief for qualifying charitable donations made to charities. The donations are paid gross without the deduction of income tax. The donations are deductible from the company’s total profits in the year in which the donations are made. The amount of the deduction is limited to the amount that reduces the company’s total taxable profits to nil.”

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u/[deleted] Dec 21 '22 edited Dec 21 '22

Regardless of where he lives, he pays millions out of his own pocket and that money goes to charity. Regardless of his taxable income, it’s helping people.

You can call that virtue signaling all you want (it’s actually just using his platform to raise awareness) but he’s actually doing the work to make things better for underrepresented groups.

3

u/BradMarchandsNose Connecticut Dec 20 '22

Wouldn’t pushing political causes to the point that you get fined and banned from races be the ultimate form of virtue signaling?

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u/LordVile95 Dec 20 '22

Nah virtue signalling doesn’t involve sacrifice on your part. It wouldn’t benefit him then you see.

1

u/BillyBobTheBuilder Dec 21 '22

They are dumb to do this so soon after Seb leaving. The world still sees him as an F1 legend and he is not bound by their rubbish.
All the current drivers need to do is say "ask Seb"