04 ISSUE IV
MARCH 2025
MARCH 2025
Formula One’s Power Politics
Formula One has always had big names, but Lewis Hamilton stands out, refusing to conform and always challenging the status quo.
By Ivan Pech
When the lights went out in Melbourne, Australia on March 16th, it marked a historic moment. March ushers in Spring and the new start of the 24-race craziness that is Formula One, deemed the most glamorous sport. Melbourne is its first stop. The chase is now on for who the champion of open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars is. This year also marks the 75th year of Formula One, so there is much to celebrate.
All this is accompanied by a media frenzy. Apart from a glamorous launch in London attended by all the teams and top drivers, the championship is the subject of a thinly veiled dramatization in “F1,” a new film starring Brad Pitt and Damson Idris, that comes out later in 2025. Meanwhile, the wildly successful Netflix series “Drive to Survive” dropped its seventh season, breaking records again.
Like many global sports, Formula One is increasingly entangled in soft power politics, with its direction shaped by governments with the deepest pockets and not the Liberty Group, F1’s parent company of rich European and American businessmen, or the sport’s controlling body, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile.
Many authoritarian countries that host the Grand Prix like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, China, and the United Arab Emirates, have been involved in scandals of “sports washing” and have tried to control the media in their favor. In the process, however, they open themselves to international exposure and much heavier media scrutiny than they may usually experience.
In the past, when countries like South Africa, at the height of apartheid, hosted the Grand Prix, sports activists were able to pressure organizers to eventually exclude South Africa as a venue. These days, it has proven harder for the FIA or the Formula One Group to maintain consistency. While the series has banned alcohol and tobacco-related advertisements under pressure from some Gulf hosts and select commercial partners, it continues to build relationships with state-owned companies like Aramco, a Saudi Arabian petroleum giant, and Mission Winnow, an initiative by Philip Morris, the parent company of Marlboro. In the US, Liberty Group has been reluctant to speak out against police brutality targeting Black men, likely to avoid alienating its predominantly white fanbase. Similarly, it has remained largely silent on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, despite canceling the Russian Grand Prix it hosted for many years.
The FIA has changed the rules on driver behavior to prohibit “political, religious, or personal” statements that have not been previously approved by the FIA. Those that break the rules, risk fines and even the potential of race bans.
The biggest asset, but also the biggest headache for the FIA’s cowardice is the Black British driver, Sir Lewis Hamilton. This year, Hamilton will drive for Ferrari, the most decorated team, after twelve years at Mercedes. A force of nature, Hamilton has always done things his way. The winner of seven world championships, he is the only Black driver to have raced in the series and has faced the most intense media scrutiny. A vocal proponent of the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as an outspoken critic of police brutality and systemic racism. In a sport that has been trying its hardest to keep drivers speaking less, Hamilton has decided to be as the engines he races, loud. In interviews before Melbourne, Hamilton was upfront about racism in Italy (black players in Serie A get regularly abused), “old white men” who doubt his skill and drive to win a historical eight championship, and his efforts to make the sport more diverse. In this Lewis stands apart, in contrast to the cowardly behavior of others, especially white European drivers, who have made excuses for racism on the circuit. For example, when retired Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet made racist (“little black guy”) and homophobic comments about Hamilton, Max Verstappen, who is Dutch, said Piquet was not racist and was “a nice and pretty relaxed guy.” Piquet is a supporter of Jair Bolsonaro, the former racist and rightwing president of Brazil. Lewis’ hero Ayrton Senna, was a rival of Piquet.
For some, Ferrari is almost the equivalent of a religion. In Italy, a country obsessed with football, the only thing that rivals this is Ferrari. This marriage brings together a fascinating dynamic, if it goes well, it can be the most successful pairing of all time. Even Italian nationals are not spared the racism by sports fans there, The striker Mario Balotelli has been one of the most affected by this. Hamilton even pointed out in a recent interview that this weighed in his decision-making to join Ferrari. Add to that the general political culture in Italy, characterized by anti-migration, violence towards black and brown people, and an openly far-right governing coalition.
Perhaps more powerful than Hamilton's very public criticism of racism and his efforts to address the lack of diversity in sports, including its media representation, has been his outspoken critique of the sport’s ties to regimes with questionable ethics and its role in facilitating sportswashing. This may very well be his greatest achievement. In a sport where the biggest stars have largely chosen to comply with the FIA’s norms, Hamilton stands apart. Much like German driver Sebastian Vettel, he rejects the notion that the Grand Prix has contributed to improvements in human rights. Discussing racing in Saudi Arabia, Hamilton has said: "I can’t say whether or not I know if it has got worse, but I’m not sure it has got better while we’ve been coming all these years. Regardless of the circumstances, Hamilton remains unwavering in his commitment to push for accountability and change, fighting for what he believes in, even when the odds are stacked against him.
Ivan Pech is completing an MA in International Affairs at The New School.