The FIA has come under fire from various important figures after they announced the change a change in the regulations that will ban political gestures from the sport unless they have been approved by the FIA.
Liberal Democrat life peer Paul Scriven has been very vocal about his concern surrounding this new rule, suggesting that Lewis Hamilton is being specifically targeted and silenced by the FIA.
Scriven believes that the FIA are trying to silence their drivers in order to maintain strong relationships with host countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, who have come under fire for their atrocious human rights records.
Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas has claimed that while politics is not something that he is interested in, it is part of modern society and therefore drivers should be free to express what they believe in.
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Former F1 driver David Coulthard has now come out to defend the FIA’s new rule change, suggesting that the drivers are extremely lucky to be in the position that they are.
“Sport is watched by millions of people all over the world and therefore it can be used as a platform to do something good,” he told Expressen.
“But as an athlete, you are also very lucky to get paid to do things that others would do for nothing at all. And it’s a bit like an acceptance speech at the Oscars. If everyone uses the same opportunity to make a political statement, there is no issue that is not important to someone.
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“So we either have to mention everything, or maybe it’s better not to say anything at all and concentrate on the sport. I understand that there are people who promote freedom of speech and all that, and that is absolutely an important thing to keep in mind, but I also think that we have to remember that it is the sporting rules that we are talking about, not some political regulation.”
When asked about his thoughts on Lewis Hamilton potentially being silence, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has urged people to give the regulations time to see how everything pans out.
The Austrian claims that every interaction between the FIA and Hamilton has ended positively, leading him to believe that the FIA have the drivers’ best interests in mind.