The rise in popularity of Formula 1 in recent years has been accompanied by a wide diversity of opinion among fans for or against certain drivers, especially on social media.
George Russell cited a real example to put the press on the spot: a fan booed him for no apparent reason during the Canadian Grand Prix parade.
“I think that as your fame increases, there are a lot of positives, for sure, but also negatives, which are not easy to assimilate. In Montreal, someone shouted my name and booed me.
“I was sitting in the car during the drivers’ parade and it’s quite difficult to understand that this 35 or 40-year-old guy is booing me when I don’t even know him. put on a good show and be polite to absolutely everyone.
“There are things that we have to get used to and that, unfortunately, this is the world and the society that we live in. And obviously this is another example of something that we have to eradicate.”
“Who gives this guy the right to insult someone? What right do football fans have to boo the players? They are just doing their job. And I think this is an aspect that a lot of people don’t appreciate from this position. “.
The director of the GPDA also showed his support for the messages against racism that emerged in the Formula 1 environment as a result of the recent controversies between Nelson Piquet and Juri Vips.
“I think it’s clear that we all need to do more to end the racism that exists not only in the motor world, but in society,” he said. “And I think it goes beyond this: all the insults that people also receive on the Internet.”
“I think it’s great to see so many people coming together, showing their points of view. And I think we all have a duty to do something more. It’s amazing to see in these times that we’re still doing this.”
Asked if he thought F1’s statement on the matter was enough, he questioned why the anti-racism knee-to-the-ground gesture had been stopped before every race.
“I don’t think anything is good enough,” he said. “I haven’t seen the statement from F1 itself. So I can’t comment on that, but I think it’s been two years since the first race of 2020 where we all took a knee in Austria.
“And when they made the decision to stop this gesture, many people thought ‘why are we stopping?’
“This week we have been able to see it from two different ends, one from someone who would say that he is stuck in his ways, from an older generation, but also from the perspective of a young boy. I think we have to do something more about it.”
Asked if the GPDA will call for the return of the knee gesture, he said: “I’m not quite sure what we’ll be doing exactly, but yes, I do think there are conversations we need to have and talk to each other about using our platform for the greater good.” “.
“I think we’ve talked a lot about this in the last two years, whether it’s about mental health, racism or insults on social media, but we’re just racing drivers, we’re not politicians or anything like that.”
