I haven’t been mentally great the last few months, and have been burying myself in my interests. Or, the ones I have focus for. Formula 1 is one of the things I throughly enjoy, I have done since I was little. Like, one of my favourite computer games from my childhood was Nigel Mansell’s World Championship Racing for the Game Boy. I remember watching Nigel Mansell on the TV, and thought he was so cool. I have been a fan of formula 1 since then. As, I got older, I went from being a general fan, to supporting all the drivers, but liking McLaren as a team. And, after watching some of the feeder series in the mid-to-late 2010s, I started following Lando Norris. And was thrilled when he joined the McLaren junior driver program. Never really thought I’d be here in October 2025, where McLaren have won the F1 championship, and Lando, and his team-mate Oscar Piastri, are close to winning the driver’s championship.
I am from an era where social media was MySpace and Bebo. Where special interests were discussed at great lengths on web forums, with deep dives of particular tracks, teams or drivers. Yes, there were arguments, but if things became too intense, members would get warnings off admins. If a user got repeat warnings, they would end up banned from the forum. The admins were just forum users who had shown good behaviour towards other members, and showed good behaviour. A bit like mods on twitch streams. It was basically the members keeping each other in-line, and making sure that there was no abusive behaviour. It worked really well, mostly. There were always people who would cry about the FIA favouring certain drivers, and teams. But, usually these chats would be argumentative, but nothing too severe.
Now, it feels like every fan space is the same. They exist on pre-existing social media services. Stuff like TikTok, Facebook, Threads, Twitter (X), there is quite a few. The big issue, I find, is that there has been a big shift in how content is moderated. There is has been a shift away from community self-moderation, towards the social media companies doing it instead, relying on AI to enforce the rules. What this has lead to is something rather inefficient. Where social media companies remove posts, and even accounts, because of something like improper word use (e.g. the word ‘gross’), whereas actual threatening behaviour is reported, and nothing is done.
It is like any existing rules are not enforced fairly, which I think leads to quite horrific behaviour. Where fans are sending co-ordinated threats to drivers, family members, team members, and even other fans. And, these threats seem to be over nothing. Someone shares their opinion, abuse. Someone tries to share facts that they know of, which can help understanding of a particular rule or event, abuse. It’s all a bit odd. And every little incident that happens on track, or in the paddock, can be ammunition to hate other drivers and their fans. Sites like TikTok have lots of deepfakes, some with drivers dancing, but others have AI generated videos of a driver hugging and kissing them, the fan. It is beyond disturbing.
There are also ‘news sites’, where people (and AI) create articles based on nothing. Not even rumours. A lot of the time they are opinion pieces, often based on rumours they start themselves. They are often based on whatever conspiracy theories are gaining traction on social media, and often just spread the lies out to a wider audience. The fans, who are already agitated over conspiracy theories, get even more angry. And, they take it out on other people who are often just calling out the bullshit.
I am finding that it is tearing the heart out of whatever community is trying to exist. Where people are attacked for saying anything. There isn’t a sense of enjoyment brought from a joint experience of something great. It becomes stressful. It has left me wondering, recently, is it worth it? Probably not. I have found friends, who I value, and love chatting to every race weekend. And, I don’t want to leave that. But, as the 2025 season drifts along towards the latter stages, I am left wondering if reconnecting with the F1 community that I had been missing for years, is something worth the worry? Is it still something worth stressing over?
My stress levels have only just about recovered from Sunday’s race. 75 years ago the first drivers championship, and the start of formula 1 occurred at Silverstone. It is a track I have always wanted to attend, but it is one of the most expensive circuits on the Formula 1 calendar, so it hasn’t happened.
The internet was alive with nonsense after the race, so I thought I’d bide my time before sharing my thoughts on the events. So how did it go, let’s run our way to the podium.
Franco Colapinto -DNS
Poor Franco. He was pulled in to replace Jack Doohan for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix back in May, and has had 6 races. He has found the learning curve awful steep, and has struggled. He crashed in qualifying, and due to repairs was going to start from the pit lane. Unfortunately, as reported from Sky Sport’s Ted Kravitz, Franco’s car jammed in second gear, and he couldn’t start the race. I just hope he gets more opportunity to show what he can do.
Liam Lawson- DNF
Liam has had much better luck since his swap over to Racing Bulls earlier this season. He seems comfortable in the car, and has pulled results out the bag. I think he seems to be a very pedal to the metal kind of driver, and that didn’t really work in the Silverstone conditions. That’s the Great British weather for you. He hit Esteban Ocon during lap 1 and crashed out. Luckily he is okay,
Gabriel Bortoleto- DNF
Gabi is another rookie who had a spin out onto the gravel. He had such a great result in Austria, he is bound to be disappointed. He did manage to keep the car going, but shed some debris and had to retire. He did try.
Isack Hadjar- DNF
Isack has been having some tremendous results in his rookie year, and he is quickly becoming one of my favourite drivers on the grid. Unfortunately, he was bothered by the rain, and poor visability, and bumped into the back of Kimi Antonelli, and then spun his Racing Bull out into the barriers at a high speed. Luckily he was okay. Footage showed that Isack couldn’t see the lights of the car in front, until it was too late. Shows how treacherous wet conditions can be.
Kimi Antonelli- DNF
Kimi has been flying during some parts of this season, unfortunately the damage caused by being hit by Isack Hadjar was too much to keep going. Kimi had qualified in 7th place, but had to serve a 3-place penalty. A poor end to what was such a promising weekend.
Yuki Tsunoda- 15th
Yuki has been struggling since taking the second Red Bull seat. This weekend looked a little promising for him, with him narrowly missing Q3 on Saturday, and qualifying p12. His race fell apart after an incident with Oli Bearman, which was escalated to the stewards. Yuki was served with a 10 second penalty, which left him at the back of race.
Charles Leclerc- 14th
Poor Charles. Someone has cursed the poor guy. Ferrari tactics left him way down in the field, and he ran off complaining about water getting in his helmet, and that he couldn’t see. In Charles’ post-race interviews, he looked so sad and defeated. I personally wanted to give him a hug.
Esteban Ocon-13th
Despite being involved in an accident in lap 1 with Liam Lawson, Esteban battled on. The race appeared to be a struggle for him, but he kept going. Post-race he mentioned that he thought he deserved to be in the points, but sometimes it doesn’t work that way. A shame after grabbing some points the last few races.
Carlos Sainz- 12th
Since moving to Williams this season, Carlos has been struggling quite a bit. Almost like whoever cursed Charles, cursed him too. Carlos was further up the runnings, but as the track dried, and other car’s traction improved, he fell down the pack. He was, understandably, very frustrated at not being very competitive. Now in the second half of the season, he will be hoping things settle soon.
Oli Bearman- 11th
The last rookie standing, on his home race. That is something that is commendable. He did get a few scares, but kept his head, and ended up narrowly missing out on points. In a race which took out the other rookies, and caused a few veterans to spin, he did very well to keep it together. Him and, teammate, Esteban’s synchronised spin looked like something out of the ballet.
Esteban Ocon and Oli Bearman in synch
George Russell- 10th
Mercedes tactics did not help George this weekend. He was pitted for slicks a wee bit too early, and he spun off track pretty much straight away. George did get his head down, and achieve a points finish. He would obviously be disappointed, after qualifying 4th, but 1 point is better than none.
Fernando Alonso- 9th
Fernando had a few complaints with the Aston Martin tactics. Asking if they were looking to ‘lose points for fun’. He was very unhappy, but still recovered the best he could, and got some well deserved points.
Alex Albon- 8th
Alex? How did you get here? A very well deserved points haul after three DNFs in a row. It feels like Williams are trying different things with each of their drivers, to the stage that stuff works for one driver, but not the other. Alex is a quality driver, and I really hope he is rewarded with some consistency with car reliability.
Lance Stroll- 7th
I am one of those F1 fans who is willing Lance to get results. He was all the way up in third place, and I was so excited. His ability for driving in the wet should be studied, or maybe he should be given a job driving Alpine’s racing boats. He was doing so so well. But as the track dried, other drivers stared to out-preform him. Like his buddy, Fernando, Lance complained on the radio after the race. Saying it was ‘the worst piece of shit car he’s ever driven’. Don’t beat around the bush or anything. I think Lance had a really good race, even if he doesn’t agree. Double Aston Martin points. Woooo!!!
Pierre Gasly- 6th
I don’t think people talk enough about how much quality Pierre has as a driver. He is class. Had a very decent race, and overtook Lance on the final lap. A very important points haul for him, seeing as Pierre is currently carrying Alpine on his shoulders. Seemed so smiley all weekend, and a very good result.
Max Verstappen- 5th
Red Bull seem to be able to set up for qualifying or the race, but not both. He was pole, and had a fantastic start, safety cars and other incidents compacted the field, and he was taken by Oscar Piastri. He had to avoid a collision when Oscar breaked when the safety car went in, but soon spun out and went down to 10th. He did work his way up, whilst complaining about the car, and did a commendable recovery drive in changeable conditions. His wee thumbs up to Nico Hulkenburg was a lovely thing.
Lewis Hamilton- 4th
Lewis’ start at Ferrari maybe hasn’t been quite as smooth as intended, but this was a quality race for him. He had a few complaints in regards to handling, which caused a few mistakes, but he held it together well. Lewis had been on the podium for each of the last 12 British Grand Prix, and it is sad he lost that run. A great result for him, and hopefully things settle down a bit for him.
Nico Hulkenburg- 3rd
The man of the hour. Driver of the day. After 15 years Nico got his first podium. He benefited from similar tactics as Lance Stroll, except he kept the momentum as the track dried. Nico has been a massively underrated driver in F1, and he just hasn’t had the right car. I believe if he was driving for one of the top field teams, he’d be winning and everything. One of the first people to meet him, was teammate Gabi, who came running over for a hug, and even gave congratulations over the team radio. I was so thrilled for everyone at Stake Sauber, and I hope the party was immense. My driver of the day, by a country mile.
Nico Hulkenburg got his first podium in f1
Oscar Piastri- 2nd
Oscar drove a good race, and controlled it for a large period. The problem is, when the safety car is in, you need to keep the speed consistent enough, it doesn’t cause anyone else problems. Oscar breaked, like he had already during the race, a wee bit too hard, and Max had to swerve to avoid hitting him. It was in plain sight of stewards and cameras, and the telemetrics from the cars was looked at. Oscar got a 10 second penalty for excessive breaking. Which led to him losing a place to Lando. There has been a lot of debate of him on the radio suggesting that if the pitwall thought the punishment was underserved, then tell Lando to slow down so they can switch back, and then race. But Oscar said himself afterwards that it wasn’t going to happen. But if he said nothing, he’d be a pushover, said something, he is a sore loser. There was no winning for him in that situation. To have such a mistake and still get 2nd tells you how McLaren are doing right now. Oscar seemed happier afterwards. Misjudgements happen, mistakes happen, Oscar will learn and move on. Nico also offered him a different perspective of how breaking in that situation can cause a concertina effect further down the line, and easily cause an accident. Which is maybe a perspective the front of the field don’t think about.
Lando Norris- 1st
At the start of the weekend, Lando said he would give all his previous victories up to win at Silverstone. Fortunately for him, all he needed to do was keep calm and drive. Lando is skilled in a wet race, going off previous performances. The build up was huge, Lando sold out the Landostand, full of his fans. His family were in attendance. The points gap between him and Oscar is shrinking. There was pressure, but he delivered. Minimised errors, drove well. Was a very collected drive for Lando. He has learnt from previous mistakes, and the growth shows during events like Silverstone.
Lando Norris and his unmissable Landostand
There was so many discussion points after this Grand Prix, and some fans seemed to go a little too far whilst discussing online. Which is why I thought I’d write here. I thoroughly enjoyed this Grand Prix, and one day I might actually attend.
When I think of Formula 1 commentators, I think of Murray Walker. Between 1976 and 2001, Walker, commentated live tv broadcasts of F1 races, and pioneered how motorsport was covered in the media. He started doing radio broadcasts of Isle of Man TT commentary with his father, progressing to other motorsports. Murray was known for his energetic style of commentary, which was informative, enthusiastic, but also contained some blunders. Which, is something that still happens when doing live commentary currently.
The book is a collection of anecdotes from people that Murray worked with throughout his career, sorted out chronologically. From life in the army, to working in advertising, to commentating with ex-McLaren driver, James Hunt, and then finding his stride with current commentator Martin Brundle. It shows insight to the kind of person Murray was, passionate about motorsport, and kind to those people around him. He made such in impact, that he commented live on BBC, and when the rights moved over to ITV in 1997, he was the sole commentator who moved over to continue broadcasting.
Contributions in this tribute to Murray Walker include: Martin Brundle, James Allen, Louise Goodman, Sir Jackie Stewart, Sir Lewis Hamilton, Damon Hill, Suzi Perry, Steve Ryder, Jim Rosenthal, and many more parts of the motorsport industry. Author, Maurice Hamilton, was a journalist for The Observer, Independent, and The Guardian, and covered Grand Prix races for radio station BBC Radio 5 Live. In fact, Maurice Hamilton covered over 500 Grand Prix races, and was a staple of the pit lane for over 30 years. He is extremely highly qualified to write about the impact that Murray Walker made on the Formula 1 world.
The book was a very insightful look at a Formula 1 legend. It takes the reader into the commentary box, to understand how Murray worked during a race. I like books that shed a different perspective of things, a different side of something that I feel so familiar with. I’ve loved Formula 1 for years, and as mentioned before, Murray Walker is still iconic in my mind, and I enjoyed reading what he was actually like.
And of course, this review wouldn’t be complete without some Murrayisms. Quotes from Murray Walker, which were fumbles during live commentary, but helped make things so entertaining. The sad thing is, that Martin Brundle mentions in the book that Murray had a thin skin. When newspapers like The Sun or Daily Mail mentioned Murray being ‘passed it’ for his fumbles, he took it too hard. In fact Martin mentioned that Murray would really struggle these days, with the increased social media comments. Which is sad. Murray’s Murrayisms are what made Formula 1 races interesting. There was no-one before or after Murray who came close to him, in my opinion.
Murrayisms:-
‘Either that car was stationary, or it’s on the move’.
‘The young Ralf Schumacher has been upstaged by the teenager Jenson Button, who is twenty’.
‘Prost can see Mansell in his headphones’.
‘Unless I am very much mistaken- yes. I am mistaken’.
Murray: ‘What’s that? There’s a body on the track’. James Hunt: ‘Um, I think that’s a piece of bodywork from someone’s car’.
I had my alarm set for 5.30am this morning. On a Sunday, a day I am not working. It was because the City of Las Vegas was hosting the 22nd Formula 1 race of the 2024 season. This was only the second F1 race at this track in Vegas, well I say track, it’s a street circuit. It was a dream for a long time, the flashiest cars racing down past the flashiest hotels in the world. It felt like ultimate optulence.
Spoiler alert: the race was pretty interesting. I felt there was action everywhere. I am a Lando Norris and McLaren fan, and it was an okay race. Like, both Lando and Oscar Piastri got in the points, it was a solid performance at a track where the car struggled. George Russell won his second race of the season, third in his career. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton was second, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz third. And Max Verstappen won his 4th world title. There was a lot of quality overtaking during the race, with Sergio Perez doing a wonderful overtake of Liam Lawson and Kevin Magnussen. All three were wheel to wheel, and Checo came out in front. It was so so good.
Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez taking over Liam Lawson and Kevin Magnusson (f1.com)
Lando and McLaren, had a relatively uninteresting race, so I do what I have always done. I look towards the lower half of the grid to find someone to watch. Kick Sauber driver, Zhou Guanyu is out of contract at the end of the season, with nothing decided on his future. He has struggled all season, and when he reached q2 during yesterday’s qualifying, I decided to follow him for this race. I was manifesting points for him, for the first time this season. He started 13th. A fantastic start. He battled really hard, and did some great overtaking. He got himself into the top 10, and was maintaining his place, and matching the pace of the cars around him. I was so happy. He was one of the last drivers to pit for a second time, and that pulled him right down the ranks. And he ended up 13th, overtaking Franco Colapinto on the last lap. Not quite a points finish, but a rather magnificent effort. He obviously has a point to prove, and did brilliant. Showed what he is capable of.
Watching Zhou really made the race super exciting for me, even though my favourite didn’t have the greatest day. I think a lot of fans only follow what is shown on the cameras, the top teams, the winners. But, over half the grid don’t feature in any coverage, they simply drive away in the background. To see how these drivers are doing, you have to watch the timing screen, watch the seconds of gaps between other drivers. It can be so exciting. Because, big things happen, and if it is to a lower placed driver, it is ignored. For example, Sky Sports reported (Ted Kravtiz notebook) that Lance Stroll had driven the race without his radio. Which is the first time I’ve heard of the radio failing all race this season. It wasn’t reported on any of the main reporting, in fact, Ted is the only media person I’ve heard mention it.
In summary, the mid-to-lower field is great. If you are bored watching the front runner, there is always something going on further back. I grew up doing this, and think more fans should, it gives you more appreciation on the work all the drivers do. Also, well done Zhou Guanyu.
Ever since I first got access to the internet, way back in the High School library, I would look up the bands I loved. A lot of band sites, would have their own forums, where you could speak to fans from all over the world. Disecting albums, and lyrics, comparing collections of scrapbooks and merchandise. It was so much fun. Then MySpace, where you became ‘friends’ with bands, and even learned coding to make your profile look cool.
Over the years, social media has become such a huge part of most of our lives. Musicians, actors, tv presenters, politicians, you can be ‘friends’ with them all. Doesn’t even need to be a person, companies send messages to followers, and build up a familiarity. So, people feel connected with people they’ll never meet, and companies feel like friends. Sometimes people need a reminder that they don’t actually know these people they may chat to on social media, as they begin to feel personally involved.
My time on social media at the moment, seems to circle around Formula 1. It is a sport I have loved since I was a child, where the only contact you had with the teams and drivers was through magazines and the TV show around the race. The content we had to consume, then, was nothing compared to what we have these days. And social media is a massive part of that. As said before, connections are forged between fans and their favourite drivers and teams, and these connections can feel very personal. Which is all great, fantastic for advertising, and often creates great promotion for the sport. The communities are filled with people disecting races, and press conferences, talking about livery releases. It can be a lot of fun. Until it is not.
Because people feel so personally connected and affected by the goings ons and offs around the track, things can get a little tense. People can take it upon themselves to ‘defend’ their hero, and do so by attacking other fans and drivers. Doesn’t sound too bad, folk say, ‘just click off social media’, ‘go outside’. But it can escalate very fast. It becomes less about a person defending their favourite driver, and more attacking the drivers they don’t like. Which starts creating whole other problems.
Lance Stroll from Aston Martin, is a driver which attracts a lot of negativity. His father owns the team, and helps keep his son’s position in Formula 1. And whilst drivers have maintained positions on teams in similar circumstances, some fans have taken to heavily dislike Lance. The issue isn’t people throwing comments into the obyss of the internet, it is people sending Lance fans abuse. Sending death threats. Inundating people with abuse. Last season, a Lance Stroll fan I was friends with over on Twitter, attempted to take their life, because people were sending so much abuse. I don’t know on what planet that is okay. Ever.
It’s like, whilst the lines have blurred, and people are closer to their heroes than ever before, they are also so close it’s become abstract. We are so close that nothing seems real, and people have no attachment with what they say and who they are saying it to. It is not just fan on other fan crimes, either. Earlier this season, French driver, Esteban Ocon, had to release a statement about abuse that was sent to him, his team, and his family. It got so bad, that the hashtag of his name, has been banned from TikTok, due to risk of abuse. There has been racist abuse angled at Yuki Tsunoda and Zhou Guanyu. Lando Norris has had abuse sent to him and his team, including his esports team Quadrant. Last season Max Verstappen and his partner recieved a lot of abuse. Sky sports presenter, Karun Chandhok, has had racist abuse sent to his social media, as well as sent to Sky Sports socials.
Criticism about driving and opinions is one thing, abuse is another. It is not just restricted to formula 1. K-pop bands, movie franchises, boybands, tv series, there are fandoms for almost anything. Situations like the ones I have mention above happen others. Actors and actresses leaving TV shows due to abuse, because the fandom didn’t like their character. Someone speaks poorly about a certain band member, they’d better not sign online.
The point I want to make is that behind every account, whether it be a famous personality or a business, there is a person. A person with feelings and a life. A few years ago someone told me that if I was angry, write down the negativity, if on social media write the comment and save it to drafts. Then, go do something else. Come back in at least 30 minute, 95% of the time, you will simply delete whatever you have written. I find that it stops any angry over-reactions.
Since I came back from my holiday, last month, I have been having a flair-up with my arthritis. Which, is making it hard to do a lot. Even working is taking it out of me, like I need all my time off from my work to recover. I would like to be able to blame the warmer weather, but the Scottish summer is being the typical Scottish summer, and the weather is not being particularly warm. So, all I can do is take my medication, do my stretches, and hope that it goes away. I’ve left a message with the rheumatologist and hopefully they get back in contact soon. It is a headache not being able to hold things properly.
The only thing that has been keeping me going at the moment is Formula 1. The weekend just passed was the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, where Lewis Hamilton won his 9th win at the circuit, and 104th win overall. It was really nice to see Lewis at the top of the podium on his final home race with Mercedes. And it was such an exciting race, with 5 different race leaders during the race, which shows how exciting formula 1 2024 is this year. It’s been so much fun, seeing different drivers do well this season, including teams who have maybe not been so successful in recent seasons. I was a little upset for Lando Norris, as he did lead the race for a large chunk of the race, and poor strategy and mistakes lead to him coming in third. And wee Oscar Piastri recovered to 4th.
I did look at tickets for Silverstone, to actually attend the Grand Prix, as I have never been before. They were actually affordable. I could have actually went, but I applied for the time from work and it was rejected. So, no Grand Prix for me and I had to watch it on the TV instead. Which was fine. My Dad watched with me, and it was the first time he had watched the whole race, and he said he enjoyed it. So, that was good. Me and my Dad often go to watch the stock car racing, which is so much fun. Where I live in Fife, there are two stock car tracks nearby, one in Racewall in Cowdenbeath, and Lochgelly Raceway.
There is now a break before the next race, and I don’t really know what will keep me occupied. Lots of F1 focused blogs would simply focus on gossip, and I don’t really have much of a tolerance for that kind of thing. Never have been. I don’t like the idea of spreading around lies, just for the sake of content. But mostly, I don’t have the focus. Yes, I have different interests, but I duck and dive around them sometimes like I am a rugby player trying to make it up the pitch. It is why this blog kind of bops around a bit. But that is just how my brain is.
Today a post has been made online by Kelly Piquet, the girlfriend of Formula 1 driver and current champion Max Verstappen. It is in relation to the hatred, and rumours spread by many people on social media.
People have been spreading accusations about infidelity, photoshopped conversations, and more. Things, that can affect the lives of real people and their families. And it is awful, and as a formula 1 fan, I would like to believe that most people don’t want such bullies to be a part of the community.
It’s a thing that seems to be on the rise. People hide behind anonymous accounts spreading hatred and bullying people. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t anything new. I remember having to change Twitter accounts a few years back because I was getting dogpiled on, and every message was telling me to kill myself. Now, fortunately I was mentally capable at the time to close my account, and start again. There are times in my life, where such comments would have been enough to push me over the edge. Because one or two you can ignore, but when it’s hundreds of accounts, it’s horrific to try and deal with.
Now the problem is that a lot of well known people (sport stars, musicians, politicians, etc) and their families are being targeted. They get that hate that normal users do, and get the added issue of people using things like AI to generate fictional content. It has been warned about previously, with the rise of AI, but no one took it seriously. Now people are creating fiction where they allege known people are cheating on their spouses, sometimes with ‘fans’. They can make A-list stars say whatever they want. And it is very scary. Or I imagine it is for anyone with any kind of public image.
The truth is, as it always has been, that you never really know who you are talking to online. As as much as we can build true friendships online, some may act maliciously. Protect your online space. If you see negativity and ‘rage farming’ block the accounts doing so. If people react angrily and try to start a fight, block them. These people who are hateful online, usually hide behind anonymity, and are not worth your time. Report and block when you see abuse occurring, don’t turn a blind eye. Don’t engage, because these people, crave engagement. It all seems like a game because it is online.
Today I have been on TikTok and threads, and I honestly have never felt so detached from an online community. It’s been building over the last few months, in the formula 1 community. Last week I posted on Threads thatl wanted Lance Stroll to get points at his home race, and I had r*pe threats sent to my Instagram inbox, with others telling me to die. What kind of person does that? Obviously there were from ‘bob3482’ kind of bot accounts. It’s horrible. And every person who uses online environments to make friends and build communities should be in agreement.
Report abusers. Block haters. DO NOT ENGAGE. And most of all, support one another.
A few days ago, I posted on here speaking of my nerves at turning 40. I think my brain, as usual, was making a bigger deal out of things than it needed to. Like, I have a tendency of feeling the need to put closure over something, just to a have a fresh start at things. In the past, it has been the only way that I have been able to pick myself up and carry on. But at the same time, I end up still thinking about past failures, and don’t really put my best foot forward.
I honestly don’t quite know what I expected to happen when I turned 40, which happened yesterday. I think I felt bad that I had no real plan to celebrate, and was quite happy having a nice time. I went out to the pub with my family, received some cool gifts (HMV voucher, new Scotland shirt, Lego McLaren F1 car), and generally had a calm day. It was raining all day, but that never stopped anything. I tried to sort my passport out, in the hope it comes quickly.
McLaren F1 car all built and ready to race.
Today I saw my nephews, received some cool books (if anyone ever struggles with what to gift me, a book is always a winner), and finally had some birthday cake. I also went for a wee evening walk, with my folks around Edinburgh. It was dry, and I didn’t think it was too cold. I haven’t been for a walk in Edinburgh for a while, and hopefully, with the lighter evenings, we can do it more regularly.
Looking across Princess Street Gardens, Edinburgh
So, it has been a good start to 40. Long may it continue
I am a huge Formula 1 fan, and over the last few years there has been a push to include women more in the sport. From the female-only grid in the F1 Academy, to female mechanics. Not to mention, that it is estimated that women watching the sport is nearing 50/50 with men, with a lot of young girls watching races. This makes sense, because I remember when I was at High School, during the Michael Schumacher/ Ferrari era, all of my group of friends loved f1, and it was really popular amongst a lot of girls in my class. Over the years, with the shift to online, that has only helped the audience get bigger. And, that is without even mentioning the Netflix f1 documentary, Drive to Survive.
Recently, news broke that Christian Horner, the boss of current champions Red Bull Racing, was being investigated over inappropriate contact with a female member of staff. This happened about 3-4 weeks ago, and the news just keeps getting bigger and bigger, with this week it being leaked that the female complainant was suspended from Red Bull. This has lead to the volume of gossip that I have never seen involved in F1 before. And the female fans, who are incidentally the largest growing market for F1, are understandably peeved at the lack of transparency provided by Red Bull. This has lead to many questioning whether F1 is actually really about equality between genders, or is it all just a cover story, whilst everything that matters, stays the same.
This bad feeling has increased, when the teams arrived for media day in Saudi Arabia last week, and some of the drivers were a bit dismissive of the ‘Red Bull’ situation in their comments. With the drivers who were quizzed on it saying things like ‘it doesn’t affect me, I am concerned about what happens on the track’. This, angered a lot of fans, because it felt that they were treating the issue of sexual harassment or abuse as something trivial, that can be thrown away. Which, for victims of such abuse, is completely not true. For generations, women have struggled to get somewhere in their field, without men of a higher position trying to take advantage. You can think of Hollywood, and the idea of the ‘casting couch’, where women were expected to deliver certain ‘favours’ to get roles they desired. Whilst the idea of the ‘casting couch’ has bitten the dust, it is still common occurrence that men take advantage of women in lower positions that them, and then threaten their careers or even life, if they were to tell anyone. It happens with business leaders, politicians, celebrities, even senior members of someone’s own family.
I have had discussions with work colleagues, friends, and family over sexual assault and abuse. And there is a pattern that has formed. I don’t think that people want to believe that such crimes are so widespread, so they don’t believe them. It’s always ‘they are looking for money’, or ‘they are a homewrecker’. Whilst comments like these seem to come from a place of malice, I believe that they instead come from a place of ignorance. Sexual crimes are a very hard thing to understand unless a person has personally gone through it, or knows someone who has. Especially when it comes to harassment, where someone has said something that crosses a woman’s personal boundaries, and makes them feel devalued and uncomfortable. From my own experience, I have been told that I am ‘too precious’ if I let silly comments upset me. And that is from other women. Just because one person felt okay, doesn’t make things okay with every person.
I don’t really know how F1, the FIA, and the teams, make this right. It doesn’t help that the head of the FIA is getting investigated for a cheating scandal, which is being hidden behind the news and upset of the Horner scandal. Is it that the powers that run the sport want the focus to be on the fracturing state of Red Bull Racing, rather than themselves, no matter the consequences? That the issue of female safety is being trivialised as a scapegoat for the FIA to get away with cheating on their own races? It’s an ever changing situation. But I believe the powers in charge of F1 know exactly what they are doing in stretching out the Horner scandal. The situation has been manufactured to be so big that it is an insult to every woman who has anything to do with F1, the FIA, and all its parters.
sueriot.com 