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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Toto Wolff urges FIA to meet with Lewis Hamilton to prevent ban for political statements

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Mercedes chief Toto Wolff has urged FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem to meet with Lewis Hamilton after it was announced drivers would be banned from making political statements.

Hamilton is an outspoken advocate on a variety of social issues and has notably worn Black Lives Matter t-shirts and a rainbow helmet on the grid to advocate for anti-racism and support the LGBTQ+ community.

However, the FIA announced in December that drivers would now need to get written permission before they were allowed to make “political, religious and personal statements”. Speaking earlier this month, Ben Sulayem added: “We are concerned with building bridges.

“You can use sport for peace reasons… but one thing we don’t want is to have the FIA as a platform for private personal agenda.

“We will divert from the sport. What does the driver do best? Driving. They are so good at it, and they make the business, they make the show, they are the stars.

“Nobody is stopping them. There are other platforms to express what they want. Everybody has this and they are most welcome to go through the process of the FIA, to go through that.”

The FIA have banned drivers from making political statements
(
Dan Istitene – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

And Wolff is keen for Ben Sulayem to meet Hamilton and discuss the new rules in order to ensure the Brit does not get hit with a ban. “We need to see how this really pans out,” Wolff said.

“We understand that sport is not here to mix with politics but on the contrary and to unite. I have no doubt Mohammed and the FIA mean well and want to achieve the right things.

“It is just about aligning it with the drivers who have been more outspoken in the past. When Lewis has spoken with Mohammed in the past it has always ended up in a positive discussion, so when people sit around the table together I don’t think things will be as harsh as they are written down.”

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