FIA president: "Motorsport should not be used as a political platform"

Several human rights organizations have reported to Formula One that they would like to see the sport raise awareness of the country's human rights record, one reason being that Formula One would be ignoring the equality and diversity pledge of the 'We Race As One' campaign if they didn't. According to Todt, this is nonsense, as motorsport has nothing to do with politics.

"Motorsport has not to be used as a political platform. Saying that, going in certain countries where there are some doubts about the way things are occurring, we give the opportunity for people to talk, and I think we give some more visibility to the countries. There is full freedom to anybody who wants to speak, who wants to demonstrate — they can do it," explained the FIA president at CNBC .

Lewis Hamilton would rather not be there

Hamilton has made it known that he does not like to race there because of the human rights situation. The Briton will therefore wear a helmet with a rainbow on it this weekend to draw attention to the banning of homosexuality and the persecution of LGBTQ+ people in the country. The Frenchman thinks this is unnecessary and also doesn't understand the criticism, as a lot of progress has already been made in recent years. "Saudi Arabia until 2018 could not host one international event because women were forbidden to drive, now women can drive, so changes are occurring, but we should not get involved in political matters."