F1 drivers react to Ralf Schumacher revealing his status as gay after posting a photo with his partner before the Hungarian GP weekend.
In the lead-up to the F1 Hungarian GP, former race winner R Schumacher revealed his status to be a gay man after sharing a photo with his partner Etienne. He captioned the photo as: “The most beautiful thing in life is when you have the right partner by your side with whom you can share everything.”
While there has been general support from all sides, but there are instances of rebuke which is common on the internet. In fact, some of the F1 drivers too had supportive message for Schumacher, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton leading the charge.
The Brit is happy with the messaging but insists there is more to be done. He recalls the moment in Hungarian GP few years back when he and Sebastian Vettel had to step up against FIA’s order. Few other drivers had their say on the topic.
Reaction to news –
Lewis Hamilton: “You are in an environment where you want to be…I mean we’re in this little bubble. I think within sports it still has a long way to go. It is one thing saying that it is accepted, but it is another thing to make sure that people feel comfortable in the environment. This is a male-dominated space and as far as I know he is one of the first to publicly be open about this but I think we are very inclusive within our team but I think the sport does need to continue to do more to help people feel more comfortable. To help women more welcomed in this space. I know there is a lot more to do.
“I don’t know if he felt he wasn’t able to say it in the past. But I think it just shows that we are at a time when finally we can take that step and don’t have to fear. I think so far it’s got positive feedback from people. But I think it’s a different time and it’s changed who we are. And it’s all started from Seb and I standing on the grid here, fighting against all the governments that are here, and in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. And if Ralf felt that he was going to be able to do those things perhaps today, it may have shifted his mind, and even him taking that step sent such a positive message, and race drivers have got to do the same. And we need more of these people to be able to do that.”
Lando Norris: “It’s a good thing. Same with every sport, when people are happier, and can live their life a bit more in a good way without hiding things or feeling like people will say bad things or attack them and that kind of thing. So from a inclusivity and diversity point of view. I know, Formula 1 and McLaren, we’ve pushed for it a lot over the last three, four years, especially. The whole world kind of moved in that direction. And yes, whether it’s this or talking about mental health and all these things, you just want people to live their life and be happy and not feel like they’re going to get judged and all of those things. I’m very happy for him.”
Nico Hulkenberg: “Yeah, I saw it too. Obviously, it’s a very personal matter, but I congratulate that. And if he’s coming out with that, there’s nothing wrong with that in modern times where diversity and everything is all to play for. So hate, there’s always going to be hate in the world, especially obviously online. That’s a place where people do and abuse it easily, where they can hide. That’s not great, not fantastic. But other than that, yeah, all good.”
Oscar Piastri: “Yeah, I mean, I think it’s great that he feels comfortable in coming out like that. I think that’s what we want as a sport, to be inclusive for everybody and have people feel safe in coming out or whatever is in their lives. So, yeah, congratulations to him and I think it’s a good thing.”
Fernando Alonso: “Yeah, same comments. Congratulations to him. Total support from my side and I’m sure all the F1 community. And yeah, it’s great that he feels good and we all feel good for him as well.”
What more can be done –
Hamilton: “I mean, it’s a good question. I don’t know if I can come up with a solution off the top of my head. I don’t have a solution. But I do know it’s more often than not, it is about conversation. It is about dialogue with key stakeholders. It’s about how we’re analysing how the accessibility is. It’s getting information from people who do or don’t feel included. It’s engaging the community. So, it’s easy to do, you could do a questionnaire for every single person that’s here and just have a few questions and just ask them honestly how they feel and what they feel could be done. There’s a lot that you could do, but it is firstly speaking about it and rather than ignoring that it is an issue and having a lot more of the priorities to bring it up and actually set some people a task and going about how can we make people feel. Like, we were in Montreal, for example, and I remember coming across a poor disabled guy with a disability very much the same as my brother’s, I really clocked him straight away coming out of the queue that goes over that long bridge, and he really wanted the toilet, and there’s a cop standing there by this awful loo, and the cop’s like, ‘no you can’t use this toilet’.
“And I remember stopping, I was on the phone on the way in and I remember stopping and having this discussion with the cop, it was like, ‘please, this guy’s got a long way to go.’ The first thing is that guy shouldn’t be having to go across the bridge, there needs to be more accessibility for people with disabilities. And so in the moment, the frustration, there’s not a lot I can do necessarily other than talking to that cop, but he still didn’t let the guy use the bathroom. Then I would speak with Stefano and be like, ‘Hey, we’ve gotta speak to the organizers here and how are we creating better accessibility for people in wheelchairs?’ Because since Frank’s [Williams] been here, have you seen any progress with that? I don’t think so. So there’s lots of different areas that we need to overcome and move forwards.”
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