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Vettel, Sainz, Bottas and Stroll reprimanded over protests
Sebastian Vettel, Carlos Sainz, Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll were all reprimanded for wearing t-shirts during the national anthem at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The FIA pre-race procedure allows drivers to wear “any attire conveying a message in support of the WeRaceAsOne values” while F1’s WeRaceAsOne video is played out and the grid carries out a gesture alongside a banner calling for greater inclusion and equality. As part of that, Vettel wore a rainbow-colored pride t-shirt with the words "Same Love," in a similar stance to one he has taken at many previous races.
This weekend was particularly pointed as Hungary recently passed an anti-gay law -- one of many in recent years -- that bans the depiction of homosexuality to anyone under the age of 18, with an upcoming referendum on the law being highlighted by both Vettel and Lewis Hamilton at the start of the race weekend.
However, while drivers can make a statement during the WeRaceAsOne segment, they were informed they must remove any such attire for the national anthem and only wear their race suit. Despite that instruction from the FIA, Vettel kept his t-shirt on, while Sainz, Bottas and Stroll also still wore their anti-racism t-shirts.
Those actions were investigated by the stewards after the race, with all four drivers given non-driving reprimands, their first of the season.
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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