Lewis Hamilton spoke up in defence of a group of protesters who were apprehended by the authorities after they tried to disrupt the start of the British Grand Prix.
However Carlos Sainz Jnr, who saw them “running towards me” said they should choose a safer way to protest.The FIA and Formula 1 confirmed a group of protesters had been arrested after trying to gain access to the track at the original start of the race. It was red-flagged around the same time due to Zhou Guanyu’s huge crash.
“I didn’t know what the protest was for, I only just found out,” said Hamilton after being told about the anti-oil protesters. “I love that people are fighting for the planet and we need more people like them.”
Mercedes said in a statement Hamilton was “endorsing their right to protest but not the method that they chose, which compromised their safety and that of others.”
Sainz said he initially through the race had been stopped because of the people he saw near the track at the start of the race. “I thought the red flag was for that because as soon as I came out of five I saw three guys running towards me,” he said.
He said he is sympathetic to their cause and pointed out F1 is making steps to reduce its use of fossil fuels. But Sainz said protesters they must not put lives at risk.
“People obviously need to speak out and do manifestations wherever they want because it’s a right,” he said. “I just don’t believe jumping into a Formula 1 track is the best way to do it and putting yourself at risk and all the other drivers.
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“Yes I support the cause, I think Formula 1 is doing a great job already to try and go carbon zero by 2030. And we are pushing on this area and we are pushing F1 and pushing FIA to find ways to go in this direction.
“I just don’t believe jumping into a Formula 1 track is the right way to manifest yourself and protest, you have to be more careful because you can kill them, you can generate an accident.”
Sergio Perez also said protesters should take care not to endanger people.
“Certainly Formula 1 needs to do more, needs to keep pushing and keep improving and going in that direction,” he said. “And it’s great to see people fighting for their cause but obviously it’s [better] that they don’t put themselves at risk and they don’t put other people at risk.
“But I’m sure that Formula 1 can still do more and we have to keep pushing together to show a good example.”
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2022 British Grand Prix
- How many victory chances did Hamilton have in his first winless F1 season?
- New rule added on drivers abandoning cars after Russell’s Silverstone retirement
- Hamilton told Leclerc ‘I didn’t want to clip you and send you off’ after Copse scrap
- Sainz: Ferrari accepted I was right not to follow “10 car lengths” instruction
- Zhou says Silverstone crash force exceeded roll hoop impact test
cduk_mugello (@cduk_mugello)
3rd July 2022, 19:25
Guys why are you giving this top billing and prominence on your site? It’s literally the top story in your feed. I can’t see how this is more important than the racing today.
Broccoliface
3rd July 2022, 19:51
Are you complaining because they’re giving publicity to a dangerous stunt? Or complaining because Hamilton made a fool of himself again in a soundbite?
Emma (@emma)
3rd July 2022, 20:11
Did you read the article? If you did, you’d have noticed that all the drivers pretty much voiced the same support “for the cause”.
Jason Blankenship (@jblank)
3rd July 2022, 22:27
What else are they going to say? They’re not going to buck the status quo and risk losing endorsements or feeling the ire of the grievance class.
Dex
3rd July 2022, 23:10
Hamilton didn’t just support “the cause”, he supported what these protesters were trying to do and said that “we need more people like them”. Don’t spin it, Emma.
petebaldwin (@)
3rd July 2022, 20:05
They’re doing it because Hamilton said something that could sound like he’s endorsing what they did. Obviously, he speaking just after a Grand Prix and didn’t word it brilliantly but he clearly meant he backs what they’re fighting for – not how they did it.
It’ll generate clicks though as people flood here to have a go at Lewis.
Brett
3rd July 2022, 19:54
The turn one crash put a foil to this obvious “controlled opposition” protest (as they all are) to fit in with this weekends media narrative of anti life (carbon).
Jere (@jerejj)
3rd July 2022, 20:34
So Sainz had a clear view of track invaders.
Jere (@jerejj)
3rd July 2022, 20:35
Dangerous thing nevertheless.
Jason Blankenship (@jblank)
3rd July 2022, 21:39
I’ve had it up to here with leftists protesting. Get a job, hobby, a life, whatever, but quit telling people how to live their lives and quit disrupting the lives of others. The planet is fine, they are not.
petebaldwin (@)
3rd July 2022, 22:15
The funny thing is that climate change deniers only make the numbers protesting larger and larger. It’s only going to get worse for you.
Jason Blankenship (@jblank)
3rd July 2022, 22:26
We’ll see about that. There’s more people sick of their antics and fed up with the hysteria over this hoax than there are devotees of this new religion of the political left.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
3rd July 2022, 23:39
@petebaldwin
The problem is not with reasonable activism. Nobody is denying that climate change is an issue. The issue is the hysteria and the extremism behind the green agenda. For example, the anti-oil woke policy supported by the green business lobbies and the far left politicians is the main reason behind the disastrous policies in many parts of the world that have followed the trend of demonizing anything energy related even if it is extracted in an efficient way.
In the USA, Biden has crushed the domestic energy production and the results are obvious for everyone apart from his government and party who are blaming Vladimir Putin for it. Prices have skyrocketed and inflation is in its highest level since 1981. This is one of the main reason why Putin is playing the bully now. When the US domestic energy production have stopped, USA started importing oil from Russia which in a way have funded the war in Ukraine.
The European Union have just approved a plan to end the sale of vehicles with combustion engines by 2035 in Europe in the same time electricity costs have surged more than 37%. Apart from infrastructure issues with regard to charging stations, the politicians that have passed this law at this time are must be really detached from reality because most of the European countries relying on Russian energy are struggling to satisfy their energy needs for the upcoming winter let alone 2035.
The transition to a cleaner world must be done reasonably and when the technology allows it. The transition in Europe for example with regard to the ICE is lead by out of control populist politicians and not by the industry experts. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how the change will be based on the current disastrous policies of those same politicians.
Jason Blankenship (@jblank)
3rd July 2022, 23:43
Amen. Excellent post.
Erik Kennedy (@erikkennedy)
4th July 2022, 1:46
No, the planet is not ‘fine’.
I bet you ‘follow the science’ when it’s aerodynamicists designing racing cars. Do you ‘follow the science’ when it’s climate scientists telling you that the planet is in trouble?
AlexS
4th July 2022, 15:19
Ridiculous. Do a tag “scientist” shuts off your brain?
Do you think all sciences are at same level of knowledge about their subject?
Do you know anything about climate in last 500 years?
“Scientists” said this in 1989:
U.N. Predicts Disaster if Global Warming Not Checked
PETER JAMES SPIELMANN June 30, 1989
“UNITED NATIONS (AP) _ A senior U.N. environmental official says entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000.
Coastal flooding and crop failures would create an exodus of ″eco- refugees,′ ′ threatening political chaos, said Noel Brown, director of the New York office of the U.N. Environment Program, or UNEP.
As the warming melts polar icecaps, ocean levels will rise by up to three feet, enough to cover the Maldives and other flat island nations, Brown told The Associated Press in an interview on Wednesday. (…)”
2020 Maldives just build 5 new airports slight above sea level.
AlexS
4th July 2022, 15:20
Further. And all science subjects have the same level of complexity?
ttongsul (@ccpbioweapon)
3rd July 2022, 22:28
complete FAKE NEWS . Lewis on his Instagram feed clearly states that he DOES NOT condone the track incursion as it put the drivers and protesters at deadly risk, its unfair for racefans to frame the article to to imply that Lewis somehow condones champagne socialist anarchy or disorderly criminal behaviour in anyway
AlexS
4th July 2022, 15:13
Hamilton says many things. he certainly did not voiced any protests about the “peaceful protest” that murdered and killed more than 20 persons.
OOliver
4th July 2022, 0:24
The protesters have won.
Most of Europe will be switching to coal.
Oil is so out of fashion. Hurray
AlexS
4th July 2022, 15:11
Protesting for famine and death from cold.
And F1 drivers support.
Brilliant!
AlexS
4th July 2022, 15:27
F1 drivers pay lip service to the Overton Window because they are all millionaires. The energy costs going trough the roof do not affect them.