The Formula 1 weekend seemed like a fairy tale. Knights from all over the world took their horsepower to the Middle East, the birthplace of the tales of One thousand and one nights. The knights did this in a joint battle for the earth because it is not warming up fast enough and because they could immediately see who was the fastest on the brand new race track of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
In his empire, women are required to have male guardians and have only been allowed to drive since 2018. Executions and corporal punishment are bon ton there and freedom of expression is severely curtailed. In the fairy tale of Formula 1, the prince is the evil spirit.
When asked Britain’s Knight Lewis Hamilton about the moral quagmire of racing in countries without human rights, he replied that drivers don’t choose where they drive, followed by: “But we can choose to express ourselves.”
That’s why Hamilton wears a racing helmet with rainbow colors in countries where love is restricted. He knows that he will not change any laws by doing so, but it must be heartwarming for the LGBTQ+ community that is watching hidden from Saudi closets. Their flag flies across Crown Prince Mohammed BS’s lane and there’s nothing he can do about it but hold back his applause. Knight Hamilton shows courage within and beyond.
German Sebastian Vettel had rented a Saudi kart track prior to the race weekend on which he raced around with women. He didn’t change any laws either, but he showed that when you use him as a sign, he decides what to put on it.
The princess in this fairy tale must be Loujain al-Hathloul, she put a video of herself online in 2013 in which she was driving through Saudi Arabia behind the wheel. She was arrested, tortured and sentenced to five years in prison.
Loujain is now out of prison, but she is not allowed to leave the country. Her sister Lina spoke through the Dutch radio to Max Verstappen, she asked him to speak out about the injustice being done to her people. Amnesty International has been asking him that for some time, they also offered to inform him about the situation in Saudi Arabia. He did not take up the offer.
Like Hamilton, Verstappen says he is not about the choice of where to race, only there is no ‘but I can do something’. And that while nothing can happen to the Dutch hero. World-famous top athletes, especially the men among them, in reality have the fairytale cloak of inviolability. The princess, who is actually the hero here, does not have that cloak.
Saturday night before going to sleep, the designer of the track in Jeddah, in the late sports news, also told a fairy tale. That one thing about organizing big races in dictatorial countries you can help break things open there. That may be the case, but then the participants have to pull their beaks open, otherwise they become a banner for the regime and they implicitly give it their blessing. Whether he likes it or not, that’s what Max does by being silent.
Carolina Trujillo is a writer.
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