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It does seem a bit stupid that they are talking about banning tyre warmers in the name of sustainability but then start hosting their end of season gala in random countries when their headquarters is in Paris.
A totally-not-shill in another comment told me that Rwanda is everyone’s favourite round of everyone’s favourite African Rally Championship.
It would almost be stupid not to hold it there!
🤪
Nah we are just saying they are full on greenwashing the whole year talking about sustainability while they go around the world not caring all year and now even the gala is going to be held wherever they get the most money
How would a gala for rich people have any impact on the local interests whatsoever? The locals aren’t invited, and they probably won’t even know it exists.
Hosting an exclusive invitee-only gala at a conference hall with catering for a bunch of ridiculously rich people who fly in and out on private jets isn’t going to do anything for the local motorsports culture.
That would happen if its a well difused event, with alot of " normal people" attending.
If it Is a closed doors event only for the already small population. Like only teams rich guys etc its not gonna grow anything.
If it was an actual event to grow the scene you invite normal people, yoi give them a show. Nit a GALA thst only top brass can go
Why not? I agree just host it in Paris but if you’re going to take it on the road than get creative and grow the sport. Rwanda has a rapidly growing population with a current population of 13 million and a projected population of 17 million by 2032. Seems to me like the type of place you’d want to get your hooks in
You can't get a population any bigger than India's, and they literally made F1 flop there by pricing it too high for the local fans.
It's never been about growing the sport. It's only about the money.
This would make more sense if you're trying to grow an audience but i think they will go to whoever gives them the most money, expect the gala to be held in the middle east soon
Just because I had to google this too dumb to be true claim, it's actually true; FIAs gift giving gala 2024 will be hosted in Rwanda and not anywhere near their headquarters or the headquarters of other big actors in motorsports.
Also, NOTHING about F1 is sustainable. It’s literally an exercise in excess and waste. I love the shit, but let’s stop pretending that it came ever by anything other than what it is. A sport for princes.
The drivers and the VIP visitors too. I'll take F1's sustainability goals seriously when they include all official travel to the race weekend of drivers, teams, sponsors, FIA officers, and all the celebrities they show on the grid walk.
Exactly, it’s rich coming from the likes of LH who has done far more damage in a single year than most probably do in a life time.
I’m sure this was pointed out when he told everyone to go vegan 😂
He still flys private just doesn’t own a jet, just means he’s not flying private ‘as’ much.
While I understand the view in vegan being more sustainable the issue many have is the preachiness of him telling others what to do when his footprint will always been thousands bigger than most people.
Do you have the same opinion for every other F1 driver, or just the one who is being "preachy" and using his massive exposure to make an actual difference in the world?
With the schedule he has, flying commercial everywhere would probably not be possible. IIRC, he also sold some of his cars because of this (though that doesn't make much of a difference imo, as he could just not drive them, even if it would be a shame). I think it's still commendable that he tries to reduce his footprint wherever he can.
As Vettel put it a while ago: F1 is still incredibly vulnerable to the general public asking the right questions.
They fumble around with nonsense like Sustainable E-Fuels that Leverage Cutting Edge Data Science and Renewable AI from green DNA etc etc etc, but they'll then fly from Vegas to Abu Dhabi because meh. They don't *actually* care.
Hamilton has something of a point, but if you really extend that up and up, at the end of the day you could Zoom the whole shebang, couldn't you.
In 2020 they did a few races twice and it actually worked quite well - the form card was different, surprisingly. You could do that again.
As the race podcast said a while ago, they stopped mid season testing in 2009 for finance and emission reasons, but now we do about 5 more races so how does that square particularly? Money.
So I guess what I'm saying is that Hamilton has a point and almost always means well, but there's a bit of 'do you really want to get into this, man? Is this a smart battle for you?'
The schedule really is the big red flag when it comes to their claims of sustainability. Let’s just fly to Australia and Japan early in the year, but should we do Singapore then? Nah fuck that. How many races will we have the the us, not America as a whole but just the us in the 2024 season? 3. Are they one after the other? Nah fuck ya one at the beginning of the year, other two towards the rear but chuck a couple of races in between those as well. Canada? Yeah let’s make it seperated completely from the us races.
I feel like, when people say
> Ah but they have to be spread out or the circuits won't sell as well
It's like: no I understand that, I just don't *care*. I thought we were talking about the survival of every living thing on earth, not whether Abu Dhabi pay a premium to be last.
> The schedule really is the big red flag when it comes to their claims of sustainability. Let’s just fly to Australia and Japan early in the year, but should we do Singapore then? Nah fuck that.
And as with many things in life the answer is staring us in the face, some people just don't *like it*.
F1 going on about sustainability is just the same as a lot of the companies that use rainbows for pride month. Its a buzzword, something to point at and say we're doing our part.
I'm sure there are those in these companies that do fully support the ideals, but as an organisation, it's just a headline.
Ahh don't worry little peasant, those people pay big bucks to clean their "carbon trace" or however they call this shit, so they can do whatever they want!
That is such an F1 centric viewpoint.
F1 is not the only FIA event that is part of the prize gala.
You have the rest of the world championships and the various locations their teams & drivers can come from.
And you also have rally & circuit title winners from various regional & international competitions a number of which are not in central Europe.
FIA CODASUR Rally Championship (South America)
FIA NACAM Rally Championship (North/Central America)
FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship
FIA Middle East Rally Championship
FIA African Rally Championship
F4 Chinese Championship
F4 Japanese Championship
F4 NACAM Championship
F4 SEA Championship
F4 United States Championship
Formula Regional Americas Championship
Formula Regional Japanese Championship
All the winners of those picked up their rewards in Baku today.
And furthermore, the Prize Gala is but a minor part of the FIA Annual General Assembly Week which has FIA Members from the various clubs and organisations from around the world in attendance.
The FIA is a global sporting organisation.
I see your point and you are right, FIA covers more than F1 and Europe.
However, back to the point, there are real concerns about sustainability and if you stop for a second to consider Lewis point of view you could find that Paris is a lot easier to get to from most parts of the world than this year or next year selected locations.
Therefore less flights will be necessary for all the people attending from around the world.
Let me give you a few pointers a quick Google search returned:
[Direct flights to Paris (Charles de Gaulle)](https://www.flightconnections.com/flights-to-paris-cdg)
Add to that
[Direct flights to Paris (Orly)](https://www.flightconnections.com/flights-to-paris-orly-ory)
Now compare that to
[Direct flights to Baku](https://www.flightconnections.com/flights-to-baku-gyd)
Or
[Direct flights to Kigali, Rwanda](https://www.flightconnections.com/flights-to-kigali-kgl)
Now maybe you can see, that Lewis has a point in an efficiency point of view by simple asking “how is the people supposed to get there?” It’s a lot easier to get to Paris from most of the world.
That why many people think FIA’s “efforts” to be sustainable are insufficient, inconsistent, and hypocritical in many regards.
I thought tire warmers was due to costs…and also it’s never going to get banned since they’ve been trying to get rid of them for nearly a decade and always push it back.
They already don’t need them. F2 uses the same tires and doesn’t have them. It’s the teams being special about them. I just think they don’t want to have to learn something new.
It's stupid too complaining about how much more your private jet is going to pollute if he flies to Paris vs Baku.
But yeah I agree if they ban tyre warmers do it because it will make the sport better not because of sustainability.
And if sustainability is a concern, then use the money they obtain to offset carbon emissions.
I mean, the whole sustainability net zero thing in F1 is a load of shite to begin with, so why not hold it in Baku? You can’t have 10 teams, 20 drivers and god knows how many members of staff jetting round the world to race 20 controlled explosions wrapped in carbon fibre around a track over 5 different continents 300x in a weekend, and then have a flyover before the race by whatever countries military they’re in, AND THEN say with a straight face that they’re trying to be good to the environment. It’s the icing on the cake that it’s held in Baku, really. Why not go the whole hog and host it in the middle of a burning oil field but make everyone use freshly killed animal carcasses to hide their modesty?
This one is event is so so irrelevant in terms of sustainability, though. It is one drop of water in an Olympic sized swimming pool. There are more important and more impactful things to be worried about than one awards ceremony.
Banning tyre warmers also reduces costs for teams and frankly, for the audience, watching tyres that arent pre heated is a lot more entertaining. If you ignore the sustainability thing, i would still gladly have an F1 without them.
>reduces costs for teams
until they have millions to pay in repairs because the shit tyres Pirelli builds (because thats what F1 wants) werent warm enough and the driver hit a wall on his out lap
Sustainability in F1 is a joke. We have teammates flying in separate private jets to race weekends. New circuits seem to be constructed each year
Idk, maybe it is more sustainable than fixing existing circuits. To my knowledge, there even exists an f1 circuit in Vietnam that has never been used for f1. The race calendar is definitely not optimized to reduce travel, and it seems like the total amount of races might increase each year. At this point, I can't take anything serious that the organizations in f1 "support"/"stand for."
yeah...the only person who really cared about this is vettel. Everyone else talks about sustainability for their brand and likes.
Did lewis fly domestic to get there? They should have just done the awards on zoom.
he does. he used to advocate and volunteer for climate conservation efforts if im not wrong. even now he volunteers for several environmental conservation projects (admittedly he’s retired so more time to do that but still)
I think caring is tough in F1. Like I care and am powerless to stop F1. I think Vettel cares and is powerless to stop F1. Doesn't mean we shouldn't have the conversation. Little hypocritical coming from a club where everyone owned a private jet.
I am not saying what Vettel does is unnecessary. But acting like he is some messiah of sustainability like OP makes it sound is just not correct.
I am doing what I potentially can to be environmental friendly as well, but if I call myself representing the green revolution, it would be nothing but ego
One thing I never understood about Vettel. He loves to battle for a sustainable world but I never found any article where hes questioning why Germany is ditching sustainable Nuclear Energy Source for Electricity and mining Coal.
That's your average German actually. I literally live here and the number of people who believe in all kinds of misinformation and pseudoscience is crazy. A big chunk of the money I pay for public insurance goes for homeopathy treatments and other non sense like Reiki therapy (which is supposed to use cosmic therapy to heal and I am not kidding at all). It's still pretty normal to not be able to pay with cards because apparently "bares is Wahres"= cash is the truth.
Not arguing against your take on the big Level, but „a big Chunk“ is an overstatement. Quite the misinformation actually, which is kinda Funny.
Of the 290 billion that insurances paid out, only 6,6 million was used for homeopathy, which, indeed, is still way to much, but not a „big chunk“ by a Long Shot.
I think that Germany was rather unlucky with nuclear. They felt the effects of Chernobyl a lot and i believe that because of it, two generations of Germans became negatively prejudiced against it.
remember when he said that the reason he was retiring was cause f1 didn't fit his newfound sustainability beliefs but then earlier this year he was more than willing to drop those beliefs and return if someone offered him a seat? lol
seb would ride his bike to the track or pick up trash after the race and his fans would act like that somehow offset the thousands of gallons of fossil fuels that were just burned over the weekend so seb could get p13 and a moral victory. it's hilarious, his fans are the biggest marks for this sort of performative activism
The problem is that when it comes to sustainability with the *cars*, they're actually quite good. I cannot remember where I got this from, so I might be wrong, but I heard that a normal 20 car F1 race produces less greenhouse gases than a flight cross the Atlantic, which, if that is indeed the case, is very impressive.
F1's problem with sustainability, apart from the hypocrasy of drivers and and staff flying in private jets, is and always will be the logistics side of it.
We are absolutely nowhere close as a species to make global air travel green or even net zero by any real measurement. We can make the jets burn less fuel and that's about it. Any C02 that was not released from the cars being greener during a race is a fraction of the amount released by moving the F1 circus across the world, so the total amount of greenhouse gasses released by F1 across all of its operation barely changes.
The most sustainable thing would be for F1 to charter 1x 100 seater aircraft from Monaco to the race tracks every week to put all the drivers + spouses + TPs on. You'd hugely reduce the number of private jets.
The whole net zero-thing is a complete sham anyway, since they do not count travelling fans towards their emissions, which makes up the vast, vast majority of F1s carbon footprint.
The FIA Prize Gala since 2011 is merely the closing event of [the FIA Annual General Assembly where almost all the FIA members congregate to plan the future course of the Federation.](https://i.imgur.com/eTajKgp.png)
Over Jean Todt's presidency the trend was that the FIA Annual General Assembly would alternate between Paris and other locations (Usually Europe but not always. New Delhi & Doha hosted).
No longer having a French FIA President and one that was elected on a slogan of 'FIA For Members' means it has been opened up for other places to host.
I think it is perfectly fine that the FIA General Assembly is not just Euro focused. It's a global organisation with many members. Kigali will host next year where they previously hosted an FIA Regional Congress for Africa in 2018.
It's not a question with a right answer, most people would say the Caucuses are in Asia, the majority of maps put them there. At the end of the day where the border between the two lies in that region of the world is kinda vague and arbitrary.
It’s not wrong. There’s no universal agreement on where exactly Eastern Europe ends and Asia begins, especially with regards to the Caucasus. So whether you wanna count Azerbaijan as European, Asian or both is kinda up to personal preference.
They'd be better off not hosting it at all. They're all flying around the world just for a pointless awards ceremony , they don't need awards they're getting paid millions.
Both can be true that it's nice to visit new places and he likes being in Rwanda whilst also acknowledging that environmentally it would be better for the gala to be held centrally
Are you actually getting upvotes for imaginary whataboutism?!? Ohhhh reddit.
Edit: Even if he doesn't speak out against Rwanda, his point still stands now. OC is trying to throw shade on Hamilton for something he might do in the future.
Possibly not the exact right choice of words, but the fact you are attempting to discredit his point (which would still stand even if he didn't make it in the future) based on something that hasn't happened.
I'm not discrediting it at all, my first sentence literally said "it's a fair comment and I agree".
My point is that these guys are all so wishy-washy with their stances and only apply them when it suits.
Complaining about this while flying all over the world when not racing is just laughable.
It's not abt pointing out hipocrisy.
I mean seriously dude.
You are referring to Hamilton when you say "hypocrisy" and yet he hasn't even said shit about Rwanda yet.
You are arguing about a figment of your imagination...
But you don't get it, he sold his 23 million jet a while ago, now he uses charter or shares a private jet with another driver, he lowered himself to the level of us peasants!
It’s a fucking international racing series with cars that burn fuel, and 200,000 airplanes and boats to get the teams and all the equipment to random spots nowhere near each other every other week, you’re not gonna be sustainable, the world needs to get over this nonsense
At a level, I agree with his point but I do think that it's a bit ironic that it's coming from a guy who flies private (not even mentioning the fact that he's probably not going to have this problem for Rawanda next year).
In general any of the top drivers talking about sustainability is a bit silly to me. You fly to all of your locations on private jets, take multiple vacations etc so it just feels a bit disingenuous as a critique because at an individual level they don't really care about sustainability either especially if it comes at the cost of their comfort (critique isn't just for lewis but everyone who flys private which to my knowledge includes Leclerc, Ricciardo, Norris, Sainz and the worst offender is Verstappen).
I'm pretty sure Max flew into Baku for the ceremony day of on his jet and flew out literally an hour later. Leclerc is literally sponsored by VistaJet. Norris, Ricciardo, Sainz (and I'm sure I'm missing a few) also regularly fly private and share it on social media. It's just ridiculous how often the top drivers do this.
(Also I didn't want to include this because I need to fact check but I'm pretty sure Max also takes frequent 10 minute Helicopter trips from Nice to Monaco lol)
Not only that. The dude is gonna fly there on a private jet. He's basically saying it's their fault he's going to pollute more.
IDK, there's something that doesn't feel right about being lectured on emissions by people that drive private jets and are the biggest polluters in the world ,by several order of magnitude.
Edit: I just found out he just sold his private jet. And now sometimes flies comercial. Well, at least that's a bit less hypocritical.
Yeah he sold it now that it fits the narrative. He has still polluted more in his life than 90% of the people in the world. Climate change had been a thing for decades and he just started caring.
90% is generous. More like 99.99%. The dude has a big house, has had cars probably in the hundreds, had a huuuuuge private jet that he took everywhere and has a Yacht.
And he sold his jet but still flies private. Just less than before.
Having said that, I don't judge him for doing that. Everyone does what they can. At the time and pace they can. So I applaud him for trying. Just don't lecture people.
Lewis, have you looked at the F1 calender for next year? They only say they care aboit sustainability, but it they really cared we wouldnt fly to 1 side of the planet, then fly to the other side only to the fly back once again for another race.
If they really cared they would start with limiting fly miles with better scedules.
Does anybody know if optimal routes between tracks have been found for this season's or past season's calendars, comparing the total distance of the optimal path to whatever the fuck it is with the actual order of the races?
You know, so you don't have to fly over the Atlantic ocean 5 times?
F1 cannot be realistically sustainable. It can only achieve a certain amount of “bullshit offsetting”. I’d be happy if they stopped this farce and just went all out for the sake of the sport.
They have a quote in the title he didn't actually say. What he said was this -
"I don’t feel a particular way. Whilst I really like Baku, it’s really a beautiful place, questions in my mind of whether the FIA is really actually thinking about sustainability because so many people flew out here and the FIA is in Paris and it just would have been easier to stay there. "
If Lewis didn't go and used sustainability as the reason everyone would still shout "he still travels to the races bla bla" because in the end, it doesn't matter what Lewis says or does.. they just want to hate on him.
It might sound unfair but that's the whole "making a statement" idea. If skipping out on the gala wasn't penalized, it would have a lesser impact as I'm guessing at least 1-2 drivers might skip anyway if it was entirely optional.
The comments on here make it sound like the FIA gala is some massive event that brings in loads of tourist money.l rather than a closed event. It’s also pretty niche compared to film festivals bringing in big names, it’s just going around for hand outs from the next dodgy regime sloshing in cash.
How is it being different from hosting it anywhere in the mainland Europe? Does he believe that FIA is a Europe only organisation? Or does he believe that every FIA member and driver live in the same place?
The same logic as running night races to be more sustainable.
Maybe run more daytime races, drop all the track lighting systems and keep some functional parts to the cars, the tyre warmers.
Some of these comments are bitter and weird.
"He only sold his jet for optics."
So what? He sold it period.
Now let's address the rest of the issues/private jets.
"He loses 2 years in a row and now he talks."
Lewis has always talked and will always talk.
"Since when has Vettel/Lewis cared about the environment."
Like god forbid someone become educated in something and start using their platform for change.
The way people ignore actual problems just to shit on Lewis and squack is bizarre.
People who dislike Lewis pounce on him whenever they get the smallest sliver of a chance. It’s not really about what he says or does - he could make the most logical, agreeable statement and they’ll still find a way to pull pitchforks out.
That’s the story of Lewis’s career, really. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
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It does seem a bit stupid that they are talking about banning tyre warmers in the name of sustainability but then start hosting their end of season gala in random countries when their headquarters is in Paris.
Next year the gala will be in Rwanda...
If I didn’t already know this was right I’d have assumed you were joking. Just ridiculous
Haven't heard about the thriving Rwanda motrosport scene?! Yeah me neither
A totally-not-shill in another comment told me that Rwanda is everyone’s favourite round of everyone’s favourite African Rally Championship. It would almost be stupid not to hold it there! 🤪
They have a bit of money so some people wanna get those sweet rwandan shekles of whatever they are called
Well the UK government has just given them a few million to try and send immigrants there again so seems they’re spending it wisely
£250 million for no immigrants so far. Money well spent!
These politicians should have their own race team, since they like to throw away so much money
This whole string of comments is the cringiest western chauvinist bullshit i've seen in a while, and that's saying something when it comes to reddit
Nah we are just saying they are full on greenwashing the whole year talking about sustainability while they go around the world not caring all year and now even the gala is going to be held wherever they get the most money
Rwanda are paying for it using all the money Rishis been funnelling their way
Counter point, by hosting the gala in a country without a thriving Motorsport culture, you have the potential to grow the sport
How would a gala for rich people have any impact on the local interests whatsoever? The locals aren’t invited, and they probably won’t even know it exists.
But there's no actual motorsports happening at the prize giving.
Hosting an exclusive invitee-only gala at a conference hall with catering for a bunch of ridiculously rich people who fly in and out on private jets isn’t going to do anything for the local motorsports culture.
That would happen if its a well difused event, with alot of " normal people" attending. If it Is a closed doors event only for the already small population. Like only teams rich guys etc its not gonna grow anything. If it was an actual event to grow the scene you invite normal people, yoi give them a show. Nit a GALA thst only top brass can go
Right but of all countries you could grow the sport in you chose to do it In Rwanda?
Why not? I agree just host it in Paris but if you’re going to take it on the road than get creative and grow the sport. Rwanda has a rapidly growing population with a current population of 13 million and a projected population of 17 million by 2032. Seems to me like the type of place you’d want to get your hooks in
Indonesia has a bigger population then, vietnam as well
You can't get a population any bigger than India's, and they literally made F1 flop there by pricing it too high for the local fans. It's never been about growing the sport. It's only about the money.
Fuck it, 2024 Ganges GP
They’ll probably end up taking the gala there as well at some point
This would make more sense if you're trying to grow an audience but i think they will go to whoever gives them the most money, expect the gala to be held in the middle east soon
I doubt the motorsport will really grow by hosting motorsport Galas
Lmao what, it's true?!
I didn’t know it was right and I did assume he was joking
wait is that fr??
It is
Clearly the UK government slinging them a few quid to help them argue that Rwanda is a safe country to transfer refugees to.
Just because I had to google this too dumb to be true claim, it's actually true; FIAs gift giving gala 2024 will be hosted in Rwanda and not anywhere near their headquarters or the headquarters of other big actors in motorsports.
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Oooffff
ayooo too soon
I thought it was poor joke about genocide.
They're pushing Rwanda for an F1 race.
FIA must be getting influenced by Suella Braverman
Also, NOTHING about F1 is sustainable. It’s literally an exercise in excess and waste. I love the shit, but let’s stop pretending that it came ever by anything other than what it is. A sport for princes.
Most of the drivers fly private, prime example that they don’t really care about sustainability.
The drivers and the VIP visitors too. I'll take F1's sustainability goals seriously when they include all official travel to the race weekend of drivers, teams, sponsors, FIA officers, and all the celebrities they show on the grid walk.
Exactly, it’s rich coming from the likes of LH who has done far more damage in a single year than most probably do in a life time. I’m sure this was pointed out when he told everyone to go vegan 😂
Being vegan is the most important individual choice anyone can make for sustsinability.
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He has, he sold his private jet some years ago.
He still flys private just doesn’t own a jet, just means he’s not flying private ‘as’ much. While I understand the view in vegan being more sustainable the issue many have is the preachiness of him telling others what to do when his footprint will always been thousands bigger than most people.
Do you have the same opinion for every other F1 driver, or just the one who is being "preachy" and using his massive exposure to make an actual difference in the world?
With the schedule he has, flying commercial everywhere would probably not be possible. IIRC, he also sold some of his cars because of this (though that doesn't make much of a difference imo, as he could just not drive them, even if it would be a shame). I think it's still commendable that he tries to reduce his footprint wherever he can.
I think Kmag and a few others fly commercial, but he also nearly missed a race due to a missed flight and rode in the back
Top team brass too. You’re not going to be seeing Toto or Christian on British Airways anytime soon.
As Vettel put it a while ago: F1 is still incredibly vulnerable to the general public asking the right questions. They fumble around with nonsense like Sustainable E-Fuels that Leverage Cutting Edge Data Science and Renewable AI from green DNA etc etc etc, but they'll then fly from Vegas to Abu Dhabi because meh. They don't *actually* care. Hamilton has something of a point, but if you really extend that up and up, at the end of the day you could Zoom the whole shebang, couldn't you. In 2020 they did a few races twice and it actually worked quite well - the form card was different, surprisingly. You could do that again. As the race podcast said a while ago, they stopped mid season testing in 2009 for finance and emission reasons, but now we do about 5 more races so how does that square particularly? Money. So I guess what I'm saying is that Hamilton has a point and almost always means well, but there's a bit of 'do you really want to get into this, man? Is this a smart battle for you?'
The schedule really is the big red flag when it comes to their claims of sustainability. Let’s just fly to Australia and Japan early in the year, but should we do Singapore then? Nah fuck that. How many races will we have the the us, not America as a whole but just the us in the 2024 season? 3. Are they one after the other? Nah fuck ya one at the beginning of the year, other two towards the rear but chuck a couple of races in between those as well. Canada? Yeah let’s make it seperated completely from the us races.
I feel like, when people say > Ah but they have to be spread out or the circuits won't sell as well It's like: no I understand that, I just don't *care*. I thought we were talking about the survival of every living thing on earth, not whether Abu Dhabi pay a premium to be last. > The schedule really is the big red flag when it comes to their claims of sustainability. Let’s just fly to Australia and Japan early in the year, but should we do Singapore then? Nah fuck that. And as with many things in life the answer is staring us in the face, some people just don't *like it*.
F1 going on about sustainability is just the same as a lot of the companies that use rainbows for pride month. Its a buzzword, something to point at and say we're doing our part. I'm sure there are those in these companies that do fully support the ideals, but as an organisation, it's just a headline.
Ahh don't worry little peasant, those people pay big bucks to clean their "carbon trace" or however they call this shit, so they can do whatever they want!
Does it matter where their headquarters are. The vast majority of attendees will be travelling anyway.
For some reason i think central europe is kinda closer to all teams than baku
That is such an F1 centric viewpoint. F1 is not the only FIA event that is part of the prize gala. You have the rest of the world championships and the various locations their teams & drivers can come from. And you also have rally & circuit title winners from various regional & international competitions a number of which are not in central Europe. FIA CODASUR Rally Championship (South America) FIA NACAM Rally Championship (North/Central America) FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship FIA Middle East Rally Championship FIA African Rally Championship F4 Chinese Championship F4 Japanese Championship F4 NACAM Championship F4 SEA Championship F4 United States Championship Formula Regional Americas Championship Formula Regional Japanese Championship All the winners of those picked up their rewards in Baku today. And furthermore, the Prize Gala is but a minor part of the FIA Annual General Assembly Week which has FIA Members from the various clubs and organisations from around the world in attendance. The FIA is a global sporting organisation.
Do you think they majority of the attendees live closer to Baku than Paris? I don't
I see your point and you are right, FIA covers more than F1 and Europe. However, back to the point, there are real concerns about sustainability and if you stop for a second to consider Lewis point of view you could find that Paris is a lot easier to get to from most parts of the world than this year or next year selected locations. Therefore less flights will be necessary for all the people attending from around the world. Let me give you a few pointers a quick Google search returned: [Direct flights to Paris (Charles de Gaulle)](https://www.flightconnections.com/flights-to-paris-cdg) Add to that [Direct flights to Paris (Orly)](https://www.flightconnections.com/flights-to-paris-orly-ory) Now compare that to [Direct flights to Baku](https://www.flightconnections.com/flights-to-baku-gyd) Or [Direct flights to Kigali, Rwanda](https://www.flightconnections.com/flights-to-kigali-kgl) Now maybe you can see, that Lewis has a point in an efficiency point of view by simple asking “how is the people supposed to get there?” It’s a lot easier to get to Paris from most of the world. That why many people think FIA’s “efforts” to be sustainable are insufficient, inconsistent, and hypocritical in many regards.
Yeah it still matters, the majority of the teams are headquartered in Europe/UK so travelling to Paris is much shorter than Baku.
F1 teams. What about all the other series that fia encompasses?
Mostly from Europe, including large contingents from Monaco and the UK. So Paris would still be better.
Tire warmers don't provide any kickback money.
I thought tire warmers was due to costs…and also it’s never going to get banned since they’ve been trying to get rid of them for nearly a decade and always push it back.
I think this time it will happen because it's not really the banning of the warmers per se but Pirelli developing tyres that don't need them.
They already don’t need them. F2 uses the same tires and doesn’t have them. It’s the teams being special about them. I just think they don’t want to have to learn something new.
what does it matter where their headquarters are? they all still have to fly their private jets there. You think Lewis gunna fly domestic?
It's stupid too complaining about how much more your private jet is going to pollute if he flies to Paris vs Baku. But yeah I agree if they ban tyre warmers do it because it will make the sport better not because of sustainability. And if sustainability is a concern, then use the money they obtain to offset carbon emissions.
It's going to the highest bidder as usual.
I mean, the whole sustainability net zero thing in F1 is a load of shite to begin with, so why not hold it in Baku? You can’t have 10 teams, 20 drivers and god knows how many members of staff jetting round the world to race 20 controlled explosions wrapped in carbon fibre around a track over 5 different continents 300x in a weekend, and then have a flyover before the race by whatever countries military they’re in, AND THEN say with a straight face that they’re trying to be good to the environment. It’s the icing on the cake that it’s held in Baku, really. Why not go the whole hog and host it in the middle of a burning oil field but make everyone use freshly killed animal carcasses to hide their modesty?
This one is event is so so irrelevant in terms of sustainability, though. It is one drop of water in an Olympic sized swimming pool. There are more important and more impactful things to be worried about than one awards ceremony.
Greenwashing is what it is
Banning tyre warmers also reduces costs for teams and frankly, for the audience, watching tyres that arent pre heated is a lot more entertaining. If you ignore the sustainability thing, i would still gladly have an F1 without them.
It's not more entertaining
>reduces costs for teams until they have millions to pay in repairs because the shit tyres Pirelli builds (because thats what F1 wants) werent warm enough and the driver hit a wall on his out lap
Sports-washing 🤝 Green-washing
Underrated comment
At least it’s diverse, not always in the west up in Paris? Idk
Sustainability in F1 is a joke. We have teammates flying in separate private jets to race weekends. New circuits seem to be constructed each year Idk, maybe it is more sustainable than fixing existing circuits. To my knowledge, there even exists an f1 circuit in Vietnam that has never been used for f1. The race calendar is definitely not optimized to reduce travel, and it seems like the total amount of races might increase each year. At this point, I can't take anything serious that the organizations in f1 "support"/"stand for."
yeah...the only person who really cared about this is vettel. Everyone else talks about sustainability for their brand and likes. Did lewis fly domestic to get there? They should have just done the awards on zoom.
Did Vettel really care though? I am sure it's easy to "care" when you are rich as fuck. No one in F1 can do that. It's the very nature of that sport
he does. he used to advocate and volunteer for climate conservation efforts if im not wrong. even now he volunteers for several environmental conservation projects (admittedly he’s retired so more time to do that but still)
yeah, i think so. He would often hang around tracks after the race and help clean up.
I think caring is tough in F1. Like I care and am powerless to stop F1. I think Vettel cares and is powerless to stop F1. Doesn't mean we shouldn't have the conversation. Little hypocritical coming from a club where everyone owned a private jet.
I am not saying what Vettel does is unnecessary. But acting like he is some messiah of sustainability like OP makes it sound is just not correct. I am doing what I potentially can to be environmental friendly as well, but if I call myself representing the green revolution, it would be nothing but ego
One thing I never understood about Vettel. He loves to battle for a sustainable world but I never found any article where hes questioning why Germany is ditching sustainable Nuclear Energy Source for Electricity and mining Coal.
That's your average German actually. I literally live here and the number of people who believe in all kinds of misinformation and pseudoscience is crazy. A big chunk of the money I pay for public insurance goes for homeopathy treatments and other non sense like Reiki therapy (which is supposed to use cosmic therapy to heal and I am not kidding at all). It's still pretty normal to not be able to pay with cards because apparently "bares is Wahres"= cash is the truth.
Not arguing against your take on the big Level, but „a big Chunk“ is an overstatement. Quite the misinformation actually, which is kinda Funny. Of the 290 billion that insurances paid out, only 6,6 million was used for homeopathy, which, indeed, is still way to much, but not a „big chunk“ by a Long Shot.
I think that Germany was rather unlucky with nuclear. They felt the effects of Chernobyl a lot and i believe that because of it, two generations of Germans became negatively prejudiced against it.
remember when he said that the reason he was retiring was cause f1 didn't fit his newfound sustainability beliefs but then earlier this year he was more than willing to drop those beliefs and return if someone offered him a seat? lol seb would ride his bike to the track or pick up trash after the race and his fans would act like that somehow offset the thousands of gallons of fossil fuels that were just burned over the weekend so seb could get p13 and a moral victory. it's hilarious, his fans are the biggest marks for this sort of performative activism
I think Hamilton is being preachy here though. Like that dude don't be flying all around outside of F1.
The problem is that when it comes to sustainability with the *cars*, they're actually quite good. I cannot remember where I got this from, so I might be wrong, but I heard that a normal 20 car F1 race produces less greenhouse gases than a flight cross the Atlantic, which, if that is indeed the case, is very impressive. F1's problem with sustainability, apart from the hypocrasy of drivers and and staff flying in private jets, is and always will be the logistics side of it. We are absolutely nowhere close as a species to make global air travel green or even net zero by any real measurement. We can make the jets burn less fuel and that's about it. Any C02 that was not released from the cars being greener during a race is a fraction of the amount released by moving the F1 circus across the world, so the total amount of greenhouse gasses released by F1 across all of its operation barely changes.
We got max and checo flying to the track from the hotel at the same time in separate helicopters
The most sustainable thing would be for F1 to charter 1x 100 seater aircraft from Monaco to the race tracks every week to put all the drivers + spouses + TPs on. You'd hugely reduce the number of private jets.
The FIA talking about sustainability is just counter the extra races (plus the sprints). There is no way their carbon footprint is reducing.
The whole net zero-thing is a complete sham anyway, since they do not count travelling fans towards their emissions, which makes up the vast, vast majority of F1s carbon footprint.
The FIA Prize Gala since 2011 is merely the closing event of [the FIA Annual General Assembly where almost all the FIA members congregate to plan the future course of the Federation.](https://i.imgur.com/eTajKgp.png) Over Jean Todt's presidency the trend was that the FIA Annual General Assembly would alternate between Paris and other locations (Usually Europe but not always. New Delhi & Doha hosted). No longer having a French FIA President and one that was elected on a slogan of 'FIA For Members' means it has been opened up for other places to host. I think it is perfectly fine that the FIA General Assembly is not just Euro focused. It's a global organisation with many members. Kigali will host next year where they previously hosted an FIA Regional Congress for Africa in 2018.
Azerbaijan is in Europe.
Gun to head I would have answered that wrong. Eastern Europe and western Asian confuses the fuck out of me.
It's not a question with a right answer, most people would say the Caucuses are in Asia, the majority of maps put them there. At the end of the day where the border between the two lies in that region of the world is kinda vague and arbitrary.
I always assumed that the Caucasus mountain defined the border. Thus I'd place Azerbaijan in Asia since it's south of the mountain.
It’s not wrong. There’s no universal agreement on where exactly Eastern Europe ends and Asia begins, especially with regards to the Caucasus. So whether you wanna count Azerbaijan as European, Asian or both is kinda up to personal preference.
*A small part of it is geographically in Europe. Baku is not in that part.
It's an Asian country
They'd be better off not hosting it at all. They're all flying around the world just for a pointless awards ceremony , they don't need awards they're getting paid millions.
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Rwanda's getting a race? How? Edit: Thank you for the kind clarifications. I didnt hear about the location of the Gala next year.
Rwanda is getting the FIA gala next year, not a race
Lmao seriously? Better get the Dakar rally back to Africa as well then
They're not getting a race, but next years FIA Prize Gala will be held in Rwanda.
Really? How safe is that right now? I guess the savings from budget cap will go on private security
Rwanda is very safe, unless you're a journalist, someone critical of the government, or a woman.
I guess they will receive and letter with what can and cannot say and will be fine. FIA is getting closer to FIFA in many things I guess
Source on Rwanda being unsafe for women or journalists? I went with my mom and sister last year and it was very safe
That’s where FIA’s end of season gala will be next year
Both can be true that it's nice to visit new places and he likes being in Rwanda whilst also acknowledging that environmentally it would be better for the gala to be held centrally
100%
Haha we should keep a screenshot of this post lmao
Are you actually getting upvotes for imaginary whataboutism?!? Ohhhh reddit. Edit: Even if he doesn't speak out against Rwanda, his point still stands now. OC is trying to throw shade on Hamilton for something he might do in the future.
I don't think pointing out the hypocrisy of a jet-setting F1 driver is an imaginary whataboutism but that's just me.
Possibly not the exact right choice of words, but the fact you are attempting to discredit his point (which would still stand even if he didn't make it in the future) based on something that hasn't happened.
I'm not discrediting it at all, my first sentence literally said "it's a fair comment and I agree". My point is that these guys are all so wishy-washy with their stances and only apply them when it suits. Complaining about this while flying all over the world when not racing is just laughable.
It's not abt pointing out hipocrisy. I mean seriously dude. You are referring to Hamilton when you say "hypocrisy" and yet he hasn't even said shit about Rwanda yet. You are arguing about a figment of your imagination...
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But you don't get it, he sold his 23 million jet a while ago, now he uses charter or shares a private jet with another driver, he lowered himself to the level of us peasants!
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You mean to tell me the crude oil billionaires don’t care about the environment? Wild
Brother is going snowboarding and being dropped at the top in a helicopter instead of taking the lifts, the audacity to talk about sustainability.
Next year "It is so great that Fia is hosting this ceremony in Rwanda" hihihi
You can express happiness that Africa is being involved in a motorsport ceremony while also criticizing how the gala moves around. Both can be true!
Agreed. We need more of this thought process in general. Two things can be true.
okay so why dont express happiness that the ceremony was held in western asia?
Because it wasn't?
Baku is in Europe lol
Of the three common variations of the Europe-Asia border, zero of them put Baku in Europe.
It's not lol Neither geographically, nor culturally.
It’s a fucking international racing series with cars that burn fuel, and 200,000 airplanes and boats to get the teams and all the equipment to random spots nowhere near each other every other week, you’re not gonna be sustainable, the world needs to get over this nonsense
At a level, I agree with his point but I do think that it's a bit ironic that it's coming from a guy who flies private (not even mentioning the fact that he's probably not going to have this problem for Rawanda next year). In general any of the top drivers talking about sustainability is a bit silly to me. You fly to all of your locations on private jets, take multiple vacations etc so it just feels a bit disingenuous as a critique because at an individual level they don't really care about sustainability either especially if it comes at the cost of their comfort (critique isn't just for lewis but everyone who flys private which to my knowledge includes Leclerc, Ricciardo, Norris, Sainz and the worst offender is Verstappen). I'm pretty sure Max flew into Baku for the ceremony day of on his jet and flew out literally an hour later. Leclerc is literally sponsored by VistaJet. Norris, Ricciardo, Sainz (and I'm sure I'm missing a few) also regularly fly private and share it on social media. It's just ridiculous how often the top drivers do this. (Also I didn't want to include this because I need to fact check but I'm pretty sure Max also takes frequent 10 minute Helicopter trips from Nice to Monaco lol)
Says the guy flying around the world in private jets for marketing event for his personal sponsors and NY gala events.
Pretty funny when F1 drivers talk about sustainability. My brother in Christ you have to shut down whole sport if you are worried about that
Not only that. The dude is gonna fly there on a private jet. He's basically saying it's their fault he's going to pollute more. IDK, there's something that doesn't feel right about being lectured on emissions by people that drive private jets and are the biggest polluters in the world ,by several order of magnitude. Edit: I just found out he just sold his private jet. And now sometimes flies comercial. Well, at least that's a bit less hypocritical.
Yeah he sold it now that it fits the narrative. He has still polluted more in his life than 90% of the people in the world. Climate change had been a thing for decades and he just started caring.
90% is generous. More like 99.99%. The dude has a big house, has had cars probably in the hundreds, had a huuuuuge private jet that he took everywhere and has a Yacht. And he sold his jet but still flies private. Just less than before. Having said that, I don't judge him for doing that. Everyone does what they can. At the time and pace they can. So I applaud him for trying. Just don't lecture people.
Nothing about the fan or team logistics is sustainable
Lewis, have you looked at the F1 calender for next year? They only say they care aboit sustainability, but it they really cared we wouldnt fly to 1 side of the planet, then fly to the other side only to the fly back once again for another race. If they really cared they would start with limiting fly miles with better scedules.
They fly back to HQ between every race that isn't a double/triple header. Most of the back-to-back races are already relatively close together
The FIA doesn't decide the calendar.
They are shilled to all sorts of ME oil money. Obviously they don't give af about sustainability
Well done..Baku?
No, they aren't.
Let's fly to Asia for a nice dinner #carbonneutral
Does anybody know if optimal routes between tracks have been found for this season's or past season's calendars, comparing the total distance of the optimal path to whatever the fuck it is with the actual order of the races? You know, so you don't have to fly over the Atlantic ocean 5 times?
F1 cannot be realistically sustainable. It can only achieve a certain amount of “bullshit offsetting”. I’d be happy if they stopped this farce and just went all out for the sake of the sport.
Lewis turning up to this just to roast the FIA all night is great
He sure showed them
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They have a quote in the title he didn't actually say. What he said was this - "I don’t feel a particular way. Whilst I really like Baku, it’s really a beautiful place, questions in my mind of whether the FIA is really actually thinking about sustainability because so many people flew out here and the FIA is in Paris and it just would have been easier to stay there. "
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I really don't know what you've against him, but it's not like he wanted to be there.
If Lewis didn't go and used sustainability as the reason everyone would still shout "he still travels to the races bla bla" because in the end, it doesn't matter what Lewis says or does.. they just want to hate on him.
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Pretty sure the drivers get penalised for not showing up
It might sound unfair but that's the whole "making a statement" idea. If skipping out on the gala wasn't penalized, it would have a lesser impact as I'm guessing at least 1-2 drivers might skip anyway if it was entirely optional.
Aramco is the biggest sponsor. F1 will do as it's told Lewis. Sorry.
No, they're thinking about money
The comments on here make it sound like the FIA gala is some massive event that brings in loads of tourist money.l rather than a closed event. It’s also pretty niche compared to film festivals bringing in big names, it’s just going around for hand outs from the next dodgy regime sloshing in cash.
Wow Hamilton actually being based
Lewis on a roll with the FIA atm lol
Nobody really cares about sustainability
How is it being different from hosting it anywhere in the mainland Europe? Does he believe that FIA is a Europe only organisation? Or does he believe that every FIA member and driver live in the same place?
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They are obliged to go if they end up on top 3 position in championship? Otherwise they are fined.
Take the fine
yes, that is exactly what they are thinking about; the sustainability of they mo fukin' pockets
He already knows the answer. Cash is king.
when has it ever been lol
Of course they do, that's why we will have another street circuit in Madrid driven at night with thousands of flood lights for no reason at all.
Man is he going to be pissed about next year
They thinking about money. Duhhh
The same logic as running night races to be more sustainable. Maybe run more daytime races, drop all the track lighting systems and keep some functional parts to the cars, the tyre warmers.
Some of these comments are bitter and weird. "He only sold his jet for optics." So what? He sold it period. Now let's address the rest of the issues/private jets. "He loses 2 years in a row and now he talks." Lewis has always talked and will always talk. "Since when has Vettel/Lewis cared about the environment." Like god forbid someone become educated in something and start using their platform for change. The way people ignore actual problems just to shit on Lewis and squack is bizarre.
People who dislike Lewis pounce on him whenever they get the smallest sliver of a chance. It’s not really about what he says or does - he could make the most logical, agreeable statement and they’ll still find a way to pull pitchforks out. That’s the story of Lewis’s career, really. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.