Originally Posted by
Jag_Warrior
Even with your anecdotal experience recognized, it still doesn't account for the fact that F1 (and Indy Car to a lesser degree) has always been a White male sport. AFAIK, there's never been any sort of serious recruiting or development initiative to get non-White prospects involved in the sport. This is, oddly enough, where NASCAR is more "advanced" than F1 in this area. I mean, let's be honest, at least in the U.S., there are loads of non-White engineering students at all of the top universities. And yes, while Black kids aren't as prevalent as Asians (including Indians), they are there. In my time at Bell Helicopter, they were there. At Cessna, they were there. At Boeing, they were there. Though under-represented when compared to the overall population, they were still there - it wasn't zero. But in F1, they are, for the most part, not there. Even worse, let's mention Asians, who are over-represented in engineering in the U.S., but who are all but absent in F1, outside of Honda and Toyota when they were there. Additionally, given F1's history (think apartheid when F1 raced in South Africa), it's not exactly ridiculous for someone to point out the fact that F1 is one of the least diverse major sports in the world. And given the former head of F1's past tendencies to make racially charged and (no doubt about it) sexist statements, that doesn't exactly provide a "good look", especially in the current environment. But F1's record of being silent on human rights issues has always been incredibly weak, as long as the checks cleared.