Lewis Hamilton 'not comfortable' racing in Saudi Arabia; condemns 'terrifying' LGBTQ+ laws

Formula One driver and reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton has expressed that he does not feel comfortable racing in Saudi Arabia. Hamilton's statement comes ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this Sunday. Hamilton's remarks gain prominence considering the Middle-eastern country's repressive laws pertaining to the LGBTQ+ community. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver has also described the laws as 'terrifying' and has asserted that F1 is 'duty bound' to raise awareness about human rights in Saudi Arabia.

However, the seven-time F1 world champion also maintained that it is not his choice to be here since F1 itself has taken the decision to conduct a Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia. Regardless, he has called upon the sport to do more for raising awareness about human rights in the countries it visits. 

"Do I feel comfortable (racing) here? I will say I do. But it's not my choice to be here, the sport has taken the choice to be here, Hamilton said.  "There's a lot of change that needs to happen and I think our sport needs to do more," said Hamilton.

The F1 world champion had earlier raised similar concerns over human rights in Bahrain and Qatar. During the race weekends at Qatar Grand Prix, Hamilton also wore a rainbow coloured helmet in a bid to show his support for the LGBTQ community. During his statement on Wednesday, he has revealed that he will wear the helmet again during the upcoming Qatar Grand Prix and in the last race at Abu Dhabi. 

"I will wear that again here again and the next race [in Abu Dhabi], because that's an issue. If anyone wants to take time to read what the law is for the LGBT+ community, it is pretty terrifying. There are changes that need to be made," he added. 

Apart from Lewis Hamilton, fellow F1 driver and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel is also set to demonstrate his support and create awareness this weekend. Vettel is expected to wear his rainbow-adorned trainers. Earlier on Thursday, the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One driver had organised a karting session for the women and girl drivers to stand in solidarity with them. They were given the right to drive only in 2018. 

Human Rights issues in Saudi Arabia 

Saudi Arabia is known for several human rights violations including executions. Though the number of executions have reduced dramatically in 2020 following changes in halting executions for non-violent drug-related crimes, Amnesty International had ranked it third in the world for the highest number of executions in 2019, the Associated Press reported. As per Reprieve, 392 people have been executed for non-violent crimes in the six years that King Salman and the powerful crown prince have ruled. 

In 2020, there was a significant drop compared to an all-time high of 184 executions the year before. The drop resulted in part from a moratorium on death penalties for drug-related offences. In addition, the country's government has spent billions of dollars by hosting major events, including sports in order to deviate away from the country's image as a pervasive human rights violator. Apart from Saudi Arabia, two other countries - Bahrain and Qatar have been accused of sports-washing their human rights records by using high-profile sporting events to present a favourable image. 

With AP inputs 

Image: AP