this is a genuine ask, and i'd love a civil answer. since sunday, i've seen about 400 000 posts saying "wow and no drivers are even saying anything about the abuse lewis is getting. disgusting". now that drivers & teams are saying something, and standing as a somewhat united front, people are still angry. this is textbook tumblr never being happy with anything, but i'm wondering, why? what would be enough? what do you want?
this is a great ask anon and some very good points you raise.
I think what fans/the general audience/those of us who actually care about combatting racism want to see is a genuine response from the drivers.
so for example, i would say that a driver actually posting something of their own accord rather than just sharing the 'official statement' shows a bit more care and thought. also I think (and this is stuff that Lewis talks about a lot more eloquently than me) they need to participate a LOT more in the wider conversation re: racism and diversity in motorsport and be more involved even though they may be white/may have never experienced racism themselves. it's still their sport and something they should be active in addressing if they really do care.
more broadly, it's not that I'm mad at them for posting stories. I'm more just making a comment at certain fans/fan groups that are celebrating their favourite driver like he's a hero for literally reposting one story and doing what is quite frankly the bare minimum. I don't think it's ok that drivers can post an IG story and we tick them off the list like 'great, he's not racist, he cares because he posted this story'. I think as a whole the standard and expectation from fans needs to be higher because actually the fans do have a loud voice and can use that to demand change.
also yeah, its probably also a little bit of standard tumblr complaining - but that's ok. living in a world still rife with racism in 2021 is horrible and seeing it present in your favourite sport and against your favourite driver is really really horrible. i think its actually healthy to have a place to vent and sound off about this stuff so if people want to come online and have a moan then good for them.
TL;DR
I think we are allowed to be glad f1 drivers are acknowledging / publicly condemning racism whilst also being SO frustrated that they aren't doing more.
