Totally understandable that Liberty/Sponsers would do this. Seems its different for other sports, NFL, NBA etc, players can wear what they want. Can you provide link? I would like to follow this
Lewis finds himself in a rather unique position where his extreme success affords him liberties that would be unimaginable to anyone else. The very changing of the colours of the Mercedes cars gives an insight as to who seems to be calling the shots. Ingrained in the psychology of any competitive person is to continue to push the boundaries of what they can get away with and I think Lewis is a shining example of this. Disclaimer: I don't know if the following comment is considered political or not but I see it as a statement of fact... To complicate things that further strengthen Lewis' power is that he has not yet signed a contract and his employers along with some of the sponsors don't have the cleanest history in the world of 'race relations'. Rightly or wrongly efforts by those groups to control Lewis' behavior can very easily be spun to look like something very different than a racing driver not looking after the best interests of their sponsors. Mercedes is really in a tight spot right now.
I am not so sure there are not also prima-donas in many fields. {Actors seem to get away with all sorts of shenanigans we mere mortals could never comprehend. Royals get away with murder--both figuratively and literally, Surgeons take patients to the brink of death, slice and dice organs, and then restore them to health, Top engineering talent is allowed privileges that lesser engineers are not, Certain writers develop their own cult followings, Certain chefs create food in strange and exotic ways that people will develop a road-trip around visiting their restaurant, Politicians can lie constantly and continuously with nobody calling them out, heck, even Plumbers can command outrageous billing charges when called in an emergency, .....} Having been in more than one of the above, I can imagine. So it is not unimaginable, to anyone, it is just unimaginable to those who have never witnessed the leeway given to those at the top 1% of any profession.
If Mercedes doesn’t agree with Hamilton on his new contract, can you imagine what the social networks are going to say? Hamilton is smarter than you think.
The reason it's being done is the same as in the US; to force a discussion, an acknowledgment of issues regarding the topic. The people who want athletes to protest in another venue, almost always have zero intention of actually reaching out towards those venues, because the viewer thinks everything in life is fine as is for them. It is basically, "out of sight, out of mind" for many of these folks. As @jimmyb alludes to with this not being a good look of the forum, some of the stances being shared here are not as cunning or hidden as the person sharing might think. 1 member already got caught twice trying to imply Lewis' intentions just by visiting a steward, and here we are again, with the same theories that Lewis is going to hold his race over Mercedes, as if Mercedes is secretly, some poor company at Lewis mercy & doesn't actually support any of Lewis' activism.
He can do both....but his "off-the-track" agenda needs to be on his own free time AND not on F1's platform.
Above all, he should be silent on subjects of which he has partial knowledge. He is not a sociologist, he remains an improved taxi driver.
Yes I can go with that. But I suppose like ones before him, Lennon ect, and I am sure like ones that will follow him, like it or not he has found himself in a position to have a platform to air his views on things that matter to him, the fact people may not like what he is doing to highlight it matters not, to talk about the issue they also highlight it, hence job done IMHO. Not that I necessarily agree with mixing outside issues with sport, but at the end of the day it's up to him, and his bosses IMHO.
He's a black man advocating on issues surrounding black people, and he has no "legitimacy" to lead that front? And only has "partial" knowledge? I'm beginning to seriously come to conclusion of understanding how this forum has managed to have so many topics (including an old 140+ page thread) that critiques Lewis on everything he does.... Which is retracts back to, "Go complain about your issues somewhere I can't see them", or "Shut up and dribble". And that's fine. It's not changing his decisions, though.
Obviously, it is impossible for me to develop and contradict your statements without taking the risk of being banished. Too bad because your view of the problem is rather simplistic.
Several posts here are beginning to cross the line on what is P&R, mentioning the driver's race and companies racial history, etc. We had a rather large group of users banned yesterday for getting into P&R territory. It appears users still want to talk about this incident, but as the discussion becomes involved, the posts are becoming less cautious. I would rather not have a repeat of yesterday. You can discuss whether a driver is fulfilling his obligations to his sponsors/team or his contribution to the sport or his craft, no further.
That's what you get these days: pressure groups hijacking any social media for their own benefit and trying to shut up people who object.
