Continuation: Absolutely don’t buy into the weak view we shouldn’t put them through this kind of challenge. Check out Senna in Brazil, Stewart at rainy Nurburgring, Lauda post crash, etc etc
My friends first race was yesterday and he was floored with how they were afterwards. He genuinely didn’t think they were athletes until that moment. Now he’s kinda hooked and excited for the next race. So there’s that
I wonder how many complaining about this take, said the same thing during the Dutch GP? Or the '22 Japanese GP? Or the '21 Belgium GP?
F1 drivers are villains, because they make people think it’s cool to pollute
This is a terrible take and I would’ve expected better from Martin Brundle. A sport can be challenging and entertaining without endangering athletes well-being to such a degree. If the choice is to either DNS/retire or push the driver beyond the limit, you’re always incentivising the worse choice.
Sure, F1 carries an inherent risk, but there’s no need to make it actively worse. Qatar is a terrible place to go racing and this weekend proved it. Everyone knows it, and the only reason there’s a grand prix there is money and sports washing.
Yes, throwing up in your helmet and passing out at the wheel is both strong and manly!
He’s comparing imperfect driving conditions and freak accidents with undeniable health concerns. Everyone can suffer from heat stroke- it doesn’t care how fit you are. Poor taste and bad take.
So what should they have done? Call the race when Logan came in? Install air conditioning? Red flag the race for a mandatory 20 minute cool down/rehydration?
They are all full grown adults and they should know their limits. Their engineers and principles know they’d rather them park a fully functional car than pass out, wreck it, and die. Logan did it, and you better believe that every person on Williams is thankful he did than the former, and he has the most at stake.
Every single driver mad their choices to stay in that race or retire.
I don’t think they should race in Qatar to begin with, but if they must - it needs to be moved into cooler months. Drivers will always drive, there is no question of their dedication and desire to take a win, but athletes also shouldn’t be subjected to inhumane competition conditions. How many red flags have gone out because the track conditions were poor? Why isn’t heat taken as seriously?
Brundle is full of bad takes on safety despite my like of him for other reasons. The man casually talks about teammates and other drivers dying like flies back in his day like it was no problem. Unfortunately he is locked in the time of not caring about driver deaths because that was part of it
![[Martin Brundle] It’s races like Qatar and very rainy days which make F1 drivers look the heroes and athletes they are.(lemmy.world)](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/d5998494-9092-4deb-a47c-07cc669c2d75.png){kind=link}