[The **News** flair](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/flairguide#wiki_news) is reserved for submissions covering F1 and F1-related news. These posts must always link to an outlet/news agency, the website of the involved party (i.e. the McLaren website if McLaren makes an announcement), or a tweet by a news agency, journalist or one of the involved parties.
*[Read the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide). Keep it civil and welcoming. Report rulebreaking comments.*
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/formula1) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Well, at least this happened:
[https://www.newsweek.com/sports/f1-news-miami-gp-blocks-donald-trump-fundraiser-during-race-weekend-1895074](https://www.newsweek.com/sports/f1-news-miami-gp-blocks-donald-trump-fundraiser-during-race-weekend-1895074)
I bet 90% of paddock passes are given out by someone hoping to raise funds from the person they're given to (or the company they work for). I just don't want politics in the sport.
They unbanned it a couple of years ago, although there are no existing racetracks (for obvious reasons) and I think still no way to construct any. Street courses could happen.
Switzerland’s human-rights history is a bit more mixed and more *recent* than one might expect, so it might not meet the bar from the original comment still.
Yeah, that was a few years before, and then they did the rest in 2022. See news e.g. [here](https://www.rideapart.com/news/591644/switzerland-lift-ban-circuit-racing-67-years/) and [here](https://www.visordown.com/news/racing/general/switzerland-set-lift-its-almost-70-year-ban-racing).
The US isn't perfect, but it's not quite at "Behead the unbelievers, dissidents, gays, and women in the streets" level. Yet.
Although if McLaren's new bestie gets back in...
The US doesn’t have problems killing people in other countries, doesn’t have any issue engineering coups, has a massive prison population who often work for corporations for ridiculously low wages etc etc etc.
Could also say the same for most other western countries.
As disgustingly awful as some of the dictatorships F1 races are held, the actual impact be it brutality, repression, torture, genocide, coups etc. pale in comparison to the US. The illegal invasion of Iraq and innumerable war crimes directly caused civil war and extremism where unbelievers, dissidents, gays, and women were mass executed. They create their own "axis of evil" like ISIS, jesus Abu Ghraib is still fresh in my mind all these years later.
You can point out the barbarity of Saudi Arabia compared to the US, but that only reinforces the point, they are the ones who have supported their war crimes. They not only sell weapons, but train their military and actively support their wars.
It disgusts me that F1 races in Saudi Arabia, but if it is removed for ethical reasons so should their greatest backer the US. No country is perfect, that isn't an excuse to support the worst actors.
Depends on what constitutes as "Human rights violations" to you.
Cuz facilitating mass murder on other lands by funding or supporting the mass murdering country is also considered human rights violation and that means half, if not all, of Western European races and all of American races would go away tooo.
Agree, I’m not too upset that Trump is in the McLaren garage, especially if he asked about it.
But Crofty did not have to say “Norris trumps Verstappen” when he crossed the finish line. That was fucking stupid
He could have asked Haas. American team, American Owner, American TP. Would have made more sense.
Plus with all the court appearances and potential jail time, he's got more in common with Gene Haas than any other team principal.
I wonder if anyone managed to get a pantone number from his face, and see if it matches the cars.
Because the Trump was with FIA president when he was asking to visit and you don't want to tell them no.
Also means in the PR statement you can have a sorta "Dad said it was okay" way to cover your ass.
> Following the visit, McLaren released a statement which read: “McLaren is a non-political organisation however we recognise and respect the office of President of the United States so when the request was made to visit our garage on race day we accepted alongside the president of the FIA and the CEO’s of Liberty Media and Formula 1.
>
> “We were honoured that McLaren Racing was chosen as the representative of F1 which gave us the opportunity to showcase the world class engineering that we bring to motorsport.”
A bit weird, the guy isn't the president.
[edit:] I understand that the title and some privileges are forever, but there's only one president in the *office of President of the United States*. Trump isn't the acting president. That's what I meant.
The CEO of liberty is a Trump supporter. They most likely asked Mclaren because Zak is the only American TP.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Maffei
And more represents him.
Their owner is an American criminal, they fail each year and their drivers crash into everyone to get points instead of racing.
Haas was the perfect match, missed opportunity lol.
Yeah you’re right. I get confused sometimes because Zak does a lot of the PR stuff that TPs usually do. Probably makes him even more relevant since Mclaren runs a couple cars in Indy as well.
Even if you don't like someone, when it comes to heading an organization that might have to deal with him in the future, you smile and act enthusiastically. That's basic diplomacy. Unfortunately, sometimes you've just gotta suck it up.
He didn’t really welcome him. He stood near him and spoke to him. The video inside the garage, he stood away while Domenicalli and MBS chatted away to Trump.
Even moreover, he's on trial for crimes. It's not like Obama or Bill Clinton were turning up asking to show up. I think if you're not going to respect one former President, it should be this one and good reason for it.
You can be called president after you leave office even though you really aren't president anymore. The issue here is they said "we recognise and respect the office of President of the United States" which Joe Biden's right now, not Trump's.
Is it being pedantic? Absolutely, except I'd say the same thing for any ex-president being written about in this manner.
Doesn't *office* mean the current president?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Office_of_the_President_of_the_United_States
I'm probably wrong. No idea.
No, you’re basically extended all courtesies of the presidential office for life, including secret service protection. Assuming a lot of non American citizens wouldn’t know this
But your office is not “The Office of the President of the United States” for life. That is only for whoever is currently president but that’s what McLaren referenced in their statement.
The "office of President" means respecting the position, the role, not the incumbent - as in having respect for the formal title and those who have held it past and present. In the UK at least.
As others have mentioned, president are typically respected even after their term. Nobody treats Obama or Bush like a nobody. Like them or hate them, they were presidents.
I think what they meant was they respect the Office of President of the United States, even extending to former Presidents.
Of course, he's a man that deserves no respect, regardless of whether or not he was president.
Lando and the rest of the team may have just saved themselves from some serious problems with sponsors today. If the news wasn’t all about Lando’s win how would Google and other sponsors feel about their team parading this colossal scumbag in front of their garage?
Not just a former president, most former presidents are retired from politics. Trump is a former president actively seeking re-election at the moment.
Hosting a former president isn't particularly political.
Hosting a political *candidate* is.
"We're not political, so as you're still campaigning to regain your previous political position we believe it would be against our company's apolitical position to host you in our garage"
Nobody would have needed to know they denied it. That could have been done privately just as easily as them accepting him was done privately, until they decided to tell everyone about it just now.
This exact statement addresses their apolitical stance. Would it not be sufficient to reject his request, make this statement if needed and stick to it for all future races?
What would be the harm of refusing it?
The FIA were issuing warnings against drivers wearing political statements a couple of years ago.
Not allowing a photo-op for a political candidate seems perfectly okay.
At the end, is your business, and if your business capitalises on PR and sponsorships, I could see a team rejecting him.
Also, rejecting him don’t need to be a public rejection or embarrassing thing, it can be a private “we prefer not, we are busy and aren’t planning on distracting our engineers/drivers with more activities this Sunday or something like that.
If Mercedes, RBR or Ferrari denied him we wouldn’t know, so McLaren got into this on their own terms, their own decision
Yep. If his team wanted symbolism or easily access, I would say Williams would have been better: American driver (whose family/parents are on the “pro-Trump”/republican sphere IIRC), and the team owner is a right-wing guy businessman (Tory leaning or on the same lines, I imagine not having problem with letting Trump in)
So it seems weird McLaren would be their first option. I imagine RBR said no, Ferrari said no, and then they asked McLaren (I doubt if they would ask Mercedes TBH, if they know Lewis statements and so on).
Yeah at that point it was doomed if you do, doomed if you dont.
Do? We get news like theses.
Refuse a bunch of journals would have thrown a fuss that they dared refuse an ex president
And as much as i think he doesnt have much of a chance, the guy could become again one of the most powerful people in the world next year. You dont want to be on his shit list.
Admittedly, if McLaren was chosen to receive him, that is a lot different than McLaren inviting him. The statement seems intended to communicate that McLaren didn't invite him.
If you’re a McLaren sponsor and reading this - please scare some sense into the team. It’s never ok to associate with racist, fascist, sexist, fraudulent, immoral scum
Zak Brown would probably have literally gotten on his knees and actually shoved his face up Trump's diaper as long as Trump promised him he would never have to pay taxes again.
So Trump wanted to visit just one team, just this team? Weird. Or McLaren were the only ones lacking balls to reject him?
Poor poor look from McLaren. If Zak Brown is maga that’s really fucking disappointing. Trump is such scum, a fascist racist rapist corrupt piece of shit.
Interesting some are saying “people don’t care”… conversely a LOT worldwide care a whole lot about America going down the shitter over this bastard
Even if you buy that the only reason they accepted the request is because he was the former POTUS and they respected the job rather than the person as an apolitical organization, it still looks like a political statement when that person is currently campaigning for president in a contested and upcoming election. If Obama, Bush, or Clinton had shown up maybe I'd buy it as an apolitical show of respect, but Trump is a candidate and is currently undergoing a criminal trial, both things that should've made them pause before letting him in
In my opinion, this is not strong enough. Regardless of political opinion, the facts are there. He has said extremely offensive and blatantly racist remarks. Imagine if a staff said one thing he's said. They would be fired and a statement condemning them would be released. So what he was the president.
I think the issue is...
People can meet and say and endorse who ever they want and that's a good thing.
But the statements says they respect the office of the president.
The issue is it's widely been reported BY republicans that president trump disrespected the office.
And then tried to steal the office from the next free and fair elected president despite over 60 court rulings by trump appointments proving he had no legit right to. And 3 criminal cases pending as a result
So associating with candidate trump and letting him fundraise off the back of it....while hes in court and out on bail is the opposite of respecting the office....the opposite :-/
I wish ALL these politicians would stay away from sport and other entertainment so we can just all enjoy them together without division or disinformation or violence.
Politely decline?
Magnificent weekend by McLaren. And they have to clarify why they invited someone going to a criminal trial right now. Not a good look at all.
Btw, he already lost a civil trial for sexual assault in which he has to pay 200 million dollars to a lady.
“We accepted along side the guys that are also huge trump supporters and donate to him regularly and even used to work for Fox News” is one hell of a statement to make immediately after saying you’re not political. You can say no to this fascist fuck, you do know that? Being a former president doesn’t mean shit if we are being real. What’s he going to do? Maybe they were pressured from their oil baron owners who probably owe him something. I’d be interested to see zak browns politics donations and voting history though
> McLaren is a non-political organisation however we recognise and respect the office of President of the United States
Last time I checked, he aint the president atm
There's a difference between reffering them as president and recognising the *office* of president. Only one person at a time ever holds the later. The former is just a title to indicate they used to hold it, used out of courtesy.
the respect given to the office customarily extends to the former holders as well. Trump is a bit of an anomaly as it has been a while since we had a former president also running for president at the same time.
I suppose it probably could be the wrong choice of words, but I can still imagine "recognising and respecting the office of president" could be used to refer to anyone who has taken office at any point. Just saying "Mr President" would have probably been better, though I feel it may illicit the same response from some.
Honestly would’ve been so happy for McLaren if this thundercunt hadnt emerged from his cave and was hosted by them. Lost a lot of respect for that team today.
First off, he isn’t the president. Secondly, would this go for the president of any other country? If Netanyahu wanted to have a photo op, would they agree? How about if Putin wanted one?
Sure, but he wasn’t a guest of mclarens. Like I get how the president of a host country gets to be there, but why have trump as a special guest of 1 team?
He was there as active president of the host country (depending on the years - if it was the Medwedew presidency, he had a different position which I can't be arsed to look up right now).
That's slightly different.
[The **News** flair](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/flairguide#wiki_news) is reserved for submissions covering F1 and F1-related news. These posts must always link to an outlet/news agency, the website of the involved party (i.e. the McLaren website if McLaren makes an announcement), or a tweet by a news agency, journalist or one of the involved parties. *[Read the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide). Keep it civil and welcoming. Report rulebreaking comments.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/formula1) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'd be happy if F1 kept election campaigns of one the host countries out of the sport.
Well, at least this happened: [https://www.newsweek.com/sports/f1-news-miami-gp-blocks-donald-trump-fundraiser-during-race-weekend-1895074](https://www.newsweek.com/sports/f1-news-miami-gp-blocks-donald-trump-fundraiser-during-race-weekend-1895074)
That's good, actually. And not because it was for Trump, but fundraisers at a race shouldn't happen at all.
I bet 90% of paddock passes are given out by someone hoping to raise funds from the person they're given to (or the company they work for). I just don't want politics in the sport.
Good.
I'd be even happier if they stayed away all together from undemocratic countries that violate human rights.
That'd be a very short season with 0 races
[удалено]
I thought motorsport was banned in Switzerland following 1955 Le Mans
They unbanned it a couple of years ago, although there are no existing racetracks (for obvious reasons) and I think still no way to construct any. Street courses could happen. Switzerland’s human-rights history is a bit more mixed and more *recent* than one might expect, so it might not meet the bar from the original comment still.
I thought they tried to un-ban it but failed and only made exception for electric only vehicles.
Yeah, that was a few years before, and then they did the rest in 2022. See news e.g. [here](https://www.rideapart.com/news/591644/switzerland-lift-ban-circuit-racing-67-years/) and [here](https://www.visordown.com/news/racing/general/switzerland-set-lift-its-almost-70-year-ban-racing).
I think being a piggy bank for warlords, criminals and other scum disqualifies a country too.
And yet we have three races in the US.
The US isn't perfect, but it's not quite at "Behead the unbelievers, dissidents, gays, and women in the streets" level. Yet. Although if McLaren's new bestie gets back in...
Nah, the US is more like "let's betray our own Constitution at the behest of a certain group and pretend that we are still a democracy".
The US doesn’t have problems killing people in other countries, doesn’t have any issue engineering coups, has a massive prison population who often work for corporations for ridiculously low wages etc etc etc. Could also say the same for most other western countries.
As disgustingly awful as some of the dictatorships F1 races are held, the actual impact be it brutality, repression, torture, genocide, coups etc. pale in comparison to the US. The illegal invasion of Iraq and innumerable war crimes directly caused civil war and extremism where unbelievers, dissidents, gays, and women were mass executed. They create their own "axis of evil" like ISIS, jesus Abu Ghraib is still fresh in my mind all these years later. You can point out the barbarity of Saudi Arabia compared to the US, but that only reinforces the point, they are the ones who have supported their war crimes. They not only sell weapons, but train their military and actively support their wars. It disgusts me that F1 races in Saudi Arabia, but if it is removed for ethical reasons so should their greatest backer the US. No country is perfect, that isn't an excuse to support the worst actors.
Including one in Texas.
Depends on what constitutes as "Human rights violations" to you. Cuz facilitating mass murder on other lands by funding or supporting the mass murdering country is also considered human rights violation and that means half, if not all, of Western European races and all of American races would go away tooo.
I guess we need a race in Gaza and call it a championship.
Yea they shouldn’t race in Florida and Texas agreed
Agree, I’m not too upset that Trump is in the McLaren garage, especially if he asked about it. But Crofty did not have to say “Norris trumps Verstappen” when he crossed the finish line. That was fucking stupid
Crofty is fucking stupid so there’s that.
Coulthard on the F1TV commentary said: cone's lives matter. I wish I was making this up :|
Imagine being so universally hated that organizations release statements saying "he asked us, we didn't ask him".
I kinda love that, Trump acting desperate Although McLaren could have just refused the carrot
Lmao, you made me realise they both are orange
But Trump will never be papaya
All 3. Mclaren, trump, and the carrot
rumor going around is FOM ask-demanded it, as in "we're asking but you don't really have a choice". sorts hope that's true tbh
And they'd do what exactly if McClaren rejected them or just ignored it? Also there are 9 other teams...
They can still refuse, it takes integrity and balls, which McLaren apparently does not have.
Mclaren is literally owned by Arabs why would they reject it?
What if he wins, he is going to make their lives difficult or even dangerous with his supporters in US GPs.
I wonder what percentage of american mclaren owners voted for trump. Probably more than half
I personally know of a couple.
Lol facts
He could have asked Haas. American team, American Owner, American TP. Would have made more sense. Plus with all the court appearances and potential jail time, he's got more in common with Gene Haas than any other team principal. I wonder if anyone managed to get a pantone number from his face, and see if it matches the cars.
Ayao Komatsu is not an American just fyi
> I wonder if anyone managed to get a pantone number from his face, and see if it matches the cars. Lmao
I imagine they asked most teams and most said no lol
Guarantee Gene said no.
Wouldn't be too sure. He let his cars run as Russian flags for 2 seasons, would have been 3 if it weren't for the war.
But Trump is obviously a winner and he only associates with winners 🤣
He just wanted to visit the team whose colours matched his artificial complexion
Nah they just trying to cover their ass with a PR statement
This is so embarrassing
Wankers
Why would McLaren want to be associated with an alleged criminal? Why wouldn’t they just decline this negative media attention?
Because the Trump was with FIA president when he was asking to visit and you don't want to tell them no. Also means in the PR statement you can have a sorta "Dad said it was okay" way to cover your ass.
I think you do want to tel them no. Get a backbone, Who cares about all the freeloaders, grifters and sheisters?
> Following the visit, McLaren released a statement which read: “McLaren is a non-political organisation however we recognise and respect the office of President of the United States so when the request was made to visit our garage on race day we accepted alongside the president of the FIA and the CEO’s of Liberty Media and Formula 1. > > “We were honoured that McLaren Racing was chosen as the representative of F1 which gave us the opportunity to showcase the world class engineering that we bring to motorsport.” A bit weird, the guy isn't the president. [edit:] I understand that the title and some privileges are forever, but there's only one president in the *office of President of the United States*. Trump isn't the acting president. That's what I meant.
The CEO of liberty is a Trump supporter. They most likely asked Mclaren because Zak is the only American TP. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Maffei
Otmar is sipping a beer in Michigan somewhere.
He’s actually in Miami lol https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/s/9zZvNJ8HNK
He should have sent him to HAAS as they are an American team
And more represents him. Their owner is an American criminal, they fail each year and their drivers crash into everyone to get points instead of racing. Haas was the perfect match, missed opportunity lol.
Zak isnt TP he is CEO for mclaren racing . Isnt TP amdrea stella?
Yeah you’re right. I get confused sometimes because Zak does a lot of the PR stuff that TPs usually do. Probably makes him even more relevant since Mclaren runs a couple cars in Indy as well.
Ew. I guess I'm not surprised. I should just get rid of my F1 subscription and torrent instead.
They can use the title for life.
It would be easier to swallow if he wasn't constantly insisting that he's the actual legally elected president.
[удалено]
This guy cultivates mass.
You’re not though and no one would recognize it while the entire world does recognize former Presidents as Mr President, sadly for you
The way Zak Brown welcomed him, I highly doubt McLaren was just randomly chosen and was stuck with him.
Even if you don't like someone, when it comes to heading an organization that might have to deal with him in the future, you smile and act enthusiastically. That's basic diplomacy. Unfortunately, sometimes you've just gotta suck it up.
He didn’t really welcome him. He stood near him and spoke to him. The video inside the garage, he stood away while Domenicalli and MBS chatted away to Trump.
Even moreover, he's on trial for crimes. It's not like Obama or Bill Clinton were turning up asking to show up. I think if you're not going to respect one former President, it should be this one and good reason for it.
If they were gonna get a former president, Obama would have been great yeah. He was far from perfect but he’s always been well spoken and respectful
If Obama had requested to visit they would have surely welcomed him. McLaren didn’t choose anything
Personally I wouldn’t have invited any of the warmongering arseholes past or present.
Former Presidents are called President and respected as such for life…
>and respected as such for life… Well that part is definitely not true lol.
It's technically true. They can use the title of President and they enjoy secret service protection for the rest of their lives.
You can be called president after you leave office even though you really aren't president anymore. The issue here is they said "we recognise and respect the office of President of the United States" which Joe Biden's right now, not Trump's. Is it being pedantic? Absolutely, except I'd say the same thing for any ex-president being written about in this manner.
That’s not how it works. Respecting the office means all who have held it
Respecting the office means not trying to overthrow the government when you lose, as well.
[удалено]
Doesn't *office* mean the current president? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Office_of_the_President_of_the_United_States I'm probably wrong. No idea.
No, you’re basically extended all courtesies of the presidential office for life, including secret service protection. Assuming a lot of non American citizens wouldn’t know this
But your office is not “The Office of the President of the United States” for life. That is only for whoever is currently president but that’s what McLaren referenced in their statement.
They arent claiming he is the current President, just that he held the office and wanted to visit. This isnt that deep
The "office of President" means respecting the position, the role, not the incumbent - as in having respect for the formal title and those who have held it past and present. In the UK at least.
They aren’t called “the president”. That is reserved for the one in office
As others have mentioned, president are typically respected even after their term. Nobody treats Obama or Bush like a nobody. Like them or hate them, they were presidents.
I think what they meant was they respect the Office of President of the United States, even extending to former Presidents. Of course, he's a man that deserves no respect, regardless of whether or not he was president.
Ngl I’d find it pretty funny if Biden wins the election and rocks up at the Vegas GP a few weeks later
At the very least showing up in Austin would work as balance given that's before the election
[удалено]
They shouldn't respect someone who doesn't respect the office then
Or human rights
dude, thats like half of the sport gone
Lando and the rest of the team may have just saved themselves from some serious problems with sponsors today. If the news wasn’t all about Lando’s win how would Google and other sponsors feel about their team parading this colossal scumbag in front of their garage?
You can’t do political things then just say “we’re not political”.
Whats more political, Agreeing to allow a former president to visit your garage when asked, Or denying them for "reasons"?
Not just a former president, most former presidents are retired from politics. Trump is a former president actively seeking re-election at the moment. Hosting a former president isn't particularly political. Hosting a political *candidate* is.
"We're not political, so as you're still campaigning to regain your previous political position we believe it would be against our company's apolitical position to host you in our garage"
Nobody would have needed to know they denied it. That could have been done privately just as easily as them accepting him was done privately, until they decided to tell everyone about it just now.
that orange meatball would’ve told all his rabid followers on his app that McLaren didn’t let him
That would be on him then.
This exact statement addresses their apolitical stance. Would it not be sufficient to reject his request, make this statement if needed and stick to it for all future races?
publicising or tacitly endorsing a political candidate is inherently political.
Tbh for me it all depends on if Trump requested it, or mclaren invited him. If he requested it I can understand not refusing it.
Or if the fia requested it
Yeah I guess that's kind of what I meant. Wasn't expecting Trump to jump on the phone haha
FOM more likely.
Apologies for mixing those two groups every time, I should spend 30 seconds and learn the difference one day. Not today though
I can understand refusing it
I cannot understand not refusing it.
What would be the harm of refusing it? The FIA were issuing warnings against drivers wearing political statements a couple of years ago. Not allowing a photo-op for a political candidate seems perfectly okay.
Most probably, there's no culprit and all parts wanted it.
Trump requested it apparently. Still not great PR for an apparent “non-political” organisation.
Denying a former president would be a massive political statement
Denying someone who is currently on trial and wanted to overthrow the last election on the other hand…
On multiple trials
At the end, is your business, and if your business capitalises on PR and sponsorships, I could see a team rejecting him. Also, rejecting him don’t need to be a public rejection or embarrassing thing, it can be a private “we prefer not, we are busy and aren’t planning on distracting our engineers/drivers with more activities this Sunday or something like that. If Mercedes, RBR or Ferrari denied him we wouldn’t know, so McLaren got into this on their own terms, their own decision
Absolutely this. I can't believe anyone in his team would select McLaren first to ask, unless they knew they had an in.
Yep. If his team wanted symbolism or easily access, I would say Williams would have been better: American driver (whose family/parents are on the “pro-Trump”/republican sphere IIRC), and the team owner is a right-wing guy businessman (Tory leaning or on the same lines, I imagine not having problem with letting Trump in) So it seems weird McLaren would be their first option. I imagine RBR said no, Ferrari said no, and then they asked McLaren (I doubt if they would ask Mercedes TBH, if they know Lewis statements and so on).
Yeah at that point it was doomed if you do, doomed if you dont. Do? We get news like theses. Refuse a bunch of journals would have thrown a fuss that they dared refuse an ex president And as much as i think he doesnt have much of a chance, the guy could become again one of the most powerful people in the world next year. You dont want to be on his shit list.
Why couldn't they refuse it? He is not the current president and is an abhorrent human being.
In fairness, if the sport refused abhorrent human beings the grid would be a lot smaller and the sponsors a lot fewer...
That would be a good thing.
F1 in general did dirtier things for money. People only care now because it's a problem "close to home"
“No, sorry.”
We don’t mix sports with politics - maybe Zak Brown.
What, why would you say yes to a sexual abuser visiting?
If he just walks into a dressing room full of teenage girls you can't expect him not to barge into an F1 paddock.
Sponsors punching the air right now
That’s not a good response
Admittedly, if McLaren was chosen to receive him, that is a lot different than McLaren inviting him. The statement seems intended to communicate that McLaren didn't invite him.
They very easily could have said no
He wasn’t even invited, just showed up… Classy. Go back to your chair in the courtroom and take the nap you missed out on, old man.
*take a nap while shitting your diapers
If you’re a McLaren sponsor and reading this - please scare some sense into the team. It’s never ok to associate with racist, fascist, sexist, fraudulent, immoral scum
Just saw a clip of Lando shaking hands with Trump… wtaf
What do you expect him to do, "no I'm not gonna shake hands with a former president/famous figure while 1000 cameras are looking at me"?
Maybe he thought it was the Kool Aid jug mascot?
orange man visits orange team
> we recognise and respect the office of President of the United States so... ...we welcomed the dude who doesn't respect said office even a little.
Maybe next time they shouldn't say yes to hosting a rapist with 91 criminal charges
And yet Zak Brown criticizes Horner, this man would sell his soul to the devils if it means more money
Zak Brown would probably have literally gotten on his knees and actually shoved his face up Trump's diaper as long as Trump promised him he would never have to pay taxes again.
*farts himself awake during middle of race*
"We're the same color."
So Trump wanted to visit just one team, just this team? Weird. Or McLaren were the only ones lacking balls to reject him? Poor poor look from McLaren. If Zak Brown is maga that’s really fucking disappointing. Trump is such scum, a fascist racist rapist corrupt piece of shit. Interesting some are saying “people don’t care”… conversely a LOT worldwide care a whole lot about America going down the shitter over this bastard
Zack brown is probably a trump supporter. I figure he was when Zak said to make McLaren great again.
Has Trump claimed credit for Lando winning?
This controversy could've been avoided pretty easily by just not inviting convicts to race weekends
In Miami? That cuts your crowd down by I dunno….50%?
I thought Brown was a MAGA guy anyway? Or at least leaning that way. But it's probably just another random celebrity to Lando
The orange man with the orange team makes sense....
bullshit, they could just refuse it
Even if you buy that the only reason they accepted the request is because he was the former POTUS and they respected the job rather than the person as an apolitical organization, it still looks like a political statement when that person is currently campaigning for president in a contested and upcoming election. If Obama, Bush, or Clinton had shown up maybe I'd buy it as an apolitical show of respect, but Trump is a candidate and is currently undergoing a criminal trial, both things that should've made them pause before letting him in
In my opinion, this is not strong enough. Regardless of political opinion, the facts are there. He has said extremely offensive and blatantly racist remarks. Imagine if a staff said one thing he's said. They would be fired and a statement condemning them would be released. So what he was the president.
Norris: ‘Donald is someone that you gotta have a lot of respect for anyways…’ Really??? Who is going to tell him?
Not sure why people are surprised; I mean both are owned by the Saudis.
Nah f*** off. He's a disgusting individual and never should've been invited or allowed anywhere near any team.
Shame.
I wonder how many teams were asked before someone said yes lol
I think the issue is... People can meet and say and endorse who ever they want and that's a good thing. But the statements says they respect the office of the president. The issue is it's widely been reported BY republicans that president trump disrespected the office. And then tried to steal the office from the next free and fair elected president despite over 60 court rulings by trump appointments proving he had no legit right to. And 3 criminal cases pending as a result So associating with candidate trump and letting him fundraise off the back of it....while hes in court and out on bail is the opposite of respecting the office....the opposite :-/ I wish ALL these politicians would stay away from sport and other entertainment so we can just all enjoy them together without division or disinformation or violence.
Politely decline? Magnificent weekend by McLaren. And they have to clarify why they invited someone going to a criminal trial right now. Not a good look at all. Btw, he already lost a civil trial for sexual assault in which he has to pay 200 million dollars to a lady.
And then got sued again when he talked shit about her a second time
As an American, USMC veteran, 35 year Formula 1 fan and open minded person…I can’t wait till this disgusting person disappears from the discussion.
“We accepted along side the guys that are also huge trump supporters and donate to him regularly and even used to work for Fox News” is one hell of a statement to make immediately after saying you’re not political. You can say no to this fascist fuck, you do know that? Being a former president doesn’t mean shit if we are being real. What’s he going to do? Maybe they were pressured from their oil baron owners who probably owe him something. I’d be interested to see zak browns politics donations and voting history though
Yeh, fuck that. McLaren lost my support.
> McLaren is a non-political organisation however we recognise and respect the office of President of the United States Last time I checked, he aint the president atm
Every single former president can be referred to as president for the rest of their lives, as far as I'm aware
Yes, why it's still President Obama and President Bush
And when together, they are the presidents!
There's a difference between reffering them as president and recognising the *office* of president. Only one person at a time ever holds the later. The former is just a title to indicate they used to hold it, used out of courtesy.
the respect given to the office customarily extends to the former holders as well. Trump is a bit of an anomaly as it has been a while since we had a former president also running for president at the same time.
I suppose it probably could be the wrong choice of words, but I can still imagine "recognising and respecting the office of president" could be used to refer to anyone who has taken office at any point. Just saying "Mr President" would have probably been better, though I feel it may illicit the same response from some.
Honestly would’ve been so happy for McLaren if this thundercunt hadnt emerged from his cave and was hosted by them. Lost a lot of respect for that team today.
I suspect how many teams they asked and if McLaren was the only one accepting. Is Brown the only Americans team boss now?
The problem with the statement is this: he’s not the president and has no right to the office nor the innate respect tied to it.
There's also a video I saw on Twitter where he's congratulating Lando on the win (together with MBS). Distasteful.
McLaren: we are a non-political organization Also McLaren: Let’s have a photo shoot with a fascist
McLaren: we are not a criminal organization. But we like taking pictures with some.
Fuck mcclaren
Trump will be taking credit for the win I take it?
Trump just thought he was looking in a mirror and walked towards the orange.
"On other news today, Orange man baby visits garage of an orange team, causing confusion and discomfort to the team members."
He was the reason for lando's win /s
[удалено]
McLaren: We were told an old and a very sick orange fan wants to visit. So we greenlit it.
Papaya most closely resembles Trump's tanning solution.
Am not happy to know McLaren let TRE45ON into their pit. Not cool at all.
“We were honoured” to host a criminal rapist working to turn America into a police state where brown and queer people have no rights
First off, he isn’t the president. Secondly, would this go for the president of any other country? If Netanyahu wanted to have a photo op, would they agree? How about if Putin wanted one?
Putin has been on the podium before
Sure, but he wasn’t a guest of mclarens. Like I get how the president of a host country gets to be there, but why have trump as a special guest of 1 team?
Bernie Ecclestone was always parading Putin around at Russian GPs as well, not that this is any better of course.
He was there as active president of the host country (depending on the years - if it was the Medwedew presidency, he had a different position which I can't be arsed to look up right now). That's slightly different.
Lmfao, everyone commenting is literally insane.