Formula One drivers will no longer take the knee before the start of each race this season.
The news comes despite leading driver Lewis Hamilton’s outspoken views regarding the gesture.
According to sources, drivers have been taking the knee before the start of every race for the past two years. But now, F1 bosses are putting an end to the year-long tradition on the grid for the upcoming season.
Local media reports claim that the allocated slot from the driver season’s schedule ahead of those races has been removed for good.
A dwindling number of drivers including Hamilton were quick to gather at the forefront and speak about how strongly they supported the cause.
For this reason, they could always be seen showing solidarity against racism, right ahead of every race.
But with the F1 all set to pull out the slot from the new schedule for the upcoming season of races, which will begin in Bahrain on March 20, many are curious to see what will the end result of this controversial decision be.
F1 organizers have instead opted to build upon the gesture and the true meaning behind it. And that’s when they announced on Tuesday how it plans on extending the funding commitment towards the Formula One Engineering Scholarship for all those groups declared as minorities or underrepresented.
In addition to that, it also vowed to continue screening messages that revealed around the theme of anti-racism, before the start of every single one of its Formula 1 races.
In the same way, organizers revealed how the F1’s renowned branding slogan, “We Race As One” will also be made widely visible before the start of each round.
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