"Give them 30 million and they'll drive there tomorrow"- Fans react to F1 chief's 'no more racing in Russia' remarks

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali's comments about the sport not going to Russia ever again have drawn the ire of fans. Fans have called out the double standards when it comes to racing in the Middle-East, a region that has been marred by human rights violations over the years.

"Give them 30 million and they'll drive there tomorrow"

"Sport and politics is two completely different things. I just have to stop to watch it. Because it's not sport anymore."

"They’ll be there by 2025"

"But you race in the states who invaded Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and destroyed Libya with its NATO allies, but you will race in NATO countries? Utterly ridiculous"

"But racing in the Middle-East is fine I guess"

"But they will race in China? S.A. Qatar, USA, Mexico, Dubai? Got it. As long as a country we approve of getting dirty with war. I understand now"

"Forever is a long time - imo quite short sighted of Domenicali to say a big statement like this"

"Instead of everyone mocking them for removing Russia but not Saudi as well, how about give them a little bit of praise because they made a good decision for once. Y'all focusing on the wrong sh** right now. Yeah, probably won't remove Saudi, but at the very least they removed Russia"

Warning: NSFW Language

"I hope that there will not be more racing in the US. A country that attacks countries and no one is saying anything, well, F1 should do something. F**k the USA."

"Sure, they don't have good racing tracks, but why ban a country for something they and others have been doing for as long as the country's exist? Sure, it happens now, but did they do things like this in the past? Sure, Russians are scary for us in the west, but why only them."

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We are not selling the soul of F1: Domenicali

With the advent of new race tracks on the F1 calendar, there have been suggestions that the sport is chasing money. In doing that, there is a certain loss of character as well. Stefano Domenicali was recently questioned about the same. He responded by saying that this was certainly not the case and that they were not selling the soul of F1. He said:

"Money is important everywhere, for us too. But we don’t just look at that, the whole package has to be right. If we only looked at the bank account, the racing calendar would definitely look different. I’m not selling the soul of Formula 1. This is the normal change. We are opening up to the whole world.”

The former Ferrari team principal has helped the sport grow in recent years. It will be interesting to see what steps are taken next.