Politics and sport are an increasingly potent mix – and nowhere more so than in Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, where Formula One drivers Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel made a stand for LGBTQ+ rights last weekend.
In Hungary to compete at the Grand Prix event they have dominated for the past decade, the British and German pair spoke out against the upcoming referendum on Orbán’s so-called ‘child protection law’, an anti-paedophilia bill that was later augmented to prohibit the showing of “any content portraying or promoting sex reassignment or homosexuality” to under-18s.
Hamilton called the referendum “unacceptable, cowardly and misguiding [sic]” in an Instagram post on Thursday. Vettel, who sported a ‘Same Love’ rainbow shirt as the Hungarian national anthem played, said: “I find it embarrassing for a country that is in the European Union having to vote or having some laws like this.” Many F1 pit crew also wore rainbow wristbands to show solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.
