YOU’RE LOSING ME, DEAR SEB

I respect you, Seb, I always have. I’m probably one of the few who understood the real technical reasons behind your struggles during your final years at Ferrari and, in some way, defended you against those fools who believed (and probably still believe) that you lost your touch in just one season.

But please, stop. You’re becoming unbearable.

We don’t need another dime-a-dozen idealist spouting shallow rhetoric on the usual trendy, radical-chic topics.

You’re not on any social media to seem “different,” but you’re still chasing easy “likes.”

First, you said you’d rather race at Bathurst than Las Vegas. Sure, after your complaints about Spa’s safety last year, we totally believe you. Do you even know where the walls are at Bathurst? Come on.

And now you’re saying, “Formula 1 needs a gay driver.”

For your information, Formula 1 already had a gay driver. He raced in 28 Grands Prix between 1971 and 1973—before you were even born.

His name was Mike Beuttler, an openly gay British racer who was respected in a much rougher, more problematic world. A world, yes, far from perfect, but one without today’s hypocrisy or public figures trying to pose as champions for communities and minorities they barely understand.

Now, though, we’re stuck with empty statements and rainbow-colored symbols scattered here and there out of some forced sense of moral obligation—so much so that their original meaning has been stripped away entirely.

Focus on your career, Seb. Otherwise, that rainbow mask will be the only splash of color in your final years in Formula 1.

© Simone Marchetti