F1 Drivers Discuss Whether to Take a Knee at Season Opener

Formula One drivers will discuss taking a knee at the opening race of the delayed season in Austria on Sunday. (Reuters)
Formula One drivers will discuss taking a knee at the opening race of the delayed season in Austria on Sunday. (Reuters)
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F1 Drivers Discuss Whether to Take a Knee at Season Opener

Formula One drivers will discuss taking a knee at the opening race of the delayed season in Austria on Sunday. (Reuters)
Formula One drivers will discuss taking a knee at the opening race of the delayed season in Austria on Sunday. (Reuters)

Formula One drivers will discuss taking a knee at the opening race of the delayed season in Austria on Sunday.

“Some of the drivers have already been speaking,” McLaren driver Lando Norris said. “If we are going to do it, we should all do it as a grid. It will be discussed following the drivers’ briefing with the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association on Friday."

The Black Lives Matter movement has been supported by football players in Germany, Italy and England taking a knee before and during games.

“We will do whatever we can to show that we care and respect everyone,” Norris said. "We will do what is right when the time comes.”

Six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has been vocal about Black Lives Matter and F1's diversity issues.

Like Hamilton, Norris will carry the “End Racism” message on his car this season. The 20-year old driver recently encouraged his social media following to sign petitions following Hamilton’s criticism of his peers for staying silent on the matter.

“I want to do better than any other driver, but everyone should be given the same opportunity and treated the same,” Norris said. “It is not fair that people get treated differently because of their race.

“This sport reaches millions of people and the more we can do as drivers, teams, and as a community in Formula One, the bigger impact we can have.”



Mikel Arteta Angered by 2 Penalty Calls in Arsenal Loss at Inter

Arsenal's Spanish manager Mikel Arteta gestures during the UEFA Champions League football match between Inter Milan and Arsenal at the San Siro stadium in Milan on November 6, 2024. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP)
Arsenal's Spanish manager Mikel Arteta gestures during the UEFA Champions League football match between Inter Milan and Arsenal at the San Siro stadium in Milan on November 6, 2024. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP)
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Mikel Arteta Angered by 2 Penalty Calls in Arsenal Loss at Inter

Arsenal's Spanish manager Mikel Arteta gestures during the UEFA Champions League football match between Inter Milan and Arsenal at the San Siro stadium in Milan on November 6, 2024. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP)
Arsenal's Spanish manager Mikel Arteta gestures during the UEFA Champions League football match between Inter Milan and Arsenal at the San Siro stadium in Milan on November 6, 2024. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP)

Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta said a 1-0 loss to Inter Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday was “very, very difficult to accept” after two penalty decisions went against his team.
The only goal of the game came just before halftime after Inter was awarded a penalty when a free kick into the area skimmed off Mehdi Taremi and onto Mikel Merino’s outstretched arm, and Hakan Çalhanoğlu converted from the spot.
Merino had a penalty appeal of his own rejected earlier in the match – after being checked by the video assistant referee – when he appeared to be punched in the head by Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer as they both went for a cross, The Associated Press reported.
“Well, I don’t understand, it’s just a deflection,” Arteta said on the penalty that was awarded against Merino. “There is no danger all, you cannot react because the ball is very close. But OK, they decide there is a penalty. But then if that’s a penalty, the one on Mikel Merino, you know, when he punches in the head, it has to be 1,000% a penalty. And these are the margins in this game and very, very difficult to accept.”
Çalhanoğlu’s penalty was the first goal conceded by Arsenal in the Champions League this season.
And Arteta felt his team should have got more from what he said was “by far the best (match) that we played in the last few years” in Europe.
Arsenal pushed hard for the equalizer but the Inter defense withstood wave after wave of attack.
“(I’m) extremely frustrated as well because there are two decisions that at the end marks the result and the course of the game,” Arteta said.