F1: McLaren defends itself for welcoming Trump, during election campaign | formula 1

McLaren’s magical Sunday at the Miami GP didn’t just revolve around Lando Norris’ unprecedented victory. The team also had to go public to explain itself and reinforce its apolitical character after receiving visits from former American president and 2024 candidate Donald Trump – who, to the British driver, called himself the team’s “lucky charm”.

– McLaren is a non-political organization, but we recognize and respect the office of President of the United States. So, when the request was made to visit our garage on race day, we accepted alongside the President of the FIA ​​and the CEOs of Liberty Media and Formula 1. We were honored that McLaren Racing had been chosen as the representative of F1 , which gave us the opportunity to showcase the world-class engineering we bring to motorsport – said the team in a statement.

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Despite his status as the 45th president of the United States between 2017 and 2021, Trump has continued to campaign actively across the country since January, aiming for the election in November of this year. The Republican is divided between rallies and hearings in the case in which he is accused of falsifying documents to cover up payments to a porn actress.

Before appearing in Miami, where he wore a cap with his campaign’s official slogan, Trump also promoted election campaigns in the states of Wisconsin and Michigan, and received allies from the Republican Party at his home in Florida.

– He saw me later and came to congratulate me. It was an honor, it has to be an honor for him to come to you, to take time out of his life to pay respect for what you did. He said it was my lucky charm because I won. I don’t know if he will come to more races. Donald is someone you need to have a lot of respect for in many ways. And, yes, you have to be grateful to anyone who recognizes what you can do – explained Norris, in this Sunday’s post-race press conference.

The businessman was also seen at the race talking to Mohammed ben Sulayem, president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA).

The FIA, however, has adopted strong restrictions when it comes to policy in recent years: in 2020, when Lewis Hamilton took the podium after winning the Tuscan GP with a t-shirt calling for the arrest of the police officers who murdered the young African-American woman Breonna Taylor , the entity investigated him for an alleged political demonstration.

“The promotion or general display of political, religious and personal comments or positions is notably in violation of the general principle of neutrality promoted by the FIA ​​under its statutes, except when previously approved in writing by the FIA ​​for international competitions, or by relevant national sporting associations for national competitions within their jurisdictions”, says Article 12.2.1.n of the 2023 International Sporting Code.

F1 returns in two weeks on May 19, with the Emilia-Romagna GP. The stage at the Autódromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari is valid as the seventh of the championship. See calendar.