Kneeling 'against the Russian mentality' – Kvyat

Jul.14 (GMM) It is a “personal choice” whether drivers want to kneel or stand amid the new wave of racial politics that is sweeping through Formula 1, according to Daniil Kvyat.

For the second consecutive Sunday, only a minority of the drivers refused to join the Lewis Hamilton-led gesture in support of Black Lives Matter in Austria.

“I already expressed my position last week,” Kvyat, who was one of the dissenting drivers, told Russia-1 television.

“All of the drivers are united in the fight against racism,” said the Russian, who joined all of his rivals in wearing black ‘End Racism’ t-shirts.

“But I am against kneeling. It’s against the Russian mentality,” Kvyat added. “We don’t kneel just like that, there must always be a very good reason.”

The intrusion of politics into Formula 1 has visibly divided the drivers, but Kvyat insists that gestures of that nature are a “personal choice”.

“Nobody pushes anyone to do anything. Every driver, every employee in Formula 1 does what he sees fit,” said the Alpha Tauri driver. “I think there’s no drama in all of this.

“For some people, kneeling is fine, but I want to express my position in a different way, like some other colleagues. We are all calm, everyone is concentrated before the race, there are no serious disagreements.

“We all fight against racism, but everyone does it in their way,” Kvyat said.