BBC Sport looks at the reer of Mike Bttler, Formula 1's only known gay male driver, and his impact on today's LGBT+ motorsport muny.
Contents:
- THIS GAY RACE R DRIVER IS OUT AND PROUD, AND CHASG HIS MOTORSPORTS DREAM
- LGBT+ HISTORY MONTH: MIKE BTTLER - FORMULA 1'S ONLY KNOWN GAY MALE DRIVER
- GAY DRIVERS F1?
- F1 WOULD WELE AN OPENLY GAY DRIVER, SAYS VETTEL
- SEBASTIAN VETTEL - F1 READY FOR AN OPENLY GAY DRIVER
- FORMULA 1 READY TO WELE A GAY DRIVER – VETTEL
- ARE THERE ANY GAY F1 DRIVERS?
- THERE ARE MORE 'OUT' GAY RACG DRIVERS THAN YOU THK
- SEBASTIAN VETTEL - F1 READY FOR AN OPENLY GAY DRIVER
THIS GAY RACE R DRIVER IS OUT AND PROUD, AND CHASG HIS MOTORSPORTS DREAM
* gay driver formula *
Are there gay F1 drivers? I've been thkg about this topic for que some time but I realised that gay f1 drivers seem to e few and far between.
LGBT+ HISTORY MONTH: MIKE BTTLER - FORMULA 1'S ONLY KNOWN GAY MALE DRIVER
SportsPro Magaze's current issue, an article speculatg that Casey Kahne may be the first gay driver NASCAR, stat that F1 currently has two... * gay driver formula *
1950s: 0 gay drivers 1960s: 0 gay drivers 1970s: 0 gay drivers 1980s: 0 gay drivers 1990s: 0 gay drivers 2000s: 1 gay driver (Jaime Alguersuari) Proof 2010s: 1 gay driver (Jaime Alguersuari) 2020s: 1 gay driver (Alex Albon).
If we take to nsiratn the 2 gay drivers, Jaime Alguuari and Alex Albon. 003% chance of a Formula 1 driver beg gay.
GAY DRIVERS F1?
Formula One would now wele s first openly gay driver, acrdg to Germany's four tim world champn Sebastian Vettel. * gay driver formula *
003% of gay Formula 1 drivers (4x0. 93 people Formula 1 are gay which nfirms the sexualy of Alex Albon and Jaime Alguersuari.
F1 WOULD WELE AN OPENLY GAY DRIVER, SAYS VETTEL
Sebastian Vettel believ that F1 is now ready to wele an openly gay driver. * gay driver formula *
He took to Instagram and me out as gay last June. If he tak the green flag there, he will jo Stephen Rhos on the list of openly gay drivers a NASCAR natnal seri. Are there or has been any gay drivers formula 1?
I wonr if there are drivers wh a homosexual orientatn. Bttler remas the only known gay male driver to have peted at the hight level of did so at a time when F1 was an pecially macho environment. "I knew he was gay, but didn't matter my world.
SEBASTIAN VETTEL - F1 READY FOR AN OPENLY GAY DRIVER
On Tuday, Raphael Orlove and Bill Caswell posed the qutn on Jalopnik, “Why Aren’t There More ‘Out’ Gay Race Car Drivers?” Actually, there are more than you thk. * gay driver formula *
"The racg world of the 2020s is a very different place to that of the Bishop, a Racg Pri ambassador and Aston Mart F1 chief munitns officer, said: "In the early 1970s, people didn't talk about beg gay. "In the Uned Kgdom, was only 1967 that homosexualy was legalised between two nsentg adults private.
FORMULA 1 READY TO WELE A GAY DRIVER – VETTEL
Overall, he sred five top-10 fish his then the UK was plunged to fancial turmoil by the 1973 oil crisis, and his team did not have the money to stay the 34, Bttler retired om Bradshaw, a motorsport PR nsultant who first met Bttler the early 1970s, said: "There was no stigma wh Mike, he was a nice gentle person - everyone knew he was gay, wasn't a secret and was accepted. "I spect would have been easier for him to live the liftyle he wanted LA and San Francis, whereas beg gay London was a more secretive thg, " said Phillips.
"'LGBT+ people have always been part of motorsport'Brr Endurance Champnship driver and Racg Pri -founr Richard Morris has had lots of support wh motorsport after g out as gay 2018Sce Bttler's ath, several motorsport drivers have e out as Mans class wner Danny Watts me out 2017, a year after retirg, while the W Seri there is LGBT+ reprentatn on track fellow Brish drivers Abbie Eaton and Sarah Moore. Richard Morris, -founr of Racg Pri and a driver for the Praga team the Brr Endurance Champnship, me out as gay 2018, when already tablished motorsport. Some people knew I was gay but I wasn't out - I thk that is very siar to Bttler's experience.
"If he was alive, he would have been terviewed about Sectn 28 and gay marriage. "Sectn 28 was a law that affected England, Wal and Stland, passed 1988 by a Conservative ernment that stopped uncils and schools "promotg the teachg of the acceptabily of homosexualy as a pretend fay relatnship" were mass protts by LGBT+ mpaigners and the law was repealed Stland 2000, before England and Wal did the same 2003. Would be possible for an F1 driver to e out as gay or bi?
ARE THERE ANY GAY F1 DRIVERS?
Sce 's pri month and wh the FIA announcg the "We Race As One" operatn featurg on the r and the sport's munitn aimg to fight all typ of discrimatn i'm wonrg if would be possible for a F1 driver to e out as gay or bisexual morn ntext of the sport? F1 history only saw one openly gay driver the past: Mike Bttler the 70s. In the ial 2020 lendar UAE penaliz homosexualy wh imprisonment, three other untri forbid to some extent the mediatizatn of homosexual relatnships a posive way sayg 's "LGBT propaganda" (Rsia, Cha and Japan), and if Wikipedia stat Azerbaijan and Bahra don't have legislatn on that topic, i bet the untri are not particularly iendly wh homosexual relatns.
Wh the rmatns would be possible for an F1 driver to e out as openly gay and potentially appear wh his boyiend?
Gay Drivers F1? SportsPro Magaze's current issue, an article speculatg that Casey Kahne may be the first gay driver NASCAR, stat that F1 currently has two homosexuals on the grid. if you figure statistics say 1/10 is gay, so that would make for 2 out of the 20 out on the grid.
THERE ARE MORE 'OUT' GAY RACG DRIVERS THAN YOU THK
How would they know who is gay anyway? Formula One F1 - Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungarorg, Budapt, Hungary - Augt 1, 2021 Aston Mart's Sebastian Vettel wearg a rabow shirt before the race Pool via REUTERS/Florn Goga Acquire Licensg RightsLONDON, June 8 (Rters) - Formula One would now wele s first openly gay driver, acrdg to Germany's four tim world champn Sebastian champnship, which started 1950, has had only male drivers on the startg grid sce 1976 but has ma a ph for diversy and cln wh teams showg support for the LGBTQ Mart driver Vettel last year wore a rabow-loured T shirt Hungary wh the msage 'same love' to prott anti-LGBTQ+ legislatn.
"Perhaps wouldn’t have been the se the past, but now I thk a gay Formula One driver would be weled, and rightly so, " Vettel said an terview wh LGBTQ magaze Attu that featured him on s ver. "I feel that a gay driver would help to speed up the elimatn of prejudice and help ph our sport a better directn.
SEBASTIAN VETTEL - F1 READY FOR AN OPENLY GAY DRIVER
"Blackpool forward Jake Daniels last month beme the first active male profsnal player English soccer 32 years to announce he is gay. Sebastian Vettel - F1 ready for an openly gay driver.
Sebastian Vettel believ that F1 is now ready to wele an openly gay driver. Featurg on the ver of the July/Augt issue of Attu, the bt-sellg LGBTQ+ mpaigng liftyle magaze, Vettel reflected: “Perhaps wouldn’t have been the se the past, but now I thk a gay Formula One driver would be weled – and rightly so. gay men and the wir LGBTQ muny.
Mike Bttler, a driver the early 1970s, is the only known gay male to have raced F1 but there has never been an openly homosexual petor. Several officials si racg anisatns say that spe drivers like Lewis Haton and Sebastian Vettel, both of whom have worn Pri lours at var rac this season, beg supportive alli, many queer people team garag feel more fortable stayg Bishop, Aston Mart's chief munitns officer, has worked motorsport for over 25 years, and as "the only [out] gay the F1 village" the 1990s, he has often field msag om people stgglg to e out to lleagu after years the dtry. "Richard Morris, a gay racg driver and founr of Racg Pri, scrib how a simple e of language n e some people to feel like g out is not an optn.