Formula One has cancelled the Russian Grand Prix after the state’s invasion of Ukraine and it has emerged there was likely to have been a mass boycott of the event by the drivers had it gone ahead. The sport did not issue any condemnation of Russia but cited the “impossibility” of holding the race under the current circumstances.
On Thursday Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, the four-times world champion, was the first driver to declare he would boycott the race if it went ahead. After F1 announced the cancellation it became clear his view was widely shared across the paddock.
