“It’s lights out and away we go!” With those words, the crowd went wild as the twenty Formula 1 drivers began the first of their 57 laps around the Bahrain International Circuit. The 105,000 spectators gathered at the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix went through a range of emotions as the race progressed: Fans cheered as rookie Oliver Bearman fought his way from 20th place to 10th to score his team points. Thousands mourned as fan-favorite Carlos Sainz crashed in lap 45, damaging his car and forcing him to end the race early. And by the end of the day, McLaren die-hards were thrilled when the team’s 24-year-old Oscar Piastri cinched the first-place trophy after over an hour and a half of racing in the Bahraini heat.
The Bahrain Grand Prix is unique on the F1 calendar. It was the first Grand Prix to be held in the Middle East, and it stands out as one of the only races to happen at night and in a desert setting. It is also home to some of the most iconic moments in F1 history, like the epic battle between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in 2014 and Romain Grosjean’s fiery crash in 2020. For many fans, Formula 1 is what put Bahrain on the map, and the Bahraini government knows it. By being the first Middle Eastern country to host an F1 Grand Prix, the Bahraini government ensured that the country would receive massive media attention, heightened international awareness, and most importantly, money. However, the Bahrain Grand Prix also serves a darker purpose, drawing attention away from human rights violations in a phenomenon known as sportswashing.
Sportswashing refers to the use of prominent sports events as a means to boost the public image of a country and draw attention away from its wrongdoings. High-profile events like the FIFA World Cups in Russia and Qatar and the 2022 Winter Olympics in China are examples of this phenomenon, bringing money and positive attention to countries that are so often under fire for human rights abuses.
While sportswashing occurs across many athletic events, F1 has been a key avenue for this tactic due to its immense global popularity and built-in marketing opportunities. F1, now in its 75th season, has exploded in viewership in recent years, with the Netflix docu-series Drive to Survive serving as a primary catalyst for this growth. At the end of 2024, F1 had over 750 million fans, making it the most popular annual sporting series.
F1 races draw huge crowds, which always include prominent celebrities, CEOs, and politicians. The 2024 grand prix in Azerbaijan, another country with severe discrimination and strict government control, drew stars like Naomi Campbell, Will Smith, and J Balvin. In 2025, the Bahrain Grand Prix served as a royal family reunion, with four of Queen Elizabeth’s grandchildren in attendance. These famous guests add to F1’s reputation for luxury, and serve as great marketing tools for the host country.
The marketing potential of F1 goes further, as races often incorporate the cultural symbols of the host countries. Every race begins with the host country’s national anthem. Many countries combine this patriotic performance with an aerial display over the racing track, with planes releasing colored smoke into the sky to represent the national flag. With dozens of cameras capturing the race and the accompanying showcase, these countries are also able to show off the host city around the racetrack. For example, the Baku City Circuit takes drivers through the streets of Azerbaijan’s capital, where fans can see both the city’s towering skyscrapers and the medieval city walls. For grands prix that take place on the streets of a major city, the race footage is essentially a multi-hour travel ad.
In the case of countries like Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, and Azerbaijan where human rights abuses are abundant, the positive attention that Formula 1 draws is problematic. F1 driver Esteban Ocon reminisced, “When I think about Bahrain I always remember the beautiful paddock, which . . . looks amazing at night with all the trees lit up.” Former driver Daniel Ricciardo adds, “Bahrain is great. The weather is warm, the paddock is modern, the hotel is amazing.” For many F1 fans, their only knowledge of Bahrain comes from testimonials like these, and not from the plethora of reports that describe Bahrain’s intense religion- and gender-based discrimination, the torture commonly used in Bahraini criminal proceedings, and the lack of basic political rights like freedom of expression.
This is why sportswashing is such a powerful tool. It crafts a positive narrative of the host country, associating it with the glamour and excitement of sports like F1, thus diverting negative attention and diluting public criticism. This can have monetary benefits in the form of increased tourism, but also in the creation of jobs and infrastructure leading up to a grand prix. In the words of Bin Salman, ruler of Saudi Arabia, “If sportswashing is going to increase my GDP by way of 1%, then I will continue doing sportswashing.” And while sportswashing may bring money into a country’s economy and boost its reputation, it does nothing to combat human rights abuses, instead actively minimizing discussion of these issues and encouraging complacency from outsiders.
Lewis Hamilton is a rare example of a driver who acknowledges this dangerous phenomenon and works to combat it. In a 2020 press conference ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, he said that “the human rights issue in so many of the places that [F1 drivers] go to is a consistent and a massive problem,” going on to say that as a sport that travels to so many different countries, F1 has a responsibility to raise awareness about these issues. While some members of the FIA (the governing body of F1) claim that the sport has improved circumstances in oppressive regimes, Hamilton rejects this notion, saying that the fight for human rights is not a priority for many in the sport.
While sportswashing has had positive impacts, like the increase of women in Middle Eastern countries following racing and even competing in it themselves, the downsides must be acknowledged. Press coverage of grands prix should not only highlight the glamour of F1, but also educate viewers about the host countries themselves. When more fans and sponsors have context for host countries, market forces may limit sportswashing and encourage real change.
Featured/Headline Image Caption and Citation: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Red Bull, Image sourced from Flickr | CC License, no changes made
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