mobile app bar

“I’m in St. Petersburg, Florida for the IndyCar race”: Will Buxton clarifies to fans that he’s in St. Petersburg in the USA and not Russia

Somin Bhattacharjee
Published

"I'm in St. Petersburg, Florida for the IndyCar race": Will Buxton clarifies to fans that he's in St. Petersburg in the USA and not Russia

F1 journalist Will Buxton had to clarify that he was in St. Petersburg, Florida for the IndyCar race and not the Russian city. 

The 2022 IndyCar series kicks off this Sunday with the Firestone Grand Prix in St. Petersburg, Florida. The city however, shares its name with Russia’s second largest city in terms of population.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine last week, the entire F1 community along with most of the world have called for heavy sanctions to be imposed on the country. This included F1 removing the Russian GP from their 2021 calendar and Haas dropping all Uralkali branding from their team.

However, Buxton ended up being an innocent victim to a big misunderstanding from a section of the fanbase. The British journalist is in Florida for this weekend’s IndyCar season opener. Some people on the other hand thought that Buxton was in Russia.

As a result, he faced some backlash on social media with people claiming that he’s ‘promoting Russia’. With anti-Russia sentiments at a high, Buxton was forced to take to Instagram to clarify that he was not promoting Russia in any shape or form.

The 41-year old posted a story on Instagram to address his followers. “Quick one for the many messages this weekend saying I shouldn’t be promoting Russia,” the statement read. “I’m in St. Petersburg, Florida for the IndyCar race.”

Also read: Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi welcomes Andretti’s entry into F1 suggesting that it would ‘spice things up’

Buxton’s St. Petersburg misunderstanding is not the first time the F1 community spoke out

Several F1 drivers have been very vocal about the situation in Ukraine right now. It started with Sebastian Vettel calling for the Russian GP to be removed from the calendar this year. The four-time World Champion insisted that even if the race wasn’t scrapped, he would not travel to Sochi to take part in it.

Max Verstappen soon spoke out against racing in Russia as well. “It’s not right to race in a country when there’s a war going on,” he stated.

F1 acted swiftly to announce that the Russian GP had indeed been removed from the calendar. It was a decision that was welcomed by everyone involved within the sport.

Haas had Uralkali (a Russian fertilizer company) as their title sponsor since 2021. However, as soon as the country launched offensive in Ukraine, the American team reacted by removing all of Uralkali’s  branding from their team bases.

Since then, we’ve seen the likes of Mick Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso speak in favor of peace, calling for the war to be stopped.

Also read: Ferrari’s strong pre-season testing to be matter of concern within the Mercedes and Red Bull garages

About the author

Somin Bhattacharjee

Somin Bhattacharjee

x-iconinstagram-iconlinkedin-icon

Formula 1 Editor Somin Bhattacharjee fell for the sport as well as Fernando Alonso on the same day — during the Spaniard’s thrilling victory at the German GP in 2010. Over the years, the passion magnified manyfold, and metamorphosed into a writing career in 2021. Though holding a bachelor's degree in marketing, Somin discovered his true calling in writing. He has penned over 2,700 articles for TheSportsRush, presenting a diverse range — news reports, opinions, and exclusives. A true Tiffosi, Somin never gives up on a chance to defend the Ferrari boys as a fan. As a sports writer though, he remains objective to the core and relishes opportunities to follow and engage in dissecting the action during races. That’s where the real thrill lies for him. Beyond the racetrack, Somin plays different sports including soccer. He enjoys exploring other sporting events and proudly supports Spanish soccer club Real Madrid.

Share this article