- The Miami Grand Prix raised eyebrows by scheduling a team principals parade before the race.
- Insider first reported that the parade was later canceled after the backlash.
- Toto Wolff is happy to see the parade canceled, noting that the racers are the stars, not the principals.
The team principals parade, which had been scheduled to run before the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, has been canceled, and now we can count Toto Wolff among those who are not sad to see it go.
"I'd rather avoid it," Wolff said while confirming that the parade had been canceled, according to the UK Express. "I don't think that team principals or team owners should be waving at the fans. I love the fans, but it should be the drivers who are in the forefront. They are the athlete, the gladiators in the machines, and not any of us."
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Insider was first to report that the Miami GP principals parade had been canceled.
Due to the popularity of the Netflix show "Drive to Survive" and the newfound star status of F1 team leaders, especially in the US, a parade had been added to the schedule for next week's Miami race. The team principals parade was supposed to occur just after the traditional drivers' parade before the race.
The parade was an odd idea and immediately raised a lot of eyebrows.
When driver Daniel Ricciardo was asked about the idea of the parade, he confirmed that it had been canceled and admitted that the concept was weird.
"I don't want to be mean to the team principals," Ricciardo told Insider with a laugh. "It was a little strange that they would be doing a parade. It felt a little over-the-top. I don't want to rob them of their moment, but maybe that was a little too much."