The false controversy of the Ferrari hotel in Malaysia
Some media are making a big deal out of the displacement of the families from flight MH370 due to the arrival of Formula 1 teams, particularly Ferrari. However, the teams are in no way responsible...
At a time when some are striving at all costs to create easily “clickable” information, shortcuts can unfortunately be made. Formula 1 is not spared by this phenomenon, as demonstrated by the tragic accident of Michael Schumacher.
A new example has emerged in recent hours. As Formula 1 teams begin to arrive in Kuala Lumpur ahead of this weekend’s Grand Prix, they have found themselves caught up in the media frenzy surrounding the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines flight. Reports on various websites, both those dedicated to F1 and general news sites, have claimed that Ferrari evicted the unfortunate families of the MH 370 flight passengers from their hotel.
Making such shortcuts shows that the authors do not take into account the specificities of logistics dedicated to F1. Indeed, moving dozens of people across 19 Grand Prix on four continents is a full-time job. Teams thus book their hotels months in advance, or even from one year to the next, to ensure that the staff present is in the optimal environment to achieve the best possible performance on the track. The bookings for this weekend were therefore made many months ago and obviously could not have anticipated such a crisis.
On the other hand, Malaysia Airlines could not have imagined when they set up that the search would take so long. If such an outcome had been anticipated from the start, they would certainly have established a crisis center directly in Beijing so that family members could remain in their usual environment rather than in another country altogether.
It is therefore false to say that the teams requested to evict the distressed families and that they are left without accommodation. It is more likely the hotels themselves informed the airline that they would be fully booked during the week to accommodate the demand presented by the Grand Prix. The transfer to another hotel was thus organized to continue providing support to the families in an environment calmer than the hectic activity of the F1 teams.
The period that families are experiencing is dramatic enough that we should not add fuel to the fire by creating arguments or controversies where there are none.
