Formula 1 didn't want to cancel the Russian Grand Prix, but then the drivers canceled it for them

After Russia invaded Ukraine this week, the people who run Formula 1 had to deal with the problem of the Russian Grand Prix: so much money, but so much bad press! After an ambiguous wait-and-see statement that suggested they wanted it to go ahead, top drivers—including three world champions—announced that they would not go to the country to compete. As if by magic, Formula 1 founds its ethics—if only in the final sentence of another mealy-mouthed statement, plainly workshopped to allow the event to go ahead anyway if the invasion is old news by September.