Although almost a year still remains before Lewis Hamilton moves to Maranello, the Briton keeps getting questions about his Ferrari move. During Thursday’s media session, an interviewer asked the 39-year-old if he has considered asking Ferrari chairman John Elkann to get the black livery back on the Prancing Horse’s car next season.
In reply, Hamilton stated that he had forgotten what it felt like to drive a car with a black livery since it had been very long. However, it is pertinent to note that he drove a black livery car just last year with Mercedes. When asked about the same, Hamilton replied (as quoted on X),
“I haven’t driven a black car for a while, so I probably won’t be pushing for that too early on. But no, I mean we’ve definitely spoken about impact work, and John and the team have a lot of philanthropy work that they do, so we’ll be working very closely with Mission 44 and with the impact stuff that they’re doing”.
Hamilton then explained how there’s a need for drivers and the teams to do more to help address some of the pressing concerns in the world. However, the Briton is confident that considering Ferrari’s ambitions, he will be able to carry out his impact work along with them.
While Hamilton is looking to work alongside Ferrari for his philanthropic initiatives, one must not forget the social work he did in partnership with Mercedes. It was with the Silver Arrows that Hamilton began Mission 44 and other initiatives such as Ignite to address issues pertaining to social justice and diversity.
His initiatives were also a key reason why Mercedes featured the black livery on their car for the first time in 2020. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff cited that this livery was a symbol for fighting for equality.
Mercedes then also featured a black livery on their car last year even though there were other reasons why they decided to do so. However, Lewis Hamilton claims to have forgotten about the same.
Why did Mercedes sport a black livery last year?
When it came to last year, Wolff revealed that Mercedes decided to opt for a black livery at the start of the season to reduce the weight of the W14. “This year we have tried to figure out where we can squeeze out every single gram,” he explained.
Back in black. Meet the Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E PERFORMANCE.
We’re #AllInPerformance. pic.twitter.com/qKYiQiR6In
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) February 15, 2023
However, when it came to the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Wolff revealed that the Silver Arrows featured a black livery to support their diversity and equality causes. Since these causes are important for Mercedes to pursue, the Austrian believes that they became a part of the team’s DNA.
Ferrari are also no stranger to ditching their red livery when it comes to celebrating landmarks and other key moments. For example, they sported a blue livery earlier this year in Miami to celebrate their 70 years of racing in the Americas. Now, it will be interesting to see if they also feature a black livery in the future when Lewis Hamilton joins them.
