Lewis Hamilton has been working hard to fight for racial diversity in the world of F1 throughout his career. At the Forbes Iconoclast Summit, his team principal at Mercedes, Toto Wolff explains how he is fully committed to Hamilton’s vision, and believes that it will make the entire team better, both on and off the track.
Hamilton has been subject to discrimination since the days of his junior career, and at times it has transpired into his time in F1. Being the only black driver on the grid wasn’t easy. However, Hamilton being as mentally strong as he is, never stopped fighting for more diversity and inclusion. This led to a change in how Toto Wolff thought, and together with Mercedes, he got inspired to bring about changes.
Wolff began by talking about his childhood in Austria. He recalled how he had to live with an Orthodox Jewish family, which gave him a first-hand account of how bad the antisemitism was in Vienna. This gave him an idea about the difficulties that minorities face in everyday life.
How Lewis Hamilton opened Toto Wolff’s eyes
Toto Wolff went on to say that he understands how Hamilton feels left out in the F1 paddock. Being the only person of color among a few thousand people was something he couldn’t get used to, and while talking to Wolff, he asked the 51-year-old how he would feel if it was the other way around.
“Lewis said, how would it make you feel if you were the only white guy walking in there,” said Wolff. “And these are things that I have never thought of before. Or thought about skin color.”
“I’m 100% convinced that this diversity, diversity of culture, background, thinking, is going to make us better as a team.”
Toto Wolff, co-owner, CEO and team principal of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, spoke at the #ForbesIconoclast Summit about diversity in the sport. pic.twitter.com/hYbfyMr0rY
— Forbes (@Forbes) June 12, 2023
Wolff admitted that he had never thought of it the way Hamilton described it to be. Now, however, he is working together with Hamilton “against a demographic” because there aren’t many people of color in the team, something which they both want to change.
Hamilton and Wolff pledge to make changes to their team structure
After talking about what Hamilton told him in the past, Wolff decided to focus on what he wants to achieve in the future. He revealed that the team is headquartered in Oxford, a place where only 4% or 5% of the people are of color.
Hamilton and Wolff have started a program together. The name of this particular program is ‘Accelerate 25’. “We as a team have committed, to hire at least 25% new hires from the underrepresented and underprivileged backgrounds,” he added.
Wolff won’t let a person’s color or background be a defining factor when it comes to making the hiring decision. However, he is sure that this will make Mercedes a much better team in the future. “I’m 100% convinced that this diversity, diversity of culture, background, thinking, is going to make us better as a team,” Wolff concluded.
