Lewis Hamilton has been one of the biggest proponents of diversity in motorsport. He has proactively supported the all-female F1 Academy Series when others didn’t, at least publicly. Recently, Hamilton also commented about wanting to start a new F1 team, proposing the idea of it being gender diverse from the get-go. However, this did not sit well with Sophia Floersch.
Floersch, an Alpine-backed driver who has competed in the World Endurance Championship and DTM in the past, hit back at Hamilton. “Put your money where your mouth is!” the German female driver wrote on X (formerly Twitter). She was replying to a Motorsport post that quoted Hamilton.
Put your money where your mouth is!
— Sophia Floersch (@SophiaFloersch) December 2, 2024
Floersch has taken part in F3—a feeder series for F1—but failed to climb the ladder to F2 which is the last step before reaching the pinnacle of motorsport. To be fair, her results were never too stellar to earn a promotion. Her comments berating Hamilton’s statement, on the other hand, were met with a lot of backlash from the F1 community.
It is difficult to say whether Floersch simply vented her frustration, or was hinting at more deep-rooted societal problems which have limited women in motorsports over the years. But fans are backing Hamilton, insisting that he would certainly go the distance to create a team that is gender diverse someday.
The seven-time world champion even mentioned the two drivers he would onboard: Doriane Pin and Kenzo Craigie. Pin is currently driving in the F1 Academy series and has shown a lot of potential to move up the ladder. Meanwhile, Kenzo (13) is currently racing in karting, and gearing up to get into car racing at the F4 level.
Hamilton’s the one guy who you can’t say this to ffs he has a whole charity dedicated to uplifting people from diverse backgrounds and women in motorsport
— gory | 105 (@hamkkonen) December 2, 2024
Hamilton has been supporting the empowerment of female racers in F1 Academy and other categories over the years. Through his Mission 44 charity program, the Briton aimed to create opportunities for women to enter motorsport, whether as racers, engineers, designers, and more. It will be interesting to see whether he gets the chance to bring female drivers into F1.
