Lewis Hamilton has been a crusader for diversity in Formula 1. Being the only Black driver on the F1 grid for years, Hamilton has opened up challenging conversations regarding the lack of diversity in motorsports.
The journey to get into F1 is an expensive endeavour, which forces many kids out of their dream. Hamilton himself is well aware of this fact as his father had to work 4 jobs to fund his karting career.
The 7-time World Champion has been an outspoken critic and wants this change soon. This inspired him to work on the ‘Hamilton Charter’ to improve the diversity in the sport.
But challenging milestones like this only start with difficult conversations. One of which was with his own Team Principal Toto Wolff.
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Lewis Hamilton shared an emotionally difficult conversation with Toto Wolff
Lewis Hamilton claims he has faced a lot of criticism regarding promoting people of colour in F1. Formula 1 is notoriously difficult to get into with only 20 seats available for the taking.
Hence, critics claimed it is unfair to promote drivers based on their skin colour. But being a full-time F1 racer isn’t the only way of including people from diverse backgrounds the Briton claims.
He said, “There are 40 to 50,000 jobs and 1000s of engineering jobs in the background. And there’s such a lack of diversity coming through. And I want to be a part of shifting that narrative.”
The 103 GP winner says there is ample room for inclusion if there is the intent to do so. And brought up this conversation with Mercedes team Boss Toto Wolff which hit the Austrian hard.
Hamilton shared, “One of the things that hit him hard was when I said, ‘Have you ever thought of, as a white person, walking into the race weekend paddock and being the only white person there?'”
Toto answered that he had never imagined such a scenario. To which Hamilton replied, “Well, that’s what it’s like for someone like me.”
Success in F1 is not the only thing that matters to Lewis
Lewis Hamilton has been an outspoken driver regarding his views on this subject. The Briton says he has never been a follower and doesn’t fear the repercussions of his views.
Hamilton believes if he feared the reactions of people, he wouldn’t have been able to address important issues. And being the only Black driver to race in the sport, his voice mattered the most.
Lewis shared, “There are so many problems out there and there are so many amazing causes. There’s only one of you, so where do you put the focus? It took a long, long time to find what that was for me.”
The Mercedes driver feels after a point, his titles and wins did not make much sense to him. He added, “I was winning, and it was giving me that tip of happiness. But then I would kind of drop back down to normality, and there was something missing.”
That was the moment of realisation for the 38-year-old who has since focussed on making an impact. As Lewis feels he has the advantage of a larger platform to make the message be heard loud and clear.
