The 2023 F1 season has ended with the World Championship belonging to Dutch driver Max Verstappen. That means Lewis Hamilton’s hope: Winning the 8th championship title, becoming the most successful F1 driver in history is still unfinished! But, Hamilton admitted that his biggest passion right now is pursuing “a more colorful F1 than a championship”.
Lewis Hamilton, 38 years old, only ranked 9th overall in the last F1 racing season. But the driver who won the World Championship 7 times affirmed that his biggest focus right now is pursuing diversity in F1, where he is the only black driver ever to appear in the speed sport. best on this planet. Hamilton said: “Look at football, basketball, athletics, boxing – the most attractive sports on the planet, we see how many legendary athletes there have with great achievements, becoming icons. an example for many generations of young people to follow. And they are also the ones who make the sports they pursue attractive, competitive and promote development. And now looking back at F1, we will see the contrast there.”
Hamilton, who holds a record of 103 race wins and 104 podium finishes, said he feels more comfortable discussing with the media the need for racial diversity and color diversity in F1, rather than following Chasing the 8th World Championship title, something that Mercedes’ design and engineering team is currently unable to meet. “We share Lewis’ motivation and desire to see a diverse and colorful F1,” shared Esteban Ocon, French racing driver of the Alpine team. “It is a career that he has made no secret of wanting to create and leave behind in F1, which could be an even greater legacy than the titles and achievements he achieved with the sport. We need more than one person like that to help F1 develop more diversely.”
George Russell, Hamilton’s teammate at Mercedes, also expressed: “The psychological pressure on F1 drivers is huge, at every point before the season, when competing and then during the break to prepare for the competition.” The next stressful period. I am truly amazed and admire Lewis for his dedication to his beliefs and goals. I also understand that he has reasons and grounds to pursue that career and believes that we will succeed.”
Passion
In 2021, Hamilton established his own group to find out the reasons leading to the lack of black drivers, engineers, technicians, and employees present in F1, while Mercedes has also committed to improving the diversity of our own team. “My father, my brother and I were always the only people of color, it became normal for us,” Hamilton said. “In the beginning it was very clear, that we were not always welcome. So I started this group, which shows the challenges and barriers that people of color, especially black people, face, which white people perhaps don’t face. This is not intended to divide, but to connect people together, to hold everyone accountable.”
Hamilton also urged people to continue fighting for positive change and continue to fight racial injustice, after he received the Athlete of the Year award at the Laureus World Sports Awards. . “Winning the world championship won’t change anything. I know who I am and what I am capable of, where I came from and what we have achieved. What I’m proud of is that when our team won the championship, there was only 3% diversity. If we have 5% or a little bit more, and in the next few years it gets even higher, that to me is very encouraging. And, that’s what I’m most passionate about!”, Hamilton affirmed.
