Lewis Hamilton is currently holds the number two position in the 2021 Formula One standings and while renewing his commitment to Mercedes, he’s looking towards new challenges.
Speaking to The Guardian, Hamilton opened up about his plans to confront racism and climate change ahead of the launch of his new project The Hamilton Commission which aims to improve the representation of Black people in motorsports.
“I want this to be about action. I know there’s a lot of commissions that perhaps don’t get the backing or manage to continue but this one has me, and I don’t fail at a lot of things.”
The legendary driver was the first Black driver when he began his Formula One career 14 years ago and is still the only one.
“As the years pass, you realise that success is a wonderful thing. But if feels relatively short-lived. And I don’t just want to be remembered as a driver, because I care about so many more different things.”
As a kid, Hamilton dreamed of getting into the Formula One like Ayrton Senna, one of his driving heroes. He has surpassed Senna’s record of three world championships and finds himself saying ‘shoot, now what?’.
The Hamilton Commission will ask F1 teams to implement a diversity charter, a fund to expose excluded students to STEM and motorsport related activities as well as a scholarship programme that will encourage Black STEM graduates to take on specialist motor sport roles.
Lewis Hamilton usually focuses solely on his sport but the recent George Floyd murder and other events have caused him to switch gears from keeping quiet to creating opportunities in motorsports for people of colour.
“There’s only 20 seats in the drivers’ space, that’s not so important to me. But there are over 40,000 jobs across motors sports in the UK, and less than 1% are filled by people from Black backgrounds. So there’s a lot of opportunity in so many different categories. Not just engineering.” says Hamilton.
The racing star will compete for a record eighth world championship which will continue at the next F1 event, the British Grand Prix which will be held from the 16-18 July.
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