Lewis Hamilton won’t be bowing down to pressure from the US government in his continued push for equality in Formula 1.
The seven-time champion and new Ferrari driver has long fought for diversity in the sport and his businesses, but is facing a push back from America’s new president.
Founder of the Mission 44 charity and a long-time proponent of human and equal rights, Hamilton and every F1 team signed up to a diversity and inclusion charter in November last year.
However, pledges such as those are now under threat from Donald Trump, who has signed a series of executive orders to cut back on ‘Diversity, Equality and Inclusion’ in business.
Hamilton was asked how that will change his approach by TIME magazine and said: “I’m not going to change what he does, or the government does.
“All I can do is try to make sure that in my space, in my environment, I’m trying to elevate people.
“There’s going to be forces along the way that don’t want that, for whatever reason I can’t fathom. That doesn’t stop me. It is a fight that we’ll just keep fighting.”
While becoming the most successful driver-team partnership in F1 history, Hamilton transformed his Mercedes team, who even changed their livery to black in response to the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
Later that year, trackside engineer Stephanie Travers became the first black woman to stand on an F1 podium, with Mercedes becoming one of the most diverse teams on the grid.
Things will be very different at Ferrari, though, and Hamilton is aware that he’ll be starting all over again with his first team change in 12 years.
Opening up on the task, he said: “I did think, oh my God, I’ve finally got a more diverse working environment that we’ve built over time.
“Now I’m going back to the beginning of my time with Mercedes, where it wasn’t diverse.”
He also discussed the potential of racist abuse, something often suffered by black footballers playing in Italy.
Hamilton has also suffered such abuse in motorsport, first in karting, and then prominently at the Catalunya Grand Prix in 2008.
Asked about his fears of a repeat in Italy, he said: “I’m not going to lie, it definitely crossed my mind when I was thinking about my decision.
“Like in so many things, it’s often such a small group of people that set that trend for many.
“I don’t think that it’s going to be a problem.”
