F1 star Lewis Hamilton said the aim of the Hamilton Commission would be to make the sport “become as diverse as the complex and multicultural world we live in.”
Six-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton is to set up a commission to increase diversity in motorsport.
The Mercedes driver said the aim of the Hamilton Commission would be to make the sport “become as diverse as the complex and multicultural world we live in.”
Writing in British newspaper The Sunday Times, Hamilton said it would be a research partnership dedicated to exploring how motorsport can be used as a vehicle to “engage more young people from Black backgrounds with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and, ultimately, employ them on our teams or in other engineering sectors.”
“I’ve been fighting the stigma of racism throughout my racing career, from kids throwing things at me while karting to being taunted by fans with blacked-up faces at a grand prix [in Spain in 2008], one of my first Formula One races,” Hamilton said.
“I’m used to being one of very few people of colour on my teams and, more than that, I’m used to the idea that no one will speak up for me when I face racism, because no one personally feels or understands my experience.”
Hamilton described the project as a “research partnership, dedicated to exploring how motor sport can be used as a vehicle to engage more young people from black backgrounds with science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or Stem subjects. The ultimate aim, Hamilton added, is to “employ them on our teams or in other engineering sectors”.
During May, Hamilton had aimed criticism at his F1 colleagues on Instagram. “I see those of you who are staying silent, some of you the biggest of stars, yet you stay silent in the midst of injustice,” he said. “I would have thought by now you would see why this happens and say something about it but you can’t stand alongside us.
Hamilton wrote in the Sunday Times that the “institutional barriers that have kept F1 highly exclusive persist”, adding that the thousands of people employed in motor sport need to be more representative of society. “Winning championships is great, but I want to be remembered for my work creating a more equal society through education,” he added.