Hamilton speaks of a 'lonely journey' in motorsport
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Lewis Hamilton talks about how lonely it was at times in his motorsport career. The Briton has been campaigning for social change within Formula 1 and motorsport as a whole for some time. For example, he established his own Hamilton Commission in 2020.
Understanding the barriers
Hamilton was at Good Morning America interviewed about his long career in motorsport. The Mercedes driver has been racing in Formula One since 2007 and he revealed to ABC's program that it was often a 'lonely journey' within motorsport.
The seven-time world champion says that during his 29-year career, he was often the only person of colour in a room. In addition, he often didn't get good feedback when he asked questions about why this was so. "So I put together the Hamilton Commission," says Hamilton. "We put together this body of work and research to try and understand what these barriers are."
Hamilton launches Mission 44
The Hamilton Commission's research shows that of the 40,000 jobs there are in the industry, only one percent are performed by people from black backgrounds. According to Hamilton, there are also problems within the education system.
"With the Hamilton Commission we’ve now started the Mission 44 which I’ve funded myself to try and create more representation and support and an empowerment for these young underserved groups," Hamilton continued. Hamilton's commission has also called on F1 teams to expand apprenticeship programs as an alternative route into motorsport.