Hamilton: 'I was a victim of racism by the crowd and nobody said anything'

Hamilton unhappy

Hamilton entered Formula 1 at McLaren in 2007 and was immediately competing for the big prizes. That season he finished second in the world championship, just one point behind Kimi Raikkonen. A year later he became world champion for the first time. Meanwhile, the Briton has won seven world titles and one hundred victories.

In the interview, Hamilton looks back at an incident in his first year in Formula 1 when he was shouted racist slogans at by a group of fans at the Barcelona circuit. "I remember the first year when I came into the sport and I experienced racism from this crowd and nobody said anything," he said.

The Mercedes driver felt very unhappy at the time. "I had achieved my dream, but I was not happy. It couldn't be me and at that moment I had no confidence in myself, so I kept silent. We suppress so much that we are not aware of the pain we are experiencing."

Willing to take risks

In recent years, Hamilton has shown much of his activist side by standing up for the black community and wanting to ensure more diversity in Formula One. To this day, Hamilton is the first and only black driver to ever race in Formula One. "One or two years ago I was flipping through party photos of the team [Mercedes] and I realised that the teams are still all white. I wondered how this could be when I had been here so long."

The death of George Floyd provided the definitive turning point for Hamilton. "Everything that happened after George's death hit me hard. I couldn't believe that so many people were still keeping quiet about what had happened." It caused Hamilton to be bold enough to speak out, unlike before. "I'm willing to take the risk now. Whether it's my job or my reputation, it doesn't matter to me. I want the black community to know that I'm listening and that I'm behind them."