2020 has proven to be a challenging year for all. But thankfully, Formula 1 has remained consistent and has served as a shining light throughout these dark and difficult times. On track however, this year has served as what will become one of the most important years in the sport with Lewis Hamilton breaking his biggest record yet. After finishing first at the Portuguese Grand Prix in October, the Mercedes driver had overtaken Schumacher’s record for most wins, reaching a grand total of 92. Which, to most, would seem like quite the Sisyphean task. But despite all of these immense victories for Hamilton, his focus now lies predominantly on the Human Rights issue at hand, that has needed addressing for some time in his words.
In May of this year, a worldwide push for justice was started by the tragic and untimely death of American Hip-hop artist and family man, George Floyd. This sequence of events seemingly spurred Hamilton on to act on emotions that he said had been suppressed for years. This powerful reaction is what led the Mercedes team to join in on the movement that had been sweeping the sporting world over the following months and even to this day. Just before the start of the first race of the season, the whole team led by Hamilton himself ‘took the knee’ to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
It is clear that this incident hit close to home for Hamilton, who is no stranger to racism, having been the victim of such incidents himself. Reportedly beginning at the age of 5, Lewis was oblivious to the weight that these comments and biases carried but as he grew older, he started to realise what was happening. Shortly after taking up karting as a serious career path he would receive racial abuse on regular occasions, and nobody would say or do anything about it. According to him, these sorts of incidents are what started the fire within him to resolve this issue as simply becoming the face of the sport, proved not to be enough. When taking the knee before the Austrian Grand Prix, the Mercedes team made it very clear that this was not a political statement, but a human rights one. It was also brought up that whilst people are quick to condemn obvious acts of racism such as monkey noises and blackface which have been infamous in football especially, having developed a worryingly accepting community towards these sorts of heinous violations of human rights, there are still an array of structural issues which need addressing and fixing.
Hamilton has taken numerous approaches to getting his message across. This includes the aforementioned ‘taking the knee’ at the very start of the season, along with making inflammatory claims against the F1, stating that there is a “consistent and massive problem that needs fixing”. Perhaps the most underappreciated change that has been made within the Mercedes camp has been the alteration and redesign of their cars. Famously known as the ‘Silver Arrows’, this modicum has been left on the drawing board for the past year as Mercedes have redesigned both Hamilton’s and teammate Valtteri Bottas’s car to black, in support of the BLM movement. All of these activist-esque changes have not come without their criticism from various corners of the sport, though the GQ’s Game Changer of The Year has promised that this sporting world that so badly needs diversifying will meet these standards, “consequences and criticisms be damned”.
Perhaps the most recognised way in which Hamilton has ensured that the BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) communities are better represented, is by setting up his very own ‘diversification foundation’, which aims to encourage the development and inclusion of people from a wider selection of ethnic groups, not just within the Formula 1 world but across the motor sport world as a whole. In Hamilton’s words, he hopes that this initiative will help the sport to “become as diverse as the complex and multicultural world we live in”.
There have been numerous calls for concern, specifically in regard to the Bahrain Grand Prix being held where it is. With Saudi Arabia being the last state to grant women the right to drive, heads were raised as it was announced that a new race would be introduced and held in a country such as this. And with this decision comes mentions of Saudi Arabia’s seemingly continual flagrant disregard for human rights. It was not long before this decision that the trial of Loujain al-Hathloul was transferred to a court previously reserved for only charges of terrorism. What was she being charged for you ask? She was being charged for campaigning for women’s right to drive. So hopefully it may turn out that with such issues as these being prevalent in areas related so strongly to Formula 1, that Lewis Hamilton’s voice, amongst the voices of others will be heard and could potentially make a difference.
Tom Leyland Sports Journalism 