“It didn’t do anything,” Lewis Hamilton dismisses F1’s ‘We Race As One’ campaign
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Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton since his arrival in F1 has been the voice of change and after seeing the horrible scenes that took place during the Austrian Grand Prix has dismissed the WeRaceAsOne initiative of the sport as ‘just words.’
Lewis Hamilton believes after the launch of the initiative in 2020, much hasn’t been done by the FIA to tackle problems like abuse and feels it is because of the lack of active action that women are still getting abused at race events.
In 2020 when the initiative was launched, all the drivers were asked to record a video message which was then put into one clip and played in the countdown to Grand Prix events.
Moreover, the 20 drivers would take a knee on the grid in order to show support for the campaign, and people like Hamilton and Vettel were given the freedom to wear clothing that would support a particular clause.
The above-mentioned procedures are no longer in play as they have been discontinued from the start of the 2022 season with Formula One switching attention to Sustainability, Diversity, and, Inclusion.
However, because of the racial-homophobic slurs that were hurled at women in Austria, diversity, and inclusion have again become the center of attention, and F1 has even condemned the actions of the culprits by deeming them ‘unacceptable.’
Lewis Hamilton has been the protagonist that has now and then raised his voice against abuse and, last year, the Brit even launched a campaign called Mission 44 and contributed a whopping $20 million to generate opportunities for under-represented groups in motorsports.
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Lewis Hamilton’s take on the abuse that women went through in Austria
Lewis Hamilton during the post-race press conference was asked to give his opinion as to what the FIA can do to fight against abuse from spectators and the Mercedes driver said, “I’ve not given the huge amount of thought in terms of coming up with solutions for what the sport should do.”
“It goes back to some of the messaging we talked about in terms of the stuff we also need to do here within the sport, which commits more to diversity and inclusion within our industry because that then reflects the direction we are going in and it also often reflects what our fanbase looks like. It’s time for action.“
“We Race As One was all good and well, but it was just words. It didn’t actually do anything. There was no funding towards anything, no program to actually create change and spark that conversation.”
“So we definitely need to utilize our platforms, as I just mentioned, but we really have to step up and actually really start actioning some of the things we are saying.”
“Just saying ‘it’s not enough, it’s unacceptable’ is not enough.”
Hamilton has revealed that the WeRaceAsOne initiative was nothing more than words as no further steps were taken by the sport in the direction, moreover, feels it is up to the drivers to use their platforms to reach out to people and spread the message as much as possible.
Given what Lewis Hamilton has said and asked of people in the sport, it is now up to the FIA to start doing something significant rather than just coming up with hollow campaigns. Will they do something about the situation this season, remains to be seen.
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Rishabh Negi
(3244 Articles Published)