Lewis Hamilton was too ‘scared’ to tell Mercedes about BLM protest in 2020

In the wake of George Floyd's murder in 2020 and the subsequent protests, Lewis Hamilton wore a 'Black Lives Matter' shirt before the season opener in Austria. But no one knew about this - not even his own team.


Lewis Hamilton was too ‘scared’ to tell Mercedes about BLM protest in 2020

Lewis Hamilton wearing a 'Black Lives Matter' (BLM) shirt at the 2020 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton is the first, and to date, only black (of African descent) driver to race in Formula 1. This put him in a bit of a unique position when Formula 1 restarted following the COVID-19 pandemic, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. The Briton has always faced opposition, hate, and of course, racism. Being the only black driver on the grid meant he understood the upheaval and the protests following the murder, in a way that no other one of the other drivers could.

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Hamilton has always been outspoken, and a trailblazer at the same time. He’s particularly upped the ante with his activism in recent years, especially since ‘that’ incident. In response to Floyd’s murder, the sport launched its ‘We Race as One’ and ‘End Racism’ slogans, with this appearing on drivers’ shirts. But the Briton instead went for a ‘Black Lives Matter‘ (BLM) shirt. Recently, he revealed in a recent appearance in the Jay Shetty Podcast that no one knew he would wear the shirt – not even his own team, Mercedes.

The world was embroiled in turmoil and protests. In a meeting, the drivers had failed to reach a consensus on how to show their support [towards ending racism], and 6 drivers chose not to kneel. Hamilton, of course, was not among them: “The first day I was going to take the knee, I remember, I didn’t feel like I could tell my team. Because I felt that they wouldn’t understand how important it is for me to do this [on] this day. So, I remember, I had my Black Lives Matter shirt hidden, I just wore it out there and I went ahead with it. No one knew.”

F1 had also made t-shirts, but Hamilton elected to not wear them as he felt they were not ‘relevant’ to the matter: “The sport had built and made all these t-shirts like ‘We Race as One‘ [which was discontinued for 2022] slogan, and they gave these t-shirts to everybody. I was like, ‘I’m not wearing that, that’s not what this is about.’ and so this is what I’m doing [instead].”

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Read More: “Maybe he has a problem with me,” Lewis Hamilton talks about his ‘complicated’ relationship with Max Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton: Mercedes actually turned out to be ‘massively supportive’

Lewis Hamilton taking the knee
Lewis Hamilton taking the knee

Despite what Lewis Hamilton had thought, it actually turned out that Mercedes were supportive of him – even going as far as to say they could’ve prepared better if they knew about it. But it’s understandable that the Briton had this nagging fear, and had decided to go ahead with it on his own, without informing his team. In the end, it turned out to be just a fear.

While doing this, Hamilton hoped that kids would see it [on TV], and then the parents would have to explain to them. He said: “But that was just a fear, they have been massively supportive through the whole thing. My hope was that kids would be watching me and saying ‘Why is he taking the knee? What does that shirt mean? What is going on Dad, Mum?’ And then the parents would have been in an awkward position having to explain it.” Through this, children understand ‘difficult’ topics earlier, and better.

In the podcast appearance, he also asserted that he does not care if sponsors drop him for making any statements. Recently, there was quite a bit of controversy over the FIA banning drivers from making unapproved ‘political, religious or personal statements’ which violate the ‘neutrality’ concept promoted by the governing body. It hasn’t been taken well. Considering Hamilton’s past history of such gestures, he might be a safe bet to be the first one to break this rule.

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