“The only person of colour in the room” : Lewis Hamilton speaks about his journey in a white-dominated sport
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To an outsider, it might look like Lewis Hamilton has it all being a 7-time F1 World Champion in one of the world’s biggest Formula 1 team that holds the record of winning the Constructors’ Championship for 8 consecutive years. But only the British talent knows how hard he had to work to earn his place among the elite in this sport. Lewis Hamilton has always been much more than a simple racer–he is a humanitarian and a philanthropist, always contributing to and advocating for good causes.
When the unfortunate killing of George Floyd in Minnesota shook the world, Lewis Hamilton led his own #BlackLivesMatter movement as the one person of colour in Formula 1. Throughout the years, the question of representation in F1 has been raised many a times, but still Hamilton finds himself alone in a sport that is clearly dominated by Caucasians.
Lewis Hamilton started the Hamilton Foundation to tackle representation barriers in motorsports. The Briton published a report to bring to light all the problems for which motorsports still sees no person of colour taking part in it. Besides all this, Lewis Hamilton has also created the Mission 44. It is a charitable foundation aimed at supporting and providing for the young, underrepresented people in the United Kingdom, so that they can succeed.
Lewis Hamilton highlights the representation problems which plague Formula 1 to this day
Leading up to the Miami Grand Prix weekend, all the F1 drivers are now in the US, and some of them have also appeared on the American talk shows to talk about F1. A few days ago, Daniel Ricciardo went to The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, and now Lewis Hamilton made an appearance on Good Morning America.
In his interview, Lewis Hamilton was asked about being the only person of colour in a sport as vast and popular as Formula 1. In response to this, he said, “It’s just been me and my family, we were the only black family. I’ve been racing for 29 years, I’m 37 now, but I’ve been professional for 16 years but I’ve always most often been the only person of colour in the room.
“So, I put together the Hamilton Commission because it starts with education and understanding. With the Hamilton Commission, we have now started Mission 44 which I have funded myself to try to create more representation and support and empowerment for these young underserved groups.”
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