“There’s No Diversity at Ferrari”: Lewis Hamilton Scoffed at Frederic Vasseur and Co. Months Before Alleged Contract Talks

Lewis Hamilton is one of the most outspoken drivers on the grid. Whether it be through his immaculate fashion choices, or through his public stance for inclusion and diversity within a lot of areas, the seven-time world champion does not mince words when voicing his opinions. Not only does he speak about these issues but also actively works towards creating a change.

The Brit is one of the key figures behind the success of the Hamilton Commission, a study that was created to understand the diversity within the motorsport industry. While the results of the studies showed little diversity within the sport as a whole, a lot of progress has been made in the last three years to promote inclusivity in the sport. However, the Mercedes driver feels that a lot of teams, including the team from Maranello, still don’t have a diverse team. Recently, there were rumors about the seven-time world champion moving to the Italian team, but Hamilton was quick to put them to bed, perhaps because of the ‘diversity’ factor.

Lewis Hamilton highlighted Ferrari’s lack of diversity

At the beginning of the ’23 season, Lewis Hamilton appeared in a talk with renowned YouTuber and author Jay Shetty. During the talk, the interesting topic of diversity came up, and Lewis Hamilton had a lot to say on this aspect. While highlighting that Formula 1 tends to hire from certain universities, these universities had little to no racial diversity. According to him, a black person from these universities would find it twice as hard to get a job in Formula 1 compared to a white person. So, after the Hamilton Commission understood the reasons, teams like Mercedes have actively put efforts into creating a more inclusive workplace.

However, the diversity charter, which is in place in the sport, should be followed by all the teams, and not just Mercedes, according to Lewis Hamilton. “There’s still no diversity at Ferrari, I mean, hardly any.“

The 38-year-old justified stating, “When I go back to my team, to the factory, normally in our marketing department, wasn’t very diverse initially, and I walked in after the pandemic and I started seeing a more diverse group of people. I was really quite emotional because I was like ‘oh my god, I’m starting to see change.'”

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This is also not the first time that Lewis Hamilton has called out Ferrari with regards to their inclusivity either.

Hamilton had called for more accountability from Ferrari

Earlier, in 2020, after the unfortunate death of George Floyd, Hamilton did take a shot at Ferrari for not dealing with the issue well as an organization. “Formula 1 has come forward and said that they are supporting ‘end racism’ and it’s amazing to see Mercedes doing the same thing. But no other team has said a single thing.”

The British superstar added, “If you look at Ferrari who have thousands of people working with them. I’ve heard no word of Ferrari saying that they hold themselves accountable and this is what they’re going to do for the future.”

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In an alternate universe where Lewis Hamilton indeed ended up at Ferrari, it would be a fun exercise to think if the efforts that Hamilton has put up to improve diversity would be as well received at Maranello or not. At any rate, at this point, that’s all it is now – a thought experiment, as Lewis Hamilton is set to race another few seasons with Mercedes.