Max Verstappen & Co. Follow in Lewis Hamilton’s Footsteps to Support a Cause Close to His Heart

It’s Pride Month! And F1 teams are embracing the opportunity to make motorsports more inclusive. Lewis Hamilton has always been a prominent voice in the paddock regarding inclusion in motorsport. And Max Verstappen and Co. at Red Bull have joined the effort to make F1 more inclusive. 

The Milton Keynes team recently became a part of Racing Pride, an international group that promotes LGBTQ+ inclusion in the motorsport industry. And as part of its initiative, it invited Racing Pride ambassadors to talk to their staff about why inclusion is essential. 

Red Bull hosts Racing Pride ambassadors at its factory

Christian Hewgill, a co-host of the F1 podcast, The Fast And The Curious, is an ambassador of Racing Pride. He was one of Red Bull’s guests invited to its factory as part of the panel. During the discussion, the theme that kept coming up was that “so many people struggle to feel open about their sexuality in—what can be perceived as—the very male-macho-masculine world of Formula 1.” And that’s true. Racing Pride strives to improve that very perception of F1 and “make environments welcome for everybody.”

In the podcast, Hewgill also opened up about how there are people who have worked in the motorsport industry for more than a decade, and only after the establishment of Racing Pride have they “found the courage to come out as trans and be who they truly are at work.” Having an inclusive work environment is crucial to a team’s success. And F1 teams succeed when they win. According to Hewgill, “in the younger generation, up to a third of the people identify in some way as LGBTQ. If you have an environment where you don’t feel like you can be that in a workplace, from an F1 perspective, you’re missing out on talent.” 

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But the question arose: how do you make your workplace more inclusive? When a Red Bull Power Trains manager asked Hewgill this, he told them they could do as little as stick a rainbow sticker or keep a small pride flag on their desk. That way, if any new employee comes into their office, they’ll know it’s alright to be completely themselves at the workplace. Anyone in an organization can make work environments inclusive, from staff members to the people right on top. And Red Bull has all of them.

Christian Horner knows an “awful lot” about the LGBTQ+ community

Christian Hewgill wasn’t the only Christian present at the event. Red Bull Team Principal, Christian Horner, made an appearance too. When he talked to Hewgill after the discussion, what he told him didn’t only make him laugh but also solidified his belief that Red Bull—and every other team in F1—is, in fact, well-equipped to make the sport more inclusive.

Horner said, “I’ve learned a lot because, obviously, my wife is an icon of the gay community, and she’s taught me an awful lot about it.” Horner married Geri Halliwell, more popularly known as Ginger Spice from the Spice Girls, in 2015. Throughout the late 90s, the girl band Spice Girls influenced people worldwide through their music. And when it came to LGBTQ+ rights, Ginger Spice successfully influenced Horner to become an ally of the community and be inclusive at his workplace.

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Inclusion isn’t a topic talked about enough. Trust is built through healthy work environments; no organization can run without trust. So it’s inspiring to see that F1 teams are making it a point to make their sport more inclusive.