“Needs to Change”: Lewis Hamilton Left Disappointed, as Toto Wolff & Co. Become Obstacles in Fight for Greater Good

Lewis Hamilton is no stranger to discrimination. As the only Black Driver ever in the sport’s history, the Brit has faced a lot of adversity. Trying to make it big in a white-dominated sport, Hamilton had to face a lot of hurdles on his way, mostly off the track. Due to his own experience, Hamilton has been vocal about the lack of diversity in the paddock. Previously, Hamilton has spearheaded efforts to bring more engineers from diverse groups and minorities into the sport.

3 years ago, he launched the Hamilton Commission to foster the representation of Black people in British motorsports. Hamilton now aims his sights at the top level management, where diversity is negligible. Toto Wolff and Company might just be standing in the way of Hamilton’s vision for F1’s future management.

What, according to Hamilton, ‘needs to change’?

For his skin color, the 7x World Champion has been the target of many in the sport. Lately, Nelson Piquet came under fire from the community after he sided with Max Verstappen in the 2021 title controversy by dissing Hamilton. Kelly Piquet’s father had a questionable choice of words to use while speaking about the Mercedes driver. It has been almost a year since the incident, and although his actions were looked into by a Brazilian Court, Piquet was let off relatively scot-free. The father of Verstappen’s girlfriend also apologized to Hamilton since the incident came to light.

He faced many struggles and tribulations over his career, fighting against prejudice and promoting opportunities for minorities and women. But the Piquet event was the tipping point for Hamilton. As a result, it is not surprising that the honorary Brazilian citizen wishes to affect change at the highest levels. The Brit lamented the fact that all major team executives are Caucasian, with little to no diversity. Hamilton was quoted in a tweet by MotorsportTurkiye, “All bosses are white and male. There is a lack of diversity from top to bottom. This needs to change.“

Formula 1 teams may work on corporate diversity and have a 50-50 ratio of men to women alongside an incredibly diverse workforce. But this diversity loses its ground when we move up higher on the pecking order. With drivers, there is little hope for a woman to enter Formula 1 for at least the next few years after taking a look at the current Junior Formula roster. Hamilton has also insisted the FIA must use a diversity clause for new teams entering Formula 1.

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Lewis Hamilton clarifies his support for Andretti

Andretti has become the talk of every team principal during their lunch break. Owing to the approval of their application to become the 11th team on the grid. But there was only one entity vocal of his support for Andretti, which since then has been clarified. Lewis Hamilton had earlier expressed support for the new team, sharing his happiness in their being new jobs in F1. With over 2000 employees in Mercedes, it comes as no surprise that Hamilton is excited about the increased intake of jobs. But Hamilton, in a tweet, later clarified that it was not Andretti that he supports.

Hamilton has also shared his desire to see a woman in the F1 seat. And has insisted that top teams do something. But Hamilton himself could help much easier than he thinks. The biggest issue women face in F1 despite opportunities is how unfair the lack of power steering in F2 and F3 can be. With Formula 1 cars having them, it is unfair that female drivers must lose out to male counterparts in the feeder series because of physical limitations. Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time World Champion, can easily put resources into developing the junior format cars as well to be fair for women too.

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Ultimately, it remains to be seen if Hamilton can achieve the diversity he desires to witness before he retires from the sport. But even after his retirement, it is safe to assume that the Brit intends to continue leading his journey toward inclusivity, through the Hamilton Commission.