Hamilton thinks F1 anti-racist campaign has “gone off the agenda”
The world champion is frustrated about the lack of appeal in F1's leading movement on the anti-racism matter.
The Black Lives Matter movement has taken once again the attention on the racism matter, as the George Floyd's barbaric murder proved that there is still so much more to do to promote equality. Lewis Hamilton, as the first black driver and world champion on the Formula 1 grid is very committed to the cause, he convinced Mercedes to switch their liveries to black and he knelt before the Austrian GP with many drivers who followed his example. He believes that Formula 1 should do more on the matter
"Many people seem to be of the opinion that they've [knelt] once and they're not going to do it again. And I don't know all the reasons for that opinion- Hamilton states -Formula 1 did an OK job I would say at the first race. It's not good enough in terms of what you see in other sports, but still it was a step forwards. It's almost like it's gone off the agenda after that. It's lacking leadership, and ultimately, we perform in a sport. There needs to be leadership from the top, you need to come out with "OK hey, this is what we want to do guys, and we want you all to be a part of it".
Currently there is none of that. I try not to lean so much on the drivers, because I don't want them to feel that it's me doing it, because that's probably, could be in some cases the reason why people won't want to do it, because I'm doing it."
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) July 19, 2020
He moreover claims that the Circus lacks a leadership, as the anti-racism cause has "gone off the agenda".
"You need a leader. Where is Jean in that scenario?- Hamilton said -It shouldn't be for me to have to call the teams or call the teams out. I want to encourage them, but it shouldn't be me who has to get on a call with them and say "hey, what are you doing? What?s your plan??" That should be announced or discussed from the top down. That should be coming from the higher powers that control and pull all the strings. I'd love to know what Jean thinks, I'd love to know what Chase thinks, and what the organisation thinks moving forwards. But there is no progress yet."
There is so much more to do in the Paddock to guarantee equality and it?s very important that a top class driver like Hamilton uses his voice to bring to the attention some important causes to improve a major change.
https://www.motorlat.com/notas/f1/16238/f1-5-talking-points-from-the-hungarian-grand-prix
