Lewis Hamilton showing the way by breaking "invisible rules"

Lewis Hamilton

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Hamilton showing the way by breaking "invisible rules"

Seven-time F1 champion a guiding light for younger generation

Ian Parkes

Tuesday 2 November 2021 05:00

Lewis Hamilton believes he has shown the way to the younger generation of F1 drivers by breaking what he considers to be a number of "invisible rules".

Over the past 18 months, Hamilton has been a leading voice for the Black Lives Matter campaign and spearheaded a drive to increase the number of Black people working in F1 through his own Commission.

The seven-time F1 champion has been joined this season by Sebastian Vettel in speaking on important environmental or societal issues and can sense other younger drivers are being inspired.

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"From my experience as a driver, there's definitely the experience of 'My team won't want me to say that' or 'I can't be outspoken because the team won't like that' or 'The sponsors won't like that'," said Hamilton, speaking on Sky Sports F1.

"I hope that breaking some of these invisible rules that are there has shown the others that they can do those things. I don't mind being the one to break them.

"It's great to see Seb really coming out on his own. As two of the older drivers, I hope that does encourage some of the younger drivers.

"I'm speaking with Mick [Schumacher], who is such a lovely lad and he's saying things like 'I don't know everything. Is there any way you can educate me?' And same with Lando [Norris].

"So I'm really proud of this next generation coming along, but we can still encourage them to be more invested and more understanding.

"When you're young, all you're thinking about is winning. You don't have time for a lot of these other things. Well, you think you don't, but you actually do. And that's what we've got to get across."

While F1 still holds its pre-race 'WeRaceAsOne' initiative, Hamilton feels its impact of last year has diminished, which resulted in him drawing attention in other ways, such as sponsoring a table for Black designers at the Met Gala.

Hamilton has also teamed up with George Mpanga, otherwise known as 'George the Poet', an award-winning spoken-word artist, and displayed messages on some of his t-shirts on the grid.

"It was just before the beginning of the season and I was thinking, 'We've gone through a period, Black Lives Matter, taking a knee, what's the next step and how do we continue to spark conversation?'" said Hamilton.

"And so I came up with this idea - how about working with some up-and-coming Black designers to create the shirts, and then work with a young Black British poet and come up with something meaningful, and by the end of the year we'll have a real story to tell.

"And that's what it's about, it's about a story and sparking that conversation.

"Because we go from one race to another, and people are talking less perhaps about Black Lives Matter and inclusivity. But we've got to keep that at the tip of people's tongues because that's still a conversation that needs to be had.

"Things haven't been fixed; we've got to fix it. It's all well and good the sport talking about end racism, about diversity and inclusion, sustainability and all these things.

"But we've got to make sure we're actually following through with these things. That takes lots of conversation. I feel like we've got to take our audience on that too because we can all keep learning."