LEWIS IS A LEADER
Mercedes chief wants star to speak out
LEWIS HAMILTON has been praised over his stance on racism by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
The Formula One world champion caused controversy by challenging his fellow drivers over their silence following the death of George Floyd in police custody and the civil unrest which followed in the USA.
But Wolff said yesterday Hamilton did the right thing as the only black driver on the grid.
“Lewis is a supporter of minorities. I learned a lot from him,” said Wolff. “He asked me once, ‘Have you ever had the active thought that you are white?’
“I said, ‘I had never thought about it’. He said, ‘I think about it every day’. It is very hard for us to comprehend how difficult it is and I am happy he has come out so vocal.
“He is one of the ambassadors of this sport and I think it’s good.
“Sometimes it needs events to trigger a massive wave of support for any minority and it is good that Lewis, as a sports superstar, speaks out in a sport dominated by white males.”
Hamilton said that “overcome with rage” he after was the killing in Minneapolis and his confrontational approach to other drivers led to several, including Daniel Ricciardo and Charles Leclerc, publicly lending their support to the ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign.
For Hamilton (inset), as the son of a black father and white mother, matters of identity – and racism – have always accompanied him.
As he wrote this week: “Those of us who are black, brown or in between, see it every day and should not have to feel as though we were born guilty, don’t belong, or fear for our lives based on the colour of our skin.”
Hamilton’s contract with Mercedes expires at the end of
■ the season but Wolff is confident that negotiations, frozen during lockdown, will be concluded positively when the season restarts in Austria on July 5. “We were in very regular contact, but we didn’t work on any agreement,” said Wolff. “Between us there is a lot of trust, we have been together for a long time, and never in these years together have we had to take the contract out and actually read what was written in there as it comes so naturally.
“Once racing resumes we’re going to spend some time together, dig the contract out of the cupboard, look at the timings and the numbers and the rights and hopefully have something pretty soon.”