Hamilton storms to victory and vows lifelong racism fight
Hdefending champion makes Black Power salute on podium hferrari in crisis after Leclerc smashes into Vettel on first lap
Lewis Hamilton celebrated the 85th victory of his Formula One career by performing a Black Power salute – and then vowed to spend the rest of his life fighting racism.
In the moments after a dominant performance to win the Styrian Grand Prix, Hamilton stood on top of his black Mercedes car, clenching his right fist in the air.
Then, after collecting his winner’s silverware, Hamilton, now with his helmet off, looked down on the tarmac. Holding the gold trophy in his left hand, he sent his clenched right fist skywards.
Hamilton’s powerful celebrations against the backdrop of the Styrian mountains were a nod to African-american 200metres runners Tommie Smith and John Carlos – who first performed the anti-racism gesture after taking gold and bronze respectively at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico.
Before the race, Hamilton took a knee for the second week in a row. He was joined by 11 of the 20 drivers in what is becoming an increasingly uncomfortable image for the sport’s bosses. Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas took the lead, but some drivers stood, some arrived late, and others were not even there. The grid is appearing increasingly divided on the subject. It should also be noted that the television feed cut to a Red Bull parachutist as Hamilton, wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt, knelt.
“We spoke about it in the drivers’ briefing and what we intended to do,” Hamilton said. “Some were asking how long we have to continue to do this. Some felt like doing it once last week was enough.
“I had to encourage them and say that racism is going to be around for longer than our time here.
“People of colour, who are subjected to racism, don’t have time to take a moment to protest once and then for that to be it. We have to continue to raise awareness. For me, it is going to be a lifelong thing.”
Chase Carey, F1’s chairman, has vowed to put in $1 million (£783,000) of his own money to improve diversity in the sport he rules. The FIA has also pledged more than £900,000.
But Hamilton, 35, added: “Although it is great to see Chase being so kind to donate the million dollars, and it has been great to see the FIA step up, if you don’t know the problem you don’t fix it, and a million dollars doesn’t go that far.
“A lot of work needs to go on in F1 and the FIA really needs to be a part of it – and the drivers, too.”
Following his poor performance at the same venue the previous weekend, Hamilton was in mesmerising form at Spielberg’s Red Bull Ring this time. He laid the groundwork for yesterday’s triumph with possibly his greatest performance over one lap in Saturday’s rain-hit qualifying session.
Hamilton finished 1.2sec faster than anyone else at a track with just 10 corners. Yesterday, he roared away from his starting marks and never looked back – taking the chequered flag 13.7sec clear of Bottas.
Bottas completed a one-two for Mercedes when he overtook Red Bull’s Max Verstappen with just four laps remaining. And it is the Finn who holds a six-point lead
over Hamilton in the championship ahead of next week’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Red Bull driver Alexander Albon finished fourth, while Lando Norris turned in another impressive display for Mclaren. The 20-year-old,
who a week earlier became the youngest Briton to stand on a grand prix podium, overtook both Racing Point cars on the last lap, Sergio Perez at the final bend, to finish fifth. He is now third in the standings. Charles Leclerc issued a grov
Defiant: Lewis Hamilton makes his anti-racism gesture after the Styrian GP
elling apology to team-mate Sebastian Vettel as Ferrari’s crisishit campaign took another sorry twist. Less than a mile into the race, both scarlet cars were effectively eliminated after Leclerc smashed into Vettel on the opening lap.
Leclerc was launched airborne after he rattled the kerbs at turn three and landed on Vettel’s car.
The force of the impact ripped off Vettel’s rear wing and the fourtime world champion was forced to retire. Leclerc stopped for repairs and attempted to soldier on, before he too was forced to park up.
It was the second time in four appearances that the Ferrari drivers had taken each other out of a race following last year’s embarrassing coming together in Brazil. “What happened today is clearly my fault,” said Leclerc, 22. “I made a mistake and apologising is not enough.
“We are going through a difficult time and we don’t need this. I have apologised to the team and to Seb, who didn’t do anything wrong. I let everyone down today and I am very sorry.”