F1 to respond to Hamilton Commission
Formula 1 chiefs are ready to act and improve the representation of black people within the series and wider industry after the long-awaited Hamilton Commission report was published this week.
The report, inspired and led by seventime world champion Lewis Hamilton along with the Royal Academy of Engineering, is the culmination of 10 months of research into why black people are underrepresented in UK motorsport.
The commission focused on defining why just 1% of employees in F1 are from black backgrounds. While the findings involved some wider societal issues, other factors directly related to motorsport teams’ actions have also emerged. These include hiring practices that favour students from just a select group of high-ranking universities, plus geographical factors that mean that opportunities for work experience at rural-based teams were out of reach for students from many black communities.
The Commission has outlined 10 recommendations that it believes need to be followed to achieve improved diversity in motorsport. These include implementing Diversity and Inclusion Charters at F1 and teams, expand apprenticeships, pilot new approaches to increase black teachers in STEM subjects, and create scholarship programmes to enable black graduates to progress into specialist motorsport roles.
The report has also highlighted other factors in F1 that could hinder progress, such as the new cost cap, which may act as a deterrent for teams to offer apprenticeships to young black students.
F1 indicated that it will assess the recommendations and will be “announcing more actions in the coming days”.
The spark to launch the Hamilton Commission came after the Mercedes driver looked at a team photo in 2019 and noted the lack of diversity. “It was a real stark reminder as I zoomed in on those pictures, how little progress had been made into making the sport more inclusive,” Hamilton said. “So, that is when I knew that I needed to do more, and where the idea of the Hamilton Commission came from.”
Hamilton will personally be involved in efforts to ensure that the Commission findings are acted upon.