+

Cookies on the Business Insider India website

Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.

Close
HomeQuizzoneWhatsappShare Flash Reads
 

Lewis Hamilton opened his boss's eyes about the lack of diversity in F1 with a simple question

Mar 18, 2022, 22:38 IST
Insider
Lewis Hamilton asked Toto Wolff to imagine what it is like to be him.Rick Rycroft/AP
  • Toto Wolff admitted that he had never considered the advantages he had as a white person in F1.
  • Lewis Hamilton asked Wolff to consider how it would feel if he were the only white person in the paddock.
Advertisement

Much has been made of Lewis Hamilton being the only Black driver in Formula One history, but the seven-time champion knows the problem extends beyond the faces of the sport.

In a recent interview with Insider, Hamilton's boss, Toto Wolff, team principal and CEO of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, admitted he had not considered the team's diversity until his driver posed a simple hypothetical question to his boss.

"Lewis said to me, 'Imagine you are going into the paddock and you are the only white person, how would you feel about that?'" Wolff told Insider.

"Well, that will feel odd. And then he said, 'Have you ever thought about your skin color?' I haven't thought about my skin color. It has never had any relevance for me. So that is something we are in this media spotlight. We are a glamor sport. We need to be responsible in changing that and making it a more diverse environment."

Wolff did not reveal when the conversation occurred, but it might have been triggered after the 2019 season.

Advertisement

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Hamilton said he was jarred looking at a photo of the Mercedes team celebrating their sixth straight championship and noticing the lack of diversity.

"I zoomed in on them, from the F1 Instagram," Hamilton told WSJ. "I've been here 15 years, 14 years — how has it not changed? I was really sad about it. I was frustrated and sad."

Lewis Hamilton was left sad at realizing how little diversity there was on his own team.Charles Coates/Getty Images

Hamilton, Wolff, and Mercedes are working to change the photos

Wolff noted that the team started a new program to increase diversity and not just in terms of race.

"Not only gender, not only sexual preferences or cultural or religious or minorities but diverse in every sense," Wolff said.

"We have a program, for example, that's called Accelerator 25. We want to hire at least 25% of all new hires from a diverse background, underprivileged, that's the word I was seeking for. Getting underprivileged the opportunity, white or black, woman or man."

Advertisement

Like many organizations and CEOs are starting to realize, increasing diversity is not just about giving opportunities to those left out before. That diversity also provides different perspectives, voices, and ideas, making the company stronger.

"I think that's going to make us a stronger organization," Wolff told Insider. "We have the responsibility to actually change it, but also it may turn to a competitive advantage. The more diverse the opinions are that we can get up and the input we can get, the better the decisions could be."

After being saddened by the team photo, Hamilton also started "The Hamilton Commission," which spent 10 months studying the lack of diversity in F1.

The commission produced a report called "Accelerating Change: Improving Representation of Black People in UK Motorsport." The document laid out 10 action points for the sport to address the lack of diversity.

"The key for me was really to make sure that this is a commission that actually really does something, [that] it's not just findings that end up being on a shelf," Hamilton said in 2020.

Advertisement

"So, working closely with Stefano [Domenicali, F1's CEO], we've already seen some of the stuff that Formula 1 are doing, so hopefully these findings — there's 100-plus pages, so there's a lot of detail in there — can help F1 do a better job and be more efficient with where they're putting their efforts towards."

You are subscribed to notifications!
Looks like you've blocked notifications!
Next Article