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This weekend’s 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale is significant as it marks four years since an end-of-year team photoshoot where Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton noted a lack of diversity. This prompted him to eventually establish The Hamilton Commission, a program aimed at improving the representation of Black people in UK motorsport.
The Hamilton Commission officially launched in June 2020 and a year later, Hamilton pledged £20 million to the creation of Mission 44, a charitable foundation that helps to educate, employ, and empower young people from under-represented backgrounds.
Hamilton expressed disappointment at the lack of progress in increasing diversity in F1, emphasizing, “It’s more important for me [than any on-track achievements]. Honestly, it’s been a long process. It started really here in 2019. I’m not going to lie. We just did a team photo and I still look and I’m like, ‘Damn, we still have so much work to do’.”
Hamilton acknowledged that his initiatives primarily target younger people who may not have yet worked their way into F1, and that there is a “long slog” ahead. He said, “But the work that I’m doing is really targeting kids and creating a future pipeline. It starts from grassroots. So, it’s been really great to see finally the team coming together and starting to see that we’re starting to have a real impact. That makes me really proud.”
Hamilton emphasized that he is excited for the future, adding, “It was really cool to be able to be in the position, in a seat, to be able to open up the door for these kids to see what is possible, spark interest, and create dreams that they perhaps never thought were possible.”