Hamilton will speak with drivers about possible kneeling before the race
General
- GPblog.com
Lewis Hamilton has been very outspoken in the racism debate in recent weeks and the role of Formula 1 in it. Especially in the field of diversity, the sport still has a big step to make according to him. Before the upcoming race weekend he will discuss a possible statement with his colleagues.
Particularly in the United States it has been common in recent months for athletes to kneel before the start of a match during the national anthem. NFL player Colin Kaepernick started this a few years ago to denounce police violence.
In Europe, things are a bit different and kneeling to the Austrian national anthem would not be a matter of course. Hamilton says during the press conference on Thursday that he doesn't know if he's going to do that either. According to Hamilton that was "not a priority" for him in the run-up to this race.
However, he does plan to talk to his fellow drivers in the coming days. According to him there will be "definitely a gesture" on behalf of the drivers, but how that will look like is not yet completely clear.