Hamilton: "People were shouting that I should go back to my own country"
F1 News
Lewis Hamilton regularly speaks out about inequality in sport. Not just in Formula 1 and other classes of motorsport, but also in other types of elite sport. In 2020, he made it an open statement by scheduling a moment before each race where all drivers reflect on the issue. That statement has been extended to 2021, but the organisation has broadened the scope beyond racism, which was the starting point of the idea.
Hamilton learned to talk back on the job
Hamilton grew up in a predominantly white neighbourhood, and as one of the few kids with a different skin tone, he was bullied at school. Even when he started karting he was bullied for his skin colour. His father taught him to talk back on the track. "I could always turn their energy against them, by outsmarting them and beating them. For me, there was more power in that than in words," the seven-time world champion told The Guardian in an interview.
However, the bullying didn't just take place in his youth. "When I was in Newcastle people would shout that I should go back to my own country, and in 2008 in Spain people would paint their faces black and put on wigs. They made fun of my family, and I can remember the sport not saying anything about it," continued the Mercedes driver.
Hamilton wants to speak out for others
"It felt like I didn't bring it up or explain it in the right way, or that I didn't know enough about it to talk about it. Either way,it backfired and was more hassle than it delivered, so I didn't say anything more about it and talked back on the track," Hamilton continued.
Until the first race of the season in 2020, when he raised his fist in the air in celebration of 'Black power'. Hamilton was increasingly concerned with the Black Lives Matter movement, and from then on began to show it in sport. "That wrath of emotions came out and I couldn't hold back. I was in tears, and everything I had been suppressing all these years came out. Then I thought, 'I can't keep quiet anymore. I have to speak up because there are people who are experiencing what I've also experienced, or much worse. And they need me now,'" Hamilton said.