General

F1 promises 'pretty major announcements around diversity and inclusiveness'

17 June 2020 at 18:30
  • GPblog.com

Lewis Hamilton has frequently spoken out against racism in general, but also within the world of motorsport, since the revival of the 'Black Lives Matter' movement a few weeks ago. By extension, he mentioned the lack of 'diversity' within Formula 1. The F1 organization says it will respond to this quickly.

Yath Gangakumaran, the business strategist of Formula 1, explains at an online meeting of the FIA why the words of Hamilton are important in his eyes and that the owners of F1 have heard them loud and clear. He praises Hamilton for his initiative and wants to put his money where his mouth is.

"I think that what Lewis has done has really helped to speed up some of the change we want to see within Formula 1. In a few weeks you'll hear more in public about what we're going to do. There will be pretty major announcements around diversity and inclusivity the coming weeks."

Athletes will speak out more often

According to Gangakumaran, the times when athletes were only concerned with their sport are over. Every strong with millions of fans and followers has a moral duty to address 'imperfections' in their field. According to him, racism is an 'evil to which no sport or society is immune'.

"I think this is a trend that will continue. If you ultimately want to be on the right side of history, it is important that you are on the right side of that trend and that this goal is central to what you do as an organization".