British driver Lewis Hamilton is using his position as seven-time Formula 1 champion to promote changes in motorsport. In June 2020, the pilot created a file Hamilton Commission To promote diversity within that medium.
Monday (12) Hamilton Commission Publishing a 94-page report Made in partnership with the Royal Academy of Engineering on the lack of racial diversity in Formula 1 and motorsports in general. The data presented in the report is the result of 10 months of research.
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Some reasons were given for the lack of diversity
Not only is the driver demanding more black drivers, the report indicated that only 1% of the 40,000 professionals working with F1 in the UK are of black origin. And the UK alone is the largest polo game in this category, with seven of the 10 teams currently racing.
The commission questioned black engineers working in categories where violent and racially inappropriate jokes were made in the workplace. They also criticized the lack of progress in the march of black engineers and the lack of leadership.
The lack of leadership in this field causes young blacks to ignore their engineering and motorsport careers. According to research, this makes fields such as law, medicine, and economics more influential on young people’s choice when choosing a career.
The problem is structural
The report notes that the low diversity in this environment is structural: Formula 1 employs engineers who have graduated with awards from prestigious universities. These universities tend to not feature black students, which makes it difficult for Formula 1 teams to find them.
Another challenge is the location of the so-called “Motorsports Valley”, an area in England where teams are based. Most of the country’s black population lives in urban centers, far from this region which makes resettlement difficult.
Finally, we have the elite of Formula 1, the sport that moves huge sums of money and is always associated with billionaires and corporations, an image that makes any dream of starting from the bottom seem so elusive.
It is a difficult dream even for young people who dream of being pilots. The gateway to motorsport is a game of kart, which in the United Kingdom has an annual cost of about £30,000 (about R$213,950) in amateur competitions. The young people interviewed are more interested in football because they are able to “see themselves more” in the sport.
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Contrary to what many might think, the pilot does not want to impose quota systems on the sport. The idea of the Hamilton Commission is to make motorsports an accessible dream for young people of all backgrounds, something that is already happening in other sports such as football.
It was noted in the interviews that young blacks who love Formula 1 also dream of working with teams and not just driving cars. To do so, they suggest that teams invest in the education sector rather than go after graduating engineers with embellishments.
These investments include internship programs. Scholarships for young people interested in motorsport who want to study engineering; Establish engineering education programs in areas with increased concentration of black youth; And investing in black professors in the engineering field.
Lewis Hamilton says that with the right opportunities, young people can accomplish everything they are dedicated to and his research shows that the potential of young people is squandered due to a lack of opportunities in science and technology.
Formula 1 answer
Current F1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali welcomed the study by the Hamilton Commission. The Executive agreed that the class did not need to achieve greater racial and ethnic diversity:
We fully agree that we need to increase diversity across sport and have taken steps to address this and will announce more actions in the coming days.
Domenicali also praised the report and congratulated Hamilton for his dedication to addressing this important issue. According to the executive, it is in the interest of the class to form a more diverse and inclusive fan base.
The Mercedes team, where Lewis Hamilton races, is the pioneer in this type of movement. In an official memo, the team said it is already taking some of the actions suggested by the Hamilton Commission to bring diversity to its workforce.
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