Lewis Hamilton, the winningest driver in Formula 1 history, brushed off the idea that F1’s new “sporting code” would somehow limit his political speech – and both his Mercedes teammate George Russell and boss Toto Wolff seem to have his back.
The seven-time world champion, chatting with reporters Wednesday from Mercedes’ livery launch at Great Britain’s legendary Silverstone track, cooly dismissed the notion that the FIA’s rules, announced in December, would mute his support of issues from the environment to human rights and racial equality.
“It doesn’t surprise me, but nothing will stop me from speaking on the things that I’m passionate about and issues that there are,” Hamilton said. “I feel the sport does have a responsibility still always to speak out on things, to create awareness on important topics, particularly as we’re traveling to all these different places. … So nothing changes really.”
FIA, the sport’s governing body, updated its International Sporting Code last December, requiring “prior written permission” to make or display “political, religious and personal statements or comments” at Formula 1 races. FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has said he did not want F1 to provide “a platform for private personal agenda.”
The 24-race season begins March 5, but fans of the Netflix series “Drive to Survive,” which has popularized the sport in the United States, only have to wait until next Friday for Season 5.
Asked whether he would be prepared to take a penalty, Hamilton added: “It would be silly to say that I would want to get penalty points for speaking out on things … but I am still going to be speaking my mind as we still have this platform, there are still a lot of things we need to tackle.”
Mercedes seems to be behind its dominant driver.
Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate George Russell said the FIA’s move was “totally unnecessary,” and was equally dismissive of its aims: “We’re not going to limit our views or our thoughts because of some silly regulation,” he told reporters. “We’re all here to have free speech and share whatever views we may have.”
And Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said in a separate call that everyone should be allowed to “speak their mind whilst being respectful to each other. “I think that’s the ground rules.”
