Lewis Hamilton is “grateful” his record-breaking success in Formula 1 gives him the platform to fight against racism.
Victories at the past three races have seen the Briton tie and then surpass Michael Schumacher for the most wins in history, with 93 currently to his name.
However, while Hamilton is still coming to terms with the scale of his achievement, he admitted he wants his legacy to be more about his impact off the track than on it.
“You want to look back and say I was a part of something much bigger than myself, than my team, than the sport, and I did it with a whole group of people and a lot of force against us, but also a lot of force because there was many of us pushing in the same direction,” he told Sky Sports ahead of last weekend’s race at Imola.
Also Read:
- Hamilton: ‘No guarantee’ I’ll stay at Mercedes as Wolff seeks his successor
- Hamilton ‘owes it’ to Mercedes after record-breaking win in Portugal
- Hamilton using fight for equality as motivation on the F1 track – Wolff
And this year, the death of George Floyd triggered a movement which Hamilton has given his voice and saw F1 introduce the #WeRaceAsOne initiative and take a stand against racism implemented before each race.
“For me, it was like OK, we’ve got to make this stand, we’ve got to make your voice heard,” Lewis added.
“Because I’m winning all of these races, but it doesn’t actually mean anything unless you do something with the platform that it then provides you.
“I think all these years I’ve been… I feel like things happen for a reason in some ways and I think all of us are probably looking for what our purpose is and for me, I’ve been winning these races and succeeding and wondering, what does it all mean?
“What am I going to do with this? And this came round this year and I’m really, really proud, grateful to be a part of the big fight that everyone out there is fighting for.”
Another big change was Mercedes swapping their traditional silver colour for an all-black livery this season and it appears that will remain on the W11 next year too.
“Yes, we will also be driving in black in 2021, the black looks great,” team boss Toto Wolff was quoted by WTF1.
“In 2022 there will be many new rules, but we want to remember our heritage again with the Silver Arrows. The issue of anti-racism remains very important to us.”