[RahulNagaraj]

The Hamilton Commission - an initiative set up by 7-time F1 world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton in partnership with the Royal Academy of Engineering, has released its first report.



The initiative was set up in June 2020 and was aimed towards increasing diversity in motorsports. After 10 months of research, the commission reported that only 1 percent of employees in F1 have black backgrounds.

The commission is also said to have found multiple societal issues and barriers which have affected black students to pursue a career in engineering and motorsports. In addition to this, the commission is also said to have come up with 10 recommendations to drive change. Once implemented, these recommendations will have a positive impact, allowing an increase in diversity in the motorsport industry.

The report titled "Accelerating Change: improving the representation of black people in UK motorsport", aims to address several issues and barriers, to bring about a long-term change in the industry.

Some of the recommendations in the report include asking F1 teams to introduce a diversity and inclusion charter and also expanding apprenticeship and work experience programmes. The commission also hopes to help launch scholarship programs for black students with an engineering degree and support new approaches to increase the number of black teachers in STEM projects, among many others.

Stefano Domenicali, F1 President & CEO, stated that the sport is committed to change and take action. He stated that he completely agrees with the need to improve diversity and is willing to take necessary action towards the same.

Source: F1

Link to Team-BHP news

[RedTerrano]

Dear Lord. Here we go again.

only 1 percent of employees in F1 have black backgrounds.

So employers should hire people purely based on their Melanin levels, than talent and calibre so that someone like Lewis can applaud them for diversity? Would Lewis himself be ready to put his wallet where is mouth is by forming a F1 team fulfilling the same criteria he expects from others?

said to have found societal issues and barriers which have affected black students to pursue a career in engineering and motorsports

Are these hurdles different than hurdles faced by Melanin challenged people? Has the commission provided any proof that these impediments are only due to color and nothing else?

Finally, how does Lewis explain his own presence in F1 and the riches he has managed to earn till date, considering his skin color?

[Agarwal_Aayush]

Right now it is for people with black backgrounds, next someone else will come up with relation to more representation of people from a particular country.
This will go on and on and people will have concerns with something or the other.

[v1p3r]

Here we go again with dim-witted borderline racist views.

[Jeroen]

Sorry guys, but this is real. White people have a tendency to hire white people. White men, hire white men. Male techies hire male techies, the list goes on.

There is a huge wealth of research that shows this kind of conscious and unconscious bias in the hiring of employees. Nothing to do with the candidates, their experience or their education. It’s to do, solely, with the guys doing the hiring, men (mostly) stuck in a rut. Unless you force them to change their behaviour, nothing will change. Ever.

Unfortunately, almost any kind of fair treatment, or emancipation of any kind, needs a fair amount of pushing and shoving, or it just won’t happen. Because the world is still choke full of men who think like you. With that sort of very limited view of how the world really works, nothing will ever change.

No offense, but you really ought to read up on some major movements through history. Be it feminism, or gay. Each and every one had to fight very hard to get their fair and just share. Almost all are still from being on par with the majority.

These days, many company have started to recognise this problem. Many have formal all inclusive and diversity policies in place and try actively to address this. They stand a lot to gain, diversity, any kind of diversity tends to improve teams efficiency and effectiveness in most situations. Besides, it is the normal thing to do, or so more and more companies tend to believe it is just the decent thing to do.

It was not that long ago that in my home country, the Netherlands, women were not allowed to work once they married! When the first proposals were made to allow married women to work and include them in all kinds of work the majority of Dutch men responded just like you lot! I can give any number of examples, where men such as you, get on their high horse and start being very indignant about proposed changes. Whereas you really ought to consider why and to what purpose these sort of inequalities exist in the world. Part of the reason is the way how men, such as yourself, belittle these sort of issues.

At the end of the day, I believe these issues are about what you believe is common decency, nothing else.

Just a one man opinion, although the research I mentioned earlier is overwhelming

So BIG kuddo’s to Lewis for driving chance!
Jeroen

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

Dear Lord. Here we go again.
n color?

Originally Posted by Agarwal_Aayush

Right other.

Originally Posted by v1p3r

Here .

Quick, name two colored f1/motorsports drivers.
Or take your time.
Or next race, spot a black crew member.

[corvus corax]

Racism is a reality. It has permeated into every walks of life, not just motorsports. It isn't just something that can be reduced to the black community either. If Hamilton really cares about racism he should use his celebrity status to coerce goverments and organisations into accepting a race free culture. Taking a knee or publishing a report doesnt matter. What he does is just tokenism. He needs to make a louder voice so that people could hear and listen.

[RedTerrano]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Quick, name two colored f1/motorsports drivers.

Do Narain Kartikeyan and Karan Chandok count or are they not "colored" enough?
Here is a list of F1 drivers from Japan. It's quite long. Are they colored enough?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formul...ers_from_Japan

Originally Posted by corvus corax

Racism is a reality. It has permeated into every walks of life, not just motorsports.

Ummm are you a fan of basketball? Or boxing? Or athletics? Ever seen a pattern in certain sports? How would you define it? Racism? Anti-racism (if there is such a thing)? Or natural selection purely based on talent?

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

Do Narain Kartikeyan and Karan Chandok count or are they not "colored" enough?
Here is a list of F1 drivers from Japan. It's quite long. Are they colored enough?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formul...ers_from_Japan



Ummm are you a fan of basketball? Or boxing? Or athletics? Ever seen a pattern in certain sports? How would you define it? Racism? Anti-racism (if there is such a thing)? Or natural selection purely based on talent?

Oh please. Don't be pedantic. By colored I mean black folks. NK and Karun were both paid seats. Much like Mr mazespin. Very talented drivers, both, but very low field compared to others.

In those other sports, the black athletes have had a physical dominance once it became undeniable. But whataboutery is not the game here.
It's a black man(half,at that) delving into the issue in f1. You can deny it, your prerogative, but don't play that "but they have it better elsewhere, what about that? ". Or do so, but it's something that I'm not getting down with.

[nitkel]

Motorsport has always been dominated by people from developed countries (which are mostly white) because it is a rich man's sport, especially F1, and in order to train to become competitive one needs significant financial backing from their parents or have a rich sponsor. Also, unless you're working with a team at the highest levels of motorsport, it doesn't pay well either! So the poor representation of non-white people is not very surprising at all.

I believe Lewis has enough money to completely fund a motorsport academy for colored/non-white poor kids who dream of being a champion driver/rider or engineer. He should start there instead of wasting time with such committees and reports!

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by nitkel

...
I believe Lewis has enough money to completely fund a motorsport academy for colored/non-white poor kids who dream of being a champion driver/rider or engineer. He should start there instead of wasting time with such committees and reports!

The money is not the point. Plenty of people on this planet are singularly rich enough that they can fund 'solving' any number of issues if they felt like it.

'Solutions' borne of one man's largesse often live and die with the man. Initiatives borne of even one man's effort can bring about lasting change.

[ninjatalli]

I wish folks would read the report in the quoted article before making remotely /borderline racist comments.

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

Do Narain Kartikeyan and Karan Chandok count or are they not "colored" enough?
Here is a list of F1 drivers from Japan. It's quite long. Are they colored enough?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formul...ers_from_Japan

Have a download of the report and read the recommendations in detail which is targeted at the UK market which has 7 F1 teams and thousands of employees with minimal colored presence.

The report also explain why paid seats that select few drivers inclusive of Narain and Karan and many more do not ensure the right talent reaches the top. And no, they are not colored (not in the sense the slang word is used). Neither are Asian.

Ummm are you a fan of basketball? Or boxing? Or athletics? Ever seen a pattern in certain sports? How would you define it? Racism? Anti-racism (if there is such a thing)? Or natural selection purely based on talent?

Understand that each one of those sport were discriminative to colored people. It took individuals at different time periods to break the barriers and open up the industry providing equal opportunity to everyone. And then only you see selection based on talent. F1 is miles away from that.

And it's a black man with the reach and power of a "Sir" tag and the most number of grand prix wins trying to recommend his home country to make some right changes at the grassroot levels and across the racing industry. Not many have that chance to do that, and it's a noble effort to be applauded even by non-blacks (= brown folks like us).

[v1p3r]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Quick, name two colored f1/motorsports drivers.
Or take your time.
Or next race, spot a black crew member.

Not sure why you're tagging me. I think LH is bang on target. Also, the use of the word 'colored' is offensive in some countries and cultures.

Originally Posted by corvus corax

If Hamilton really cares about racism he should use his celebrity status to coerce goverments and organisations into accepting a race free culture. Taking a knee or publishing a report doesnt matter. What he does is just tokenism. He needs to make a louder voice so that people could hear and listen.

Yes, of course, he's been screaming from the rooftops but that doesn't matter. He's using his money, power, and privilege to bring attention to this problem - it wasn't even discussed all these years - just like Osaka and Williams. And yet somehow, he's not good enough for you.

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

Ummm are you a fan of basketball? Or boxing? Or athletics? Ever seen a pattern in certain sports? How would you define it? Racism? Anti-racism (if there is such a thing)? Or natural selection purely based on talent?

Let me try and make you understand. Selection based on talent rests on the bedrock of opportunity. If you do not give someone the opportunity to display their talent, they will not be able to avail selection and go ahead in life. That is the reason that NK and KC became F1 drivers - they had a hell of a lot of money and connections that enabled them to display their talent. LH did not have that, but in the UK grassroots motorsport and racing culture enabled him to shine through, aided by a dad who worked 3 jobs.

This bias about 'selection' and 'talent' is well known and has afflicted Indian sports as well. A few years ago, it was pointed out that 7 out of the playing 11 in the Indian test team were Brahmins, despite Brahmins only making up 4% of the Indian population. Is there something so genetically superior about them that makes them lords and masters of the cricket field? No. It's the fact that they have cultural and social capital to spend - they can access schools, cricket coaching, they don't have to worry about mouths to feed at 16, their families are well off enough to pay for classes, equipment, and not need to have them contribute to the household's earnings. Try naming one Dalit/Bahujan/Adivasi BCCI team player in the last 20 years.

This has changed somewhat over the last few decades - players from poorer and sometimes rural backgrounds have been afforded visibility thanks to a much stronger grassroots cricket network, and the IPL. Some examples are the Pathan brothers, and Munaf Patel (from when I followed cricket). It's the same thing that makes African-American kids stars in the NBA, NFL, and the US athletics circuit - a strong grassroots culture, often driven by tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue that rides on finding more and more stars.

[nitkel]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

'Solutions' borne of one man's largesse often live and die with the man. Initiatives borne of even one man's effort can bring about lasting change.

I don't think I get you. Setting up a school for nurturing under-represented talent is a much bigger initiative as compared to publishing a report and recommending changes to the FIA or government. He can be the catalyst and others will certainly chip in to develop that further into transforming the motorsport culture. Reports/committees are here today and gone tomorrow, and they alone will not make any lasting impact. Develop the talent which can compete with the best and teams will fight it out to get them onboard, irrespective of their skin color! That's what I want to convey.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by nitkel

I don't think I get you. Setting up a school for nurturing under-represented talent is a much bigger initiative as compared to publishing a report and recommending changes to the FIA or government...

A few things.

One, why do you think this is the only thing he's doing about it? F1, by his own admission, is just one part of his identity, and he's doing plenty of other things to push for change. The commission appears to be a starting point, about finding specific issues as to why blacks are underrepresented in his current profession, and what can be done to change that, right from educational opportunities to everything else. Actions, I think, will follow. Here's a quote from the article linked in the OP:

“Some of these barriers I recognise from my own experiences, but our findings have opened my eyes to just how far reaching these problems are. Now that I’m armed with the Commission’s recommendations, I am personally committed to ensuring they are put into action. I’m so proud of our work to date, but this is really just the beginning.”

- Lewis Hamilton

Two, his time and money are both finite. He may choose to spend every penny to his name and every second he lives on furthering causes he believes in, but there's no guarantee someone else will step in when he no longer can. Pushing for systemic changes works much better longer-term, because then he doesn't become a sole benefactor and single point of failure.

Three, him pushing for an analysis of why blacks are underrepresented in F1, and wanting to change it, is more than anyone has done about this subject in the past. Nobody stopped others from doing something about it, and nobody's stopping anyone from pitching in now. Everyone can moan about how there's a better way of doing something. Counts for nothing if nobody actually does anything beyond the moaning.

If the man does nothing beyond the current recommendations (I'm not saying he won't, but let's assume for the sake of argument), these recommendations are still solid pointers for someone inclined to act to come in and start acting upon.

All epic drives start with someone starting the car. He's turned the key, he doesn't have to drive the entire distance.

P.S. (this is a general comment, not directed at you): The entire report is available for download here. How about everyone actually read it before drawing conclusions?