Lewis Hamilton instigated Mercedes’ decision to use black paint for the 2020 F1 season to defend itself against racism.
The six-time world champion, who vocally supported the protests against racism that were triggered by the murder of George Floyd on May 25, got to the point with team boss Toto Wolff a month ago.
Wolff spoke at a media event in Vienna on Monday about his talks with Hamilton, which was reported by the Austrian newspaper Der Standard. He said Hamilton wanted the team to show their support for the cause not just through social media posts, which led to the idea of adopting a new paint job and launching an initiative to improve diversity within the team.
The new design, in which black replaces silver as the basic color of the car, is based on the motto “end racism” and supports the F1 initiative “#WeRaceAsOne”. Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas will also be wearing black overalls as part of the team’s rebranding and revised helmet designs.
Mercedes announced yesterday that it would launch a new program for diversity and integration before the end of the season. It pointed out that only 3% of its employees belong to ethnic minorities.
However, Wolff confirmed that the team will not set hiring rates to increase the diversity of its workforce. “We don’t set odds, we set goals,” he said.
“The increasing diversity will improve our performance in the long term,” added Wolff, pointing out that the team intends to hire employees from a wider range of institutions than is normally hired.
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F1 season 2020
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