Photo: Daimler AG
Together with the Mercedes-AMG F1 Team, Sir Lewis Hamilton has launched a joint charitable initiative called Ignite Initiative. The goal is to improve diversity and inclusion in motorsport.
With the help of the automaker and some of Sir Hamilton's wealth, the charitable organization will have multiple millions of dollars at its disposal. The newly founded charitable organization will focus on education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, also known as STEM subjects.
The purpose of the initiative is to help develop more diverse educators, while also financially supporting talented and motivated students who wish to pursue careers in STEM and motorsport, but do not have the means. Sir Lewis Hamilton also has a personal foundation, Mission 44, to which he has already pledged a reported GBP 20 million ($27 mil.) of his own money.
The two foundations will work together in bringing more talented people into motorsport, as well as supporting those who want to become teachers in STEM subjects. Ignite will act on the recommendations of the Hamilton Commission, which was set up last year by seven-time world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton in partnership with the Royal Academy of Engineering.
The commission's panel of ten experts has spent ten months looking into the reasons why black people are under-represented in the British motorsport industry, and ten recommendations have already been issued earlier this month.
According to the said commission, less than one percent of people employed across Formula 1 come from minority ethnic or black backgrounds, and the interviews with the few employees from these social groups have revealed issues with the working culture of F1.
The commission also looked at the uptake of STEM subjects among black students, as well as the number of black educators in these subjects, and it also discovered a lack of representation in this area.
Sir Lewis Hamilton believes that the findings of the commission he started are the first step in addressing industry-wide representation issues and will bring overdue change to the sport.
The purpose of the initiative is to help develop more diverse educators, while also financially supporting talented and motivated students who wish to pursue careers in STEM and motorsport, but do not have the means. Sir Lewis Hamilton also has a personal foundation, Mission 44, to which he has already pledged a reported GBP 20 million ($27 mil.) of his own money.
The two foundations will work together in bringing more talented people into motorsport, as well as supporting those who want to become teachers in STEM subjects. Ignite will act on the recommendations of the Hamilton Commission, which was set up last year by seven-time world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton in partnership with the Royal Academy of Engineering.
The commission's panel of ten experts has spent ten months looking into the reasons why black people are under-represented in the British motorsport industry, and ten recommendations have already been issued earlier this month.
According to the said commission, less than one percent of people employed across Formula 1 come from minority ethnic or black backgrounds, and the interviews with the few employees from these social groups have revealed issues with the working culture of F1.
The commission also looked at the uptake of STEM subjects among black students, as well as the number of black educators in these subjects, and it also discovered a lack of representation in this area.
Sir Lewis Hamilton believes that the findings of the commission he started are the first step in addressing industry-wide representation issues and will bring overdue change to the sport.
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