© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
Lewis Hamilton has announced Mercedes trackside fluid engineer Stephanie Travers became the “first black woman to stand on the podium” in F1 history.
Travers was received the constructors’ trophy on behalf of Mercedes after the dominant 1-2 victory at the Styrian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton used the opportunity to present her to the public in his Instagram post.
“It’s such an important moment,” wrote Hamilton.
“This is Stephanie who is one of my teammates. She is one of our trackside fluid engineers. On Sunday, she became the first black woman to stand on the podium in Formula 1 history.
“This is an amazing achievement and I just wanted to acknowledge her for her hard work, positivity, and passion for her job.
“Like most of the jobs in our sport they are in high demand, Stephanie was selected out of over 7000 applicants for her role.
“Steph said she wants to inspire young black children, and children of colour to believe that they can do it too, and I couldn’t agree more. Put your mind to it, and you can be anything you want to be.
“So whilst I really appreciate all of the congratulations, I wanted take the opportunity to lift her up, and share them with her.”
Mercedes and Petronas also talked about Travers’ podium appearance after the race.
“How awesome was it to see Steph collecting the podium on behalf of Petronas Motorsports and the whole team today,” wrote Mercedes on Twitter.
“Proud to see Stephanie Travers repping the entire Petronas family on the podium,” Petronas also wrote.
How awesome was it to see Steph collecting the podium on behalf of @PET_Motorsports and the whole Team today ?#DrivenByEachOther ❤ #WeRaceAsOne pic.twitter.com/CqHn6HLOQ6
— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) July 12, 2020
SilverArrows.Net would also like to congratulate Stephanie on this amazing honor. Here’s to a lot more podiums to come!
