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Lewis Hamilton says speaking out on human rights issues is more important to him than winning races, and he will continue to do so “whether people like it or not”.
During his appearance on The Fast and The Curious podcast, Lewis Hamilton talked about using his platform to “really spark change, spark conversation” on various human rights issues.
“For me, I feel that we need more empathy and compassion in the world,” Hamilton said.
“There are so many people in the world that… We are all human beings and there are all these things that people are finding challenging within different countries, through governments, people with opinions, social media and all these different things and we have this platform and I just feel a huge responsibility.
“I am not just a Formula 1 driver and I have success and can just go on about my life, this is a platform to really spark change, spark conversation – which is the beginning of these things, to spark uncomfortable conversations and holding people accountable who have been happy with the status quo in the past, which has held people down, which has made people not included.
“That frustrates me and it goes into that kind of fear thing.”
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Lewis then said he will continue to use his voice, no matter the consequences.
“We can make change and I want to play my part in help in that, and making people feel more included.
“Motorsport, for example, or any sport or business should be able to continue not being diverse.
“When have you ever seen someone working in our industry with disabilities? There are so many different things that we need to challenge and fix.
“Also, we are also going to a lot of countries where they have these challenging human rights issues, where humans just aren’t treated as human beings and in the past people have just passed by it and it is not important. It is so important that someone speaks out on it.
“I don’t care if I don’t win another race, I am going to speak out on those things whether people like it or not,” the Briton concluded.
