© Jiri Krenek for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Lewis Hamilton reacts to Ralf Schumacher’s public reveal of his relationship with partner Etienne, and says he hopes this “liberates others”.
Last Sunday, former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher posted an image of himself and his partner Etienne on Instagram, along with the message: “The most beautiful thing in life is when you have the right partner by your side with whom you can share everything.”
Schumacher’s reveal of his same-sex relationship immediately became a huge story in the sporting world, and ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was asked to give his thoughts.
“I think clearly he’s not felt comfortable being able to say it in the past and it’s definitely not a new thing, so I think it just shows that we are in a time finally where he can take that step and not have the fear,” the Briton said.
“So far I’ve heard only positive feedback from people, and I think that’s the time we’re living in and the change we are.
“And that all started from Seb [Sebastian Vettel] and I standing on the grid here, fighting against what the government’s doing here, and when I was wearing a helmet in Saudi and Qatar.
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“You know, Ralf said that it’s not a good idea to do those things. Perhaps, today, he may have shifted his mind.
“Even him taking that step will send such a positive message and liberates others to be able to do the same.”
Asked if people can now finally be themselves in Formula 1, Lewis said:
“Within sports, I think it still has a long way to go. There is one thing saying that it’s inclusive and there’s another thing actually making sure people actually feel comfortable in the environments.
“This is a male-dominated space and as far as I know he’s one of the first to at least publicly be speaking in that respect.
“We are very inclusive within our team, but I think the sport does need to continue to do more to probably make people feel more comfortable, make women feel more welcome in this space because I know they’ve not always been treated well in this space.
“So we have to 100 per cent do more.”
However, he adds an open dialogue with stakeholders is needed for the sport to continue to make steps forward.
“Off the top of my head I’m not going to come up with a solution because I don’t have the solution. But I do know that more often than not it is about conversations, it is about dialogue, key stakeholders.
“It’s about analysing how the accessibility is. It’s about getting information from people who do or don’t feel included, engaging the community.
“So you could do a questionnaire for every single person that’s here with a few questions that ask them honestly how they feel and what they feel that could be done. There’s a lot that you could do.
“But it is firstly speaking about it and rather than ignoring that is an issue or having it bottom of the priorities, they should bring it up and actually set some people a task,” Hamilton concluded.
