In what was an incredibly emotional podcast appearance, seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he’s “going to speak” on matters of importance despite the FIA ban on political statements, “whether people like it or not”.
The 38-year-old’s comments came on a recent appearance on the new ‘The Fast and The Curious’ podcast, where the 103-time Grand Prix winner had an emotional conversation with host Christian Hewgill.
Topics like human rights and the LGBTQ+ community have been a huge talking point ahead of the 2023 season, after the FIA made a controversial update to their International Sporting Code (ISC).
Effectively, drivers are banned from now on to demonstrate support for the likes of human rights or the LGBTQ+ community, something Hamilton has done at every given opportunity over the last few years.
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Failure to comply with the updated ISC will result in a penalty, with one of the potential penalties being disqualification.
Virtually every driver has criticised the FIA for attempting to remove their freedom of speech, with multiple drivers having argued that their platform in F1 is a great opportunity to demonstrate support in order to push for a better, more equal world.
Women’s rights in the Middle East in particular is a huge issue, as is same-sex marriage, which continues to be illegal in most parts of the Middle East.
Hamilton has vocally supported both, with the British driver having already defied the FIA by incorporating the LGBTQ+ flag onto his 2023 helmet.
What punishment he’ll face remains to be seen, with the statistical greatest F1 driver of all-time set to continue to do what is right and “challenge” the countries who continue to treat human beings inhumanely, even if it means he never claims victory again.
Before Hamilton spoke about his ongoing support of the LGBTQ+ community and human rights, Hewgill thanked the Mercedes star for “talking up” and making “such a difference” to the community.
“Well, thank you. And personally, I want to commend you. It’s a challenging journey, right?” Hamilton said to Christian Hewgill on the ‘The Fast and The Curious’ podcast.
“For me… I always say that we need more empathy and compassion in the world. We’re all human beings and there are all these things that people are finding challenging within different countries through governments, people with opinions, social media, all these different things.
“We have this platform and I just feel a huge responsibility. I’m not just a Formula One driver and I can’t just, you know, have success and just go about my life. This is a platform to spark change, spark conversation.
“Sparking those uncomfortable conversations and then holding people accountable who have been happy with the status quo in the past, which has held people down and has made people feel not included.
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“That frustrates me. We can make change and I want to be a part of making people feel more included. Our sport, motor sport, or any sport or business shouldn’t be able to continue with not being diverse.
“There’s so many different things we need to challenge and fix. We’re also going to a lot of countries where they have these challenging human rights issues, where humans just are not treated as human beings. And in the past people just brushed by it.
“It is so important someone speaks out in it. I don’t care if I don’t win another race – I’m going to speak on those things and whether people like it or not.”