Lewis Hamilton did not attend last year’s season-ending awards ceremony in Paris after losing the world championship to his Red Bull rival Max Verstappen in the final race of the 2021 Formula 1 season in Abu Dhabi, which It violated the sports regulations.
The English driver met FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem on Thursday in Bahrain, and on Friday afternoon he said it had been a “good meeting” discussing diversity in motorsport.
The seven-time world champion said he expected to be fined for not attending the FIA gala, but that it would go towards helping “young people from disadvantaged backgrounds get into motorsport engineering”.
Hamilton has been working on a number of projects to improve diversity and inclusion in motorsports, including his own charity, Ignite, and The Hamilton Commission, as well as Mercedes’ Accelerate 25 programme.
The FIA revealed more details of the meeting between Hamilton and Ben Sulayem on Friday night, including that Hamilton had made a €50,000 donation that will go towards helping a student from an underrepresented background gain a motorsport education.
“FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem met yesterday with seven-time Formula 1 World Champion Sir Lewis Hamilton ahead of the opening race of the 2022 season, to discuss the work being done by the FIA and the major motorsport stakeholders to build greater diversity and inclusion in the motorsport industry,” the FIA statement said.
“Hamilton shared some of his experiences and findings from The Hamilton Commission’s report, produced by the Royal Academy of Engineering and published last year. One of the key factors identified on which diversity and inclusion committees are based is the commissioning of initiatives that are accessible to underrepresented groups”.
“The FIA President noted the important foundational work done by the FIA in recent years with projects such as FIA Girls on Track, and praised the commitment shown by Hamilton on projects such as Mission 44 and Ignite.”
“In keeping with the spirit of a commitment to building a more diverse sport in the future, the FIA President gave his full support to Hamilton’s decision to make a donation of €50,000 which will be used to support a student from a disadvantaged background to to get educational training in motor sport. The FIA and Hamilton will work together with an independent panel throughout this process.”
“Both the FIA President and Hamilton look forward to further positive steps in this area in 2022 and beyond, making diversity and inclusion a key priority for the Federation.”
The statement ends by saying that Hamilton’s absence from the FIA gala was discussed, and that the seven-time world champion “recognized the importance of celebrating the year’s achievements with awardees from across motorsport” and that “the president of the FIA reminded Hamilton of his obligation to sportsmanship, particularly in view of his status in motorsport.
