The Ignite initiative, coordinated by Lewis Hamilton’s Mission 44 charitable foundation and launched in July 2021 through the British driver and his Mercedes team, already has its first beneficiaries.
Motorsport UK and the Royal Academy of Engineering will receive over £500-000 (approximately € 582,000 ) of an initial total of £5m in seed funding.
The first focuses on increasing female participation in motorsport through the FIA Girls on Trac k initiative, which has been running since 2016. The proposal now shifts its focus to developing new partnerships with the aim of reaching more communities. with a high representation of low-income and minority ethnic groups.
On the other hand, the Royal Academy of Engineering program will bring with it motorsports engineering scholarships for African-American students and will support at least 10 candidates in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years, selecting five annual undergraduates.
Hamilton made it clear that these first grants are just the beginning of a long-term program, going on to highlight the context of the recent controversies involving Nelson Piquet and Juri Vips.
“I am very proud to see Ignite announce our first two grants today,” said the Briton. “There has been a lot of work behind the scenes since launch and I am delighted that Mercedes and I can continue to demonstrate our commitment to creating a more diverse industry in this way.”
“We chose these grants because they are focused on supporting people from two crucial and underrepresented demographic groups, moving us toward our goal of increasing the number of women and black talent in sports.”
“This week’s events have shown us why there remains an urgent need to drive better representation in our industry. Now more than ever we need to focus on how we can use action to improve motorsport and this is an exciting next step.”
For his part, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff confirmed that these two grants “demonstrate the wide range of opportunities that can make a significant contribution to the overall objective of the association.”
“From inspiring motorsport events and experiences that will show the power of possibility to thousands of girls and young women in the UK, to academic support for some of the country’s best and brightest black engineering students, we intend to that each initiative makes a tangible contribution to building a more diverse and inclusive motorsport industry,” concluded the Mercedes boss.
