At 39, Lewis Hamilton seems to have understood that in order to try to transcend the boundaries of sport, as his idol Ayrton Senna did in his day, one cannot limit oneself to winning and making grandiloquent statements, and then go partying with Justin Bieber. The Brazilian legend, who tragically died in that horrific accident in Imola 30 years ago, shook the foundations of a championship like surely no one had done before. Both for his charisma and for those values that he defended to the very end.
Throughout his 17 years in the World Championship, Hamilton has projected a somewhat confusing discourse in certain areas, but no one can blame the Briton for his commitment to the problem of racial discrimination. In his day, he was one of the standard-bearers of the Black Lives Matter movement, to the point of challenging the International Automobile Federation (FIA). In 2020, in the midst of Covid, the Stevenage driver wore a T-shirt before and after the race in Mugello, in which he called for the arrest of the police officers who killed Breonna Taylor in her apartment in Louisville (Kentucky). The following year, on Formula 1’s first visit to Qatar, the Mercedes driver wore a helmet in which he claimed the rights of the LGTBI community, a symbol that in one way or another he has maintained since then.
This week, following Ralf Schumacher’s message, who declared his homosexuality, Hamilton applauded the German’s gesture, but warned of the long road that still remains for the World Championship. “There is no doubt that until now he had not felt comfortable saying it, and that is nothing new. It simply shows that we are at a time when you can finally take that step and you do not have to fear. So far, all the comments he has received have been positive,” says Hamilton, already from Hungary, where this Sunday (3:00 p.m., Dazn) he will start fifth and where the pole Lando Norris took the lead, the third time in the McLaren lad’s career, and for the first time this season he will monopolise the front row – Oscar Piastri will start second. In a complex timed session with track conditions that changed greatly due to the effect of intermittent rain, Carlos Sainz finished fourth and Fernando Alonso seventh.
Mercedes was one of the many companies affected by the massive computer outage caused by CrowdStrike on Friday morning, which caused chaos at airports around the world. The cybersecurity firm is one of the sponsors of the Brackley-based team, which was nevertheless able to get Hamilton and George Russell to run normally during their first contact in Budapest.
It was here, at the Hungaroring, that Hamilton defended Sebastian Vettel when the German showed up to the anthem ceremony before the start wearing a T-shirt that claimed the right of people of the same sex to love each other, under the logo of Same Love [Mismo Amor]. “Things are changing. It all started when Seb and I stood here, on this grill, fighting against what the government of this country was doing. That he [Schumacher] has dared to take this step will free many others,” added the man from Mercedes.
Hamilton has the chance to repeat the feat he achieved two weeks ago at Silverstone, where he became the first driver to win nine times on the same track. Before that, Mercedes will have to straighten out the course of its car, which does not seem to have digested the improvements incorporated for this Grand Prix too well. Hamilton, whose voice had lost a little strength after announcing his departure to Ferrari for next season, is once again recovering the tone and focus that only he has on the grid.
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