Lewis Hamilton will have to stop taking a knee at the front of the grid after Formula One bosses decided to end the gesture ahead of the new season.
Hamilton – and a dwindling number of his fellow drivers – have gathered at the front of the grid and knelt ahead of every race for the past two seasons in a show of But F1 is set to pull the allocated slot from its pre-race schedule for the new season which starts in Bahrain on Sunday, March 20.
The sport has instead vowed to build on the impact of the gesture – announcing on Tuesday that it will extend its funding commitment to the Formula One Engineering Scholarship programme for underrepresented groups until 2025 – and will carry on screening an anti-racism message ahead of every race.
F1’s ‘We Race As One’ branding will also be visible at each round.
‘The [knee] gesture was important for the ones that believed that was an important gesture, because we need to respect everyone,’ F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali told Sky Sports.
‘But now is the time to move on and take some other action. The action is the focus on the diversity of our community, and this is the first step.’
Hamilton, the sport’s sole black driver, has been outspoken on the importance of taking a knee in the fight for equality.
Formula One drivers – including Lewis Hamilton (centre) – will not take the knee this season
British driver Lewis Hamilton, the only black driver in Formula One, has been outspoken about the importance of the gesture in the fight for equality
It is understood the 37-year-old – who all but confirmed he will return to the grid after recently ending his social media silence following last year’s controversial decider in Abu Dhabi – will still be allowed to kneel at another stage before the start of the race, possibly by his car.
Hamilton was a driving force in persuading Mercedes to paint his car black in a powerful anti-racism stance.
But it is anticipated that the eight-time constructors’ champions will revert to its traditional silver colours in 2022.
Hamilton is set to be at the team’s car launch alongside his new team-mate George Russell at Silverstone a week on Friday.
Some drivers had felt uncomfortable taking a knee for cultural or personal reasons and chose to remain standing (above, in Bahrain at the 2021 season opener)
Hamilton’s F1 future had been clouded in some uncertainty following Max Verstappen’s controversial championship win.
But he tweeted on Saturday evening: ‘I’ve been gone, now I’m back.’
Domenicali said: ‘There was a total respect on his choice to be silent. I think his battery will be fully charged for the start of the season.
‘That is important because Lewis is an incredible asset not only for our sport but for the world.
Hamilton had been silent on social media since losing the F1 world championship to Max Verstappen in the final race of the season – until he posted this Instagram picture last week
But he has returned with a picture of him smiling at the Grand Canyon and said ‘Now I’m back!’
The Brit was denied an eighth title in controversial circumstances at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Formula One chief executive Stefano Dominical said the time had come to move beyond the knee gesture and take action
Hamilton wears a Black Lives Matter t-shirt while taking the knee ahead of a race in 2020
‘Lewis has in front of him a possibility to be an eight-time world champion. So I’m pretty sure he is totally focused on these objectives.’
The Formula One Engineering Scholarships programme – launched following a 1million US Dollar investment from non-executive chairman Chase Carey – has enabled 10 students to begin engineering degrees at universities in the UK and Italy.
Domenicali added: ‘We are committed to increasing diversity and opportunity within this incredible sport.’
The first public show against racism and discrimination in Formula One occurred ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix in July 2020.
This was just a few weeks after the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, by white police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, United States.
The act was coordinated by F1 bosses and the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association and while all 20 drivers wore t-shirts with the message ‘End Racism’, only 14 of them took the knee.
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen were among those who didn’t take the knee after they were given a free choice.
‘Formula 1 left us the choice to express ourselves in the way we wanted,’ Leclerc said at the time.
‘We all went [to the front of the grid] and it was clearly written on our shirt to end racism, which is the main message we want to pass through.
‘Anybody is free to express it the way we want and that’s what I did, I wanted to stand. I bowed my head to respect this, and yes I’m completely against racism.
‘I’ve seen a few things on social media, honestly, that disgust me, to judge someone racist just because he didn’t take the knee for me is not right and it’s definitely not me. But I wanted to do it that way.’
But the Russian driver Daniil Kvyat said: ‘I am really against racism and we as a group of drivers decided that a very strong message would be wearing the T-shirts stating ‘End Racism’. I think that kind of message was very strong and it got delivered to everyone.
‘Unfortunately, the gesture of going on the knee is against my mentality of my country where you only go on the knees in front of God, your flag and that’s about it.’
Russia’s Daniil Kvyat was one of the drivers who chose not to take the knee back in 2020
At the beginning of the 2021 F1 season, when the ‘We Race As One’ campaign was launched, only half the 20 drivers decided to take the knee ahead of the first race in Bahrain.
The racers who did kneel were Sebastian Vettel, Lance Stroll, Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo, Nicholas Latifi, George Russell, Pierre Gasly, Mick Schumacher, Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton.
The Brit was seen looking along the line, and will have noticed that his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas as well as Nikita Mazepin, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Kimi Raikkonen, Antonio Giovinazzi, Max Verstappen, Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda and Fernando Alonso chose to stand.
Half the 20 drivers stood and half kneeled ahead of the first race of the 2021 season in Bahrain
Hamilton, who campaigned for every driver to take a knee in 2020, backed the decision at the time, saying: ‘I don’t think it’s the most important thing for everyone to kneel.
‘It’s what we do in the background that counts, making a positive change.
‘We will see how we can work together so the sport takes more of a lead.’
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