Lewis Hamilton has said he ‘cannot stay silent’ in the face of racism as he discussed why he takes the knee on the race track.
The Formula One champion, 35, spoke candidly with GQ magazine about the topic after they named him their Game Changer Of The Year on Thursday.
Saying he wanted to fight racism to change the experiences of younger generations, he admitted: ‘I started experiencing racism when I was five and people looked upon it so lightly, when someone would throw out these words, the bullying and the beatings and the intimidation.
‘My dad always said, “Do your talking on the track,” so I held my tongue, but we suppress a lot of things and all my suppressed emotions came up and I was like, “You know what? I have to do something. I cannot stay silent.”
‘If we all stay silent, it will continue for generations. I look at my niece and nephew and do not want them to experience what I experienced.’
In July, Lewis took the knee before the Austrian Grand Prix, and described it as an emotional and poignant chapter in his battle to make Formula One a more inclusive sport.
At the race, Lewis wore a Black Lives Matter T-shirt and was joined by 13 of his contemporaries who knelt in the moments before the sport’s opening round of the season in Spielberg.
GQ asked Lewis about how rules of the sport were changed following the Tuscan Grand Prix, meaning racers are essentially banned from wearing shirts with political statements after he wore one asking for the officers who killed Breonna Taylor to be arrested.
Questioned if he’ll ignore the ban, Lewis said: ‘If I believe it is important enough, I will. I will do it again.