The rhetoric across the motorsport world at the moment is that we must fight racism, it isn’t diverse enough and that this needs to change. It’s safe to say that the upper echelons of motorsport, such as MotoGP and Formula 1 are, as James Alison, Technical Director of Mercedes Formula 1 team put it, “just nerdy white blokes”. So, what is it in particular about the higher echelons of motorsport that mean that this is the case?
Motorsport is a complex amalgamation of business, sport and technical exercise. Like any other sport in the world, in racing there is a way to get ahead of the competition individually (athletes), technically (equipment) or strategically (gameplay). However, unlike some other sports in the world where there is a coaching squad of a few people, some owners and the athletes, in the higher tiers of racing there are hundreds and in some cases thousands of people that make up each race team or work in the team’s network.
Motorsport is a huge multifaceted industry with personnel working in all sciences, engineering, logistics, sponsorship, business management, accounting, IT, manufacturing, design, marketing, media, photography, and many more. However, as Lewis Hamilton highlighted in 2020, “the institutional barriers that have kept Formula 1 highly exclusive persist.” Said institutional barriers that Hamilton refers to could be considered to be the culture of motorsport.
Often when people discuss race, the word culture comes into conversation. Culture by definition is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behaviour and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups. In a bid to not least improve the diversity of motorsport, but also its culture, a few movements have started in the motorsport community.
The Hamilton Commission
In the summer of 2020, Lewis Hamilton launched The Hamilton Commission. This commission is a research initiative with the Royal Academy of Engineering that will be used to “engage more young people from black backgrounds in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects and, ultimately, employ them on race teams or in other engineering sectors”.
It will also explore areas including lack of role models and career services at schools, opportunities to engage more black youth with STEM extracurriculars, barriers that prevent people from more diverse backgrounds joining the racing industry, and other engineering professions.
The Hamilton Commission has a Board of Commissioners which is an independent group made up of 14 experts in the UK who represent a range of perspectives on the challenge. The Commissioners have been selected to represent a range of expertise and influence including motorsport, engineering, schools, colleges and universities, community / youth groups, as well as major UK political parties.
Driven by Diversity
Another movement, which I am proudly a part of, is called Driven by Diversity which is a global alliance of experts also formed to address the lack of diversity in the motorsport and automotive industry.
The Driven by Diversity ethos is that the future of the motorsport industry depends on our ability to attract a more diverse audience as well as opening more doors to anyone who wants to compete or work here. The Driven by Diversity network is made up of people who already work in motorsport including media personnel, engineering staff, athletes, technicians, commercial partnership coordinators, and recruitment advisors.
Together we hope to inspire people of diverse backgrounds to make a lateral move from various relevant industries such as aerospace, automotive, IT, finance, accounting, media, marketing, logistics and so on into motorsport. The reason for this approach is to change the diversity of the current generation in motorsport, and more specifically change its culture.
If we are to change the culture of motorsport, the people inside it will too change. This is critical not least for motorsport’s image but it’s progression and sustainability. All industries need to adapt and diversify in order to sustain. 2020 has been a sharp example of how fast the world can change and how adaptable one must be to survive. Formula 1 and all motorsport cannot rest on its laurels.
Movements like The Hamilton Commission tackling the next generation and Driven by Diversity tackling the culture of motorsport today, the future of racing is looking more colourful than ever.