Away from the track he set up the Hamilton Commission to improve diversity in motorsport, and was also named Laureus World Sportsman Of The Year, BBC sports personality of the year, GQ’s Game Changer Of The Year and was named in Time Magazine 100 most influential people.
Commenting on Hamilton being knighted, Stefano Domenicali, Formula 1’s incoming CEO, said: “Lewis is a true giant of our sport and his influence is huge both in and out of a car. What he has achieved is phenomenal with still more to come. All of us at Formula 1 congratulate him on this well deserved recognition of his achievements and look forward to seeing more of his brilliance in 2021.”
Lewis Hamilton will not forget life on and off the F1 track in 2020 in a hurry pressandjournal.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pressandjournal.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Published:
10:00 AM December 10, 2020
Updated:
11:13 AM December 16, 2020
Formula One star Lewis Hamilton could soon be made Freeman of the Borough in his hometown of Stevenage. Picture: PA Wire
- Credit: PA Wire/PA Images
Seven-time Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton could soon be formally honoured by his hometown, if proposals submitted by Stevenage borough councillors are approved.
The Liberal Democrat group at SBC are proposing that Hamilton is recognised and congratulated for his historic achievements in motorsport, and propose he is made an honorary ‘Freeman of the Borough’.
Introduced in 1972, an honorary Freeman is a title that is rarely given and is the highest title a local council can bestow. The person must have “rendered eminent services to the borough”.
Lewis Hamilton is Formula One s biggest problem and its biggest asset
The world champion is without a contract for next season would the sport be in a better place without him at the wheel?
14 December 2020 • 11:43am
Gone in a puff of smoke? Lewis Hamilton has not yet signed a contract for 2021
Credit: Peter Fox /Getty Images Europe
As it stands, the 2020 Formula One world champion and most successful driver in the history of the sport is without a seat for next season. That is remarkable. For whatever supposed loose ends need to be tied up, this is a highly unusual situation.
As part of the Mercedes Formula 1 team’s efforts to improve diversity and inclusion, they have launched a five-year programme called ‘Accelerate 25’, which aims for 25% of new starters in their team to come from under-represented groups until the end of 2025.
The team, which launched a black livery for 2020 to mark a greater focus on diversity, have already begun steps in their Accelerate 25 programme with unconscious bias training for 200 recruiters within Mercedes, and diversity and inclusion training for 150 managers, with every employee to have taken the diversity training by June 2021.
The seven-time F1 constructors champions are also working with the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers (AFBE-UK) to support engineers from BAME backgrounds, and have already begun working with the Mulberry STEM Academy to inspire more engineers from BAME backgrounds.