Hamilton gets F1 boss Brawn's backing after taking stand against racism
Lewis Hamilton has received the support of Formula One boss Ross Brawn after the world champion spoke out against racism.
The Briton has been active on social media following the death of George Floyd, who died in police custody in Minneapolis last month.
With protests consequently spreading across the world, there was an incident on Sunday in which demonstrators pulled a statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston from its plinth in Bristol and later dumped it in the English city's harbour.
Hamilton was enraged that some people took exception to that action, while he previously called for those within his chosen sport to show more awareness around the issue of racism and speak out on it.
And Brawn, formerly Hamilton's team manager at Mercedes, lent his backing to Hamilton.
... and don't you forget it. #BlackLivesMatter #EndRacism pic.twitter.com/nBAp0nwo6g
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) June 8, 2020
"Lewis is a great ambassador for the sport and his comments are very valid," Brawn, speaking before Hamilton's most recent comments on the incident in Bristol, told The F1 Show. "We support totally what Lewis has said.
"What happened [to George Floyd] was dreadful, it happens far too often, and I think we have seen the public reaction to it.
"It's almost the straw that broke the camel's back, and we support him totally."
F1's managing director of motorsports admitted more needed to be done to encourage inclusivity and diversity in racing.
Brawn said: "We at F1 have recognised for a few years now that we want to strengthen our diversity and our diversity programme.
"Both internally as a company, and externally, we started work on this a few years ago.
"Our thoughts were that the reasons why we don't have more diversity in Formula One it starts at the very beginning. It starts at grassroots level."