Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has indicated that Lewis Hamilton’s influence on diversity and inclusivity will remain, despite his switch to Formula 1 rivals Ferrari.
The Austrian and the Brit enjoyed a close friendship while together at Mercedes, which yielded six of Hamilton’s seven world titles.
Despite the departure of the 39-year-old to Ferrari for 2025, Wolff told Channel 4 after this year’s curtain-closer in Abu Dhabi that his eminence within the Brackley outfit will last, and alluded that his stances on sociopolitical issues close to him will continue to be conveyed.
“He’s a global phenomenon, and for sure, he played a role in positioning the Mercedes brand a little bit more edgy, a little bit more contemporary and extravagant,” Wolff said.
“But then the impact he had on the team in terms of diversity — we have a large part of our population today from underrepresented groups, and it’s going to make us strong, because it’s different cultures, different perceptions and perspectives.
“He made us kneel when we needed to do it, and he helped us to do the car black and it’s gonna stay black. We’re not bailing out of there.”
The black livery was introduced in 2020 when Mercedes switched from the traditional silver colour scheme to highlight a “support for diversity” after the killings of black Americans George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
A return to silver was made in 2022 before the colour scheme reverted to all-black a year later.
In 2024, the livery on the Mercedes W15 was a blend of silver and black.
Diversity accomplishment at Mercedes a legacy Hamilton ‘most proud of’
Speaking to select media including Motorsport Week in Las Vegas, Hamilton said that his work towards creating a more diverse platform within the Mercedes team was his proudest legacy, above his on-track successes.
“I think the thing that I’m most proud of, when I think about what I leave behind, I hope in a positive way, is the work that we’ve done with diversity inclusion,” he said.
“That’s been something I’m most proud of, from the first moments sitting down with Toto, for him being open-minded, for the whole team being open-minded, all the team members going through diversity inclusion training, actually creating the diversity team.
“We did ignite, actually really put the money where their mouth is and invested, and we have a very, very diverse team now, which is something that I’m really grateful to have been a part of.
“When I sit with Toto, I’m like, ‘when I leave, there’s going to be no one in the room that’s going to have these difficult conversations with you’, because I am the one that, I was like, ‘I hope that you continue that on’, and he said he will, so I’ll come by every now and then just to make sure that that continues on.”
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