October 1st signals the start of Black History Month, and there is always loads to learn and celebrate all year round. Within motorsport the number of people from ethnic minorities in the industry has increased over the last decade. There is no doubt that motorsport has a long way to go to improve diversity within the industry, however even talking about Black history in motorsport and in general is a great way to learn and to evolve as a motorsport community.
Lewis Hamilton, 7 times world champion has no doubt created history within this sport. In 2008 he famously became the first Black F1 World Champion and has done loads of work to make sure he won’t be the last. He recently done an interview with Naomi Schiff, fellow racing driver and a sky sports presenter, to discuss black history month. He opened up and became vulnerable about his African heritage and his travels to Africa over the summer break.
Hamilton also discussed Black history month and how schools should talk and discuss black history more, he stated, “It is a great month. When I was at school, we never celebrated it and we never did any history work on it”. Hamiltons efforts and his work will never go under the radar, he’s been working on mission 44 which is a charitable foundation launched in 2021.
Mission 44 was set up to create a more inclusive educational system and to help Black students in the UK. Hamilton also stated further on in the interview that he is “trying to work with mission 44 to try and adjust the curriculum so that more of it is included in every-day history.”
Black History is important to the motorsport industry, with under representation of ethnic minorities, there is always more we can do. Willy T. Ribbs in 1986 became the first African American man to have tested a formula one car and despite his controversial career, he became successful in NASCAR as well as the Indy500.
Wendall Scott was the first African American to compete in NASCAR, He was also the first African American winner. He was inducted into the international motorsports’ hall of fame in 1999 and has left a huge legacy in this motorsport world.
Another more recent name is Bubba Wallace, in 2021 he became the second Black driver to win the top cup series level in NASCAR. He has often openly spoke about the struggles he has faced being Black in his sport. And in 2017 tweeted out about it, which still remains pinned at the top of his profile today.
Highlighting Drivers and people within the ethnic minority groups are important to this industry. It opens our eyes to just how little they have been represented over the years and how much more we need to do to get more Black people in the sport and to top levels, such as Formula One.
Naomi Schiff, a racing driver and sky sports presenter, has also made huge improvements and spoken out about her Black heritage, most recently her visit to Rwanda, where she posted to her Instagram. During her visit, Schiff named a baby Gorilla in a Kwitalzina ceremony.
Schiff is a great role model for young girls and people from ethnic minorities, and with her continued growth in the industry, she inspires more women and girls every day. Earlier this year Schiff received racial abuse and backlash on twitter questioning her creditability as presenter of Formula One. This exemplifies just how much more work as a motorsport community we need to do in order to educate ourselves and create an environment where equal opportunities are available.
It is important to not forget Black history and the amazing people who are a key standpoint within it not only for motorsport but the wider communities too. It is also important to remember that learning about Black history and educating ourselves shouldn’t be a one-month thing, we need to learn and celebrate all year round. In the motorsport industry, it is great to see that over the last decade major improvements have been made, but we have a long way to go.
We need more representation of ethnic minorities within STEM, Drivers and the hard workers behind the scenes from HR to Marketing. Hopefully as a motorsport community we should be ready to grow and learn more about these amazing cultures and the different ethnicities to create a more inclusive and diverse industry and world.