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July 12, 2024
Mission 44 – the charity founded by seven-time FIA F1 World Champion and recent winner of the British Grand Prix, Sir Lewis Hamilton – has teamed up with Formula 1 (F1) to expand diversity, inclusion and access in the motorsport industry for young people. Building on years of collaboration, the partnership kicked off at the British Grand Prix last weekend with a networking event to showcase the pair’s scholarship programs.
Growing out of his upbringing and experience as the only person of color in his field, Hamilton launched Mission 44 in 2021 to build a fairer, more inclusive future for youth. The charity invests in solutions to overcome social injustice by working to build an inclusive education system and create employment opportunities in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields. Since its inception, it has been working to empower young people and provide them with access to the resources needed to succeed in technical fields like motorsport engineering.
In 2021, the Hamilton Commission, set up by Hamilton and the Royal Academy of Engineering to identify the root causes of the lack of diversity in UK motorsport and F1 specifically, showed that only 1% of motorsport engineering jobs are held by people from Black backgrounds. Many factors were identified for this, including motorsport hiring practices that favored students from a select group of high-ranking universities, geographical factors and a lack of diverse role models in STEM teaching positions.
F1 has worked with Mission 44 to address some of the challenges surrounding diversity and inclusion in the sport. It has supported in facilitating once-in-a-lifetime experiences for students from underrepresented groups and underserved communities to inspire them to pursue careers in STEM and motorsport.
Last year, the duo delivered outreach programs in Austin (US), Silverstone (UK) and São Paulo (Brazil) that have positively impacted more than 150 young people. Now, as an “officially supported charity”, F1 will support Mission 44 in raising awareness of its work and connecting the charity to organizations across motorsport to identify apprenticeships and opportunities for youth from diverse backgrounds.
“Over the last few years, it has been a pleasure to support Mission 44 in its efforts to make our sport more diverse and give students and young people their first taste of the world of F1 and motorsport. We look forward to working with Mission 44 in this new capacity and seeing how many doors we can open together to inspire the next generation,” said F1’s Head of ESG, Ellen Jones.
During last weekend’s British Grand Prix the pair hosted a networking event that brought together scholars from the F1 Engineering and Mission 44 MSc Motorsport Engineering scholarship programs to share knowledge and help with the students’ professional development. Both schemes offer financial and career support, with the intention to increase opportunities in motorsport for students from underrepresented backgrounds.
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