LEWIS HAMILTON admits Italian racists made him think twice about moving from Mercedes to Ferrari.
Italian football has been plagued with racism problems, with ex-Chelsea star Romelu Lukaku suffering sick monkey taunts while playing for Inter Milan and Roma.
And Hamilton, F1’s only black driver, confessed: “It definitely crossed my mind when I was thinking about my decision.
“It’s often such a small group of people that set that trend for many.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a problem.”
Hamilton, 40, was racially abused during his days in karting and also targeted by Spanish bigots in 2008.
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But now he has been fired up by F1 pundits attacking his name, like former team owner Eddie Jordan, who branded Ferrari’s decision to axe 30-year-old Carlos Sainz for the Brit as “suicidal”.
Hamilton told Time Magazine: “I never reply to any of the older, ultimately white men who have commented on my career and what they think I should be doing.
“How you show up, how you present yourself, how you perform slowly dispels that.”
But Hamilton has expressed concerns over Ferrari’s lack of diversity.
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In 2020, he started the Hamilton Commission to increase black representation in UK motorsport.
Mercedes launched their own diversity initiative and began hiring staff from under-represented groups.
But Hamilton said: “Now I’m going back to the beginning of my time with Mercedes, where it wasn’t diverse.”
Ferrari, along with every other F1 team, signed a Diversity and Inclusion charter in November.
Yet boss Fred Vasseur said: “It’s not politically correct but first is performance.
“I’m keen to go into the direction of diversity and so on but I want to build up the best team.”
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
