Lewis Hamilton spoke out in favor of Andretti joining the team last month. However, the Briton did not explicitly refer this to Andretti, who were the only team selected by the FIA to potentially take part in Formula 1 from 2025. His main concern is to have two more cars and thus places in the premier class.
But he would have much preferred to see another team than Andretti, because if the American racing team were allowed to join, a trend that Hamilton would like to change would continue. Because with Michael Andretti, a white, older man – Andretti is 61 years old – would once again be at the head of a racing team.
“At the moment we only have white team owners. There is really a lack of diversity at the top. Everyone is men and that has to change,” says the Brit.
He says that the criteria for a new team need to be revised again in order to bring some diversity into Formula 1. “We have to make sure that a new team has to be diverse. And maybe they have to create an opportunity for a female driver to come up. It has to be diverse from the top,” said Hamilton.
New team would create new jobs
The opportunity was definitely there for the FIA to admit such an applicant in the most recent tender. The rejected Rodin team based in New Zealand wanted to give a cockpit to three-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick, while the also rejected LKY SUNZ would have been exactly to Hamilton’s taste.
The team said it was “youth culture-focused” and would have had a base in Southeast Asia while forging connections to inner cities in North America, Asia and Africa. “In doing so, the team underlines its commitment to offering underrepresented population groups opportunities in motorsport,” it said in the application.
But the only chance of a new applicant is Andretti, who still have to agree on the commercial rights with Formula 1 and boss Stefano Domenicali – a mammoth task.
And even if the team doesn’t meet Hamilton’s ideal, he would still like to see an eleventh team. “We have more than 2,000 people in our team. That’s a huge number of jobs,” he says, adding further arguments for this.
“But I trust Stefano, who I have known for a very long time, 100 percent. I believe that no one could do a better job than him at the moment. I know that he will make the right decision,” said Hamilton. “He’s a racer and passionate about growing the sport, so I’m happy to leave everything in his capable hands.”