Lewis Hamilton reveals how he takes inspiration from Michelle Obama on racism issues

In a recent exclusive with Sky, Lewis Hamilton spoke about how he was inspired by former US first lady Michelle Obama. Her famous quote, "When they go low, go high," profoundly inspired the F1 driver. Hamilton touched on how discrimination of a racial kind in modern times just does not help and divides the world further:

"These times of discrimination and micro aggressions, in today's world, it's just not helpful and it's creating more divide. I love how Michelle Obama says 'when they go low, go high' so I try to continue to do that, I'm inspired by people like that."

He continued:

"I'm still here, it's not going to deter me from what I think is right and doing what I love, which is working in this sport. We need to be bringing people together, we are all the same. It is not helpful, the comments we are seeing from some people."

Lewis Hamilton spoke about the recent comments made by former 3-time world champion Nelson Piquet. He talked about how multiple personalities that are no longer relevant in the current climate have passed comments against him and have tried to bring him down:

"I don't think there's been a day gone by where people who are older - who haven't been relevant in our sport for decades - haven't being saying negative things and trying to bring me down. But I'm still here, I'm still standing strong, I'm focused on my work and really trying to push for diversity and inclusion in our organisation."

Lewis Hamilton believes they're not willing to change

With Nelson Piquet's comments and Bernie Ecclestone's recent interview still circling the news, the Mercedes driver was asked how he deals with these views.

Lewis Hamilton admitted that he tends to take the high road and be respectful towards these individuals:

"I've always tried to take the high road, I've always tried to be respectful to these individuals. But as I was saying before, why do we give these guys a platform? They're not with the times, they're clearly not willing to change."

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of one controversy after the other. Nonetheless, the British GP has finally arrived and the race at Silverstone will be marred by the events of the last two weeks as the sport gets back on track to provide spectators with exciting moments of world-class racing.

About the author

Charanjot is an F1 writer and Content Specialist at Sportskeeda with over 5 years of experience covering news, trends, and analyses related to the sport.

He started watching F1 when Narain Karthikeyan made his F1 debut in 2005 and was hooked when Kimi Raikkonen delivered a stunning lap in Monaco in the same season. He has been with the firm for almost 4 years and tries his best to put his links in the F1 paddock to the best use so as to report relevant and accurate information.

Charanjot has interviewed Indian motorsports driver Kush Maini during his time with Sportskeeda. He has also written 4K+ articles on the sport and is the key factor behind all the F1-related content that goes out in the domain.

If given a chance, he would like for India’s Buddh International Circuit to be added back to the calendar. A Mechanical engineer and an MBA, Charanjot aims to spearhead the cause of making F1 a mainstream sport in India. Apart from F1, he also follows MotoGP, cricket and MMA.

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