How Hamilton and Vettel have helped fight crucial battle: 'Not just slapping on rainbows'

F1 has become a leading platform for motorsport to tackle societaland environmental issues in recent years. Leading the charge hasbeen Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, the Briton andnow-retired German putting their World Championship pedigreesbehind a number of initiatives aimed at creating more inclusionboth in motorsport and in general society. One organisation thathas been growing in stature over recent years is Racing Pride:founded by racing driver Richard Morris and now bolstered by anumber of high-profile ambassadors. Racing Pride has enjoyedpartnerships with over half the F1 grid and speaking exclusively toRacingNews365.com , Morris has highlighted the importance ofallyship in spreading the message to create a safe motorsportworld. Red Bull success a boost "Racing Pride has come a hugedistance since we started it out," said Morris. "It is an idea thatcame from an Instagram chat I was having in 2018 having just postedfor the first time about being LGBTQ+ in motorsport. "At thatpoint, conversations weren't really happening about that - noFormula 1 team had said anything about Pride LGBTQ+ inclusion,national governing bodies weren't really talking about it and itjust wasn't in the landscape. "We spent quite some time putting ittogether and it was brilliant to launch with support from the mediaand so on in mid-2019, but in that point in time, whilst we hadsome fantastic role models from the British motorsport community indifferent roles, it was very much grassroots, with aspirations toreach a bigger platform and to essentially be able to spreadvisibility through the highest levels of the sport. "We are gettingto a point now where we are able to achieve that. The growth hasbeen incredible since Aston Martin became the first F1 team topartner with us in 2021. It took a long time to prepare the groundfor a partnership like that but we have seen F1 picking up on itnow, with a number of other teams coming to us: our partnershipswith Alpine and Red Bull Racing. "We have worked with six of the 10teams on the grid in various capacities, more partnerships arecoming up and it is really starting to spread." Having apartnership is one thing but for a linked brand to find success tothe levels Red Bull did last season was a major boost for RacingPride, with Morris praising the work done by the MiltonKeynes-based outfit. "It's fantastic, it was obviously huge for RedBull to partner with us," he added. "One thing it really does isshow we are not in any way diluting the sport... sometimes we havecomments saying 'why don't you focus on designing the car and notall this nonsense,' yet the World Champion team which hasabsolutely dominated F1 thinks this is an important thing to do."By the way, they are not just saying 'we support this', we aregoing in and doing detailed workshops with their team and they arereally taking the time to look at policy to look at how they can bebetter because they believe, rightly, that it is part of performingto have everyone in your team feeling truly able to be themselves,therefore being productive, be happy, able to share their views andbe heard and move the team forward. "It also helps to reach talent.A lot of people are LGBTQ+ and if you exclude this community fromcoming in, you miss out on this talent." Vettel, Hamilton allyship"hugely powerful" Whilst Racing Pride's partnership has helped tospread the message of inclusivity and equality, Hamilton and Vettelhave opted to take a stand on their own terms. Mercedes driverHamilton has regularly used a crash helmet design incorporating arainbow in countries on the F1 calendar where the LGBTQ+ communityfaces extreme difficulties - winning in Qatar in 2021 adorning thehelmet. Vettel, meanwhile, opted to wear a 'Same Love' rainbowt-shirt during the pre-race ceremony in Hungary the same year inthe midst of extremist legislation against the LGBTQ+ communitybeing passed in the Eastern European country. On the importance ofthese displays of allyship, Morris explained: "It is massive for anumber of reasons, particularly with those two drivers. "A reallyimportant thing is that yes, they are doing stuff extremelyvisibly, but it is also completely authentic, it is something theyreally care about. "Where those drivers have not just said 'how canI make a nod to this, people are talking about it and I need to beseen to care' but they have actually used their own initiative tomove the conversation further. "Sebastian Vettel's 'Same Love't-shirt at the Hungarian Grand Prix came shortly after we hadannounced the partnership with Aston Martin and we had been workingwith them for some time prior to that being made public - it wasalmost as though Seb was like 'great, I can talk about this withthe team' - he decided he wanted to that in such a visible way, noone forced him to do that. "That was really powerful and speaks toour community at that high level in the sport actually genuinelyreally cares. "The same with Lewis, he decided to go to countrieswhere the LGBTQ+ community is actively persecuted and not say 'I amtaking the light away from you', but it was more 'I am going toshow I support you, I am in a position to be able to that' becausehe is an ally, he has a huge platform. "That is hugely powerful, ittouches fans deeply and really makes people want to be a part ofthis sport. But it also has that role as heroes of the sport, whoare looked up to by so many people, who perhaps aren't a part ofthe LGBTQ+ community, they'll say 'if my hero is saying this, maybeI should think about showing my support too'." We are not justslapping rainbows on things and then everything is fine. RichardMorris - Racing Pride Founder Whilst Morris has been leading RacingPride to bigger and better things, there has also been success ontrack: winning the European Sports Prototype Cup with Revolution.This has been of personal importance: "It has been a hugemotivation to be able to develop Racing Pride alongside my racing."It gives an extra meaning to my racing, it makes me proud of whatI am doing in motorsport, it frees my mind from the times when Iwas trying to hide anything to do with Pride from my career. "It isbeautiful going around different countries and bring togetherRacing Pride members who are there because they feel a connectionto what we stand for. "I went to race at Zandvoort - it is not inthe UK, it is not where I am from and people came to see me. Dutchpeople who wanted to be there, actually not because of me butbecause they believe in Racing Pride." So what next for RacingPride? How does the leadership group take that next step in itsmission? "It is really important that this isn't diluted tosomething that feels... we are not just slapping rainbows on thingsand then everything is fine," insisted Morris. "We are not in thatposition yet, there is still change that needs to happen. "Amassive example recently of changing things is the Trans InclusionPolicy which we worked on with MotorsportUK which said that anyoneracing in any motorsport series governed by them will be able toself-identify their gender, the name on their license and to accessthe initiatives and support that apply to them. "I want to see moreof these steps that make sure our sport is safe and welcoming forthe LGBTQ+ community and to then talk about those achievements in away that is authentic. "It is fantastic to have this strongplatform we have in F1 now. We want to build that up and work withall of the teams and we want to be expanding this message wellbeyond F1, working with all forms of motorsport. "We want to keepthe community together, make the top of motorsport accessiblewhilst retaining our authentic community of people who are involvedat all levels of the sport and in all roles."