Lewis Hamilton: Winning a seventh world title would be my finest feat

Lewis Hamilton believes winning a seventh world title to defy Covid-19 and honour his anti-racism campaign would rank as the greatest achievement of his career.

But in a highly political press conference, he also risked annoying other teams by criticising them for not doing enough to tackle inequality.

Ahead of the opening race in Austria on Sunday, Hamilton took to the Formula One stage for the first time since the virus pulled the curtains in Melbourne 112 days ago this morning, just before the scheduled practice session for what should have been the start of his title defence.

Stirred by the killing in America of George Floyd, he has launched himself into a new career as a high-profile anti-racism activist.

Today the engine of his Mercedes — specifically black liveried to match his words — will take him out of the garage into the environment he has always understood most clearly. But he will not allow that to drown out his racial concerns.

‘Winning a title this year would mean more, given the momentous size of this pandemic we are fighting,’ he said. ‘And on a personal level, the Black Lives Matter movement and battle against inequality and injustice is so important.

‘It is not going to change for our generation, but for our kids’ kids. Winning a world title will be even more significant than before.’

Part of Hamilton’s method in the last few weeks has been to use his prolific social media posts to call out those who he has deemed not to have demonstrated their anti-racism credentials visibly enough. Although he has refrained from naming names — saying instead ‘I see you’ — the tactic has ruffled feathers.

He continued in that vein on Thursday, saying: ‘There are a lot of people who take a moment to, say, post Blackout Tuesday (an online campaign) but are not really doing much. I have not heard anything from any of the others teams. There are few opportunities for minorities in the sport, so more needs to be done.

‘It is a shame that it has taken another death of a black man in the States to kick-start this all. I have spent a lot of time educating myself to make sure that I am fully up to date with everything.

‘Formula One (a reference to owners Liberty Media) have been great. I have spent a lot of time with them on Zoom calls, talking about their plans and how we can move forward united. It is great to have Mercedes on board as part of this.

‘I will not stop pushing until we really see change. Seeing one face of colour added to the paddock is not diversity.’

The drivers will meet today to discuss how to demonstrate their support for black lives. They are expected to choreograph a united display for television. Here in the Styrian mountains, the pandemic’s toll on the sporting landscape was illustrated by the people who weren’t here. A lone girl in a Ferrari cap kept vigil by the gates and waved to those of us who passed through.

There were hugely more cows with bells than fans with caps in the verdant fields around the Red Bull Ring, 120 miles south-west of Vienna. At this venue for the first behind-closed-doors grand prix in the sport’s 70-year history, bright sun gave way to horizontal rain — of which more is expected in the next 72 hours.

Apart from Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel was the only driver to say anything of note. Dropped by Ferrari for 2021, he confirmed Sportsmail’s report that he had not even been offered new terms prior to the split. He also revealed he is open to offers from other competitive teams.

‘If not,’ said the quadruple world champion, ‘it’s probably time to do something else.’