This year, the driver Lewis Hamilton equalled a record seven Formula One world championships when he won the Turkish grand prix in November. Many believe Hamilton is the greatest Formula One driver of all time. He also won BBC Sports Personality of the Year this month and topped The Powerlist 2021, the annual list of the most influential people of African, African Caribbean and African American heritage in the UK. Hamilton is the first sports star to take top billing in the list’s 14-year history.
Michael Eboda, the chief executive of Powerful Media, the publisher of the list, tells Rachel Humphreys about meeting a 12-year-old Lewis Hamilton on a go-karting course. It was clear even then, Eboda says, that Hamilton was special. This year he interviewed the driver again, and talked to him about his anti-racism activism. Hamilton has encouraged his fellow drivers to back him by taking a knee before each race; convinced his team, Mercedes, to change its cars’ livery from silver to black; and set up a commission to make the sport more diverse at all levels of employment – all the while showcasing the Black Lives Matter cause with a T-shirt and matching BLM face mask.
Humphreys also talks to Oliver Owen, associate editor at the Official Formula 1 magazine. He explains how the combination of Hamilton’s extraordinary talent and “brilliant racing brain” has shaped him into one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time.
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Photograph: PA Wire/PA
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