Mario Andretti criticizes Hamilton: “Why did he have to become so militant?”

(Motorsport-Total.com) – Lewis Hamilton has caused a stir in the past few weeks with his commitment to the BlackLivesMatter movement. On the one hand, he earned recognition far beyond the limits of Formula 1 because there has long been no racing driver who is so passionate about his concerns. On the other hand, there were also critical overtones.

IndyCar legend Mario Andretti, the Formula 1 world champion of 1978 joins them. The 80 year old finds that Hamilton is not doing himself a favor with his social commitment: “I respect Lewis very much. At the same time I ask myself but: Why did he have to become so militant to a certain extent? “

Andretti’s statements are all about the start of the season for Formula 1 2020 published in Spielberg in the Chilean newspaper ‘El Mercurio’. In order to avoid translation errors on the basis of the Spanish publication on such a sensitive subject, we got the original English interview from our colleagues.

In this Andretti explains: “Lewis never did anything and never was always accepted as best as possible. He has earned the respect of the whole planet. I think that some of the goals they have are going a little over the top. That’s my feeling. And I’m afraid that this could lead to problems between usa that are completely superfluous. “

In fact, we see a very strong polarization of the readership in articles on Hamilton and racism. The best way to notice this is from user comments on social networks. A few are happy about the good thing. However, Hamilton-critical hate comments are usually much louder.

Andretti does not understand that Hamilton has now managed to paint the classic Mercedes silver arrows black. He had been there for a long time and racing drivers with different ethnic backgrounds were always welcomed “with open arms” in motorsport.

“No matter what skin color you have: You have to work out your Snarl through results “Period,” emphasizes Andretti. “It’s the same for everyone.” And: “In my opinion, you can always create problems that don’t exist.”

Responded to the journalist’s objection that black racing drivers were still a minority and that motorsport as a whole was dominated by white men Andretti: “I know that they are a minority. But that doesn’t mean that they are not welcome.”

“We had black drivers at the IndyCars, and we already had plans to do so Years a few black drivers in NASCAR who were always warmly welcomed. We became friends. I’m still friends with some of them today. I don’t understand what the area is supposed to be. Became you want to do there? “

But Hamilton, he has often emphasized, is not about a few racers from ethnic minorities being accepted by the neighborhood without prejudice. His commitment strives for equality. And he criticizes that because of their social position, many black people do not even have the probability of getting a leg into motorsport …