Talent is what we should remember!

By Nat
April 11 2007

The insistence of a lot of the media referring to Lewis Hamilton as ‘F1’s black driver‘? I can just about bare the ‘British rookie’ label. Can you imagine anyone referring to, say Jenson Button as ‘F1’s White driver’ (one of many white drivers to be exact)?

Lewis entered the f1 fraternity with two solid podium finishes in his first two grand prixs, yet I’m getting very disturbed.

The insistence of a lot of the media referring to Lewis as ‘F1’s black driver‘?
I can just about bare the ‘British rookie’ label.

Can you imagine anyone referring to, say Jenson Button as ‘F1’s White driver’ (one of many white drivers to be exact)?

I understand that F1 has not seen a driver of Lewis Hamilton’s ethnicity grace the grid before, but what are we living in 1970’s Britain all over again? Where we must point out and refer to people as being ‘black’ etc.

When Narain Karthikeyan entered F1, he was referred to as the first Indian driver in F1, yet they stopped short of calling him the first brown driver in F1, so why do we need to point out Lewis’ skin colour?
I could just be cynical, but I think maybe it is ‘natural’ to assume a person from India will be of a certain aesthetic make up, so there was no need to explicitly define him in context of colour.

So what justifications can I give for the ‘Black label’ for Lewis? Maybe when people think Britain, a crude assumption would be someone who resembles a Jenson Button type person, so the press may feel the need to point out the colour of his skin.

But Britain has seen for many decades now a steady influx of all cultures for one reason or another making Britain there home, and being British citizens whether by becoming or by birth, regardless of skin colour, we all are British.

Is it not possible to get Britons of many different skin complexions? Anyone in doubt just needs to next time observe the diversity we have when on their way to Wembley Stadium!

In a classroom, today it would be unheard of to refer to any of their students as the ‘Black student’, yet we can happily print stories and commentate on races and make a point of pointing out someone’s skin colour.

When I see Lewis Hamilton, I see an exceptional hard working talent, who given time with the right guidance, no doubt in my mind will be a future world champion.
He is someone who has the world at his feet, and un like some other sports stars, looks like he will work hard and dedicate his life fully to reaching his boyhood dream of becoming a world champion.

Hold on, where is my reference to his skin colour? Oh I do apologise I meant to say when I look at Lewis Hamilton I see a black boy with an exceptional talent, who given time with the right guidance, no doubt in my mind will be a future world champion.
He is someone who has the world at his feet, and un like some other sports stars, looks like he will work hard and dedicate his life fully to reaching his boyhood dream of becoming a world champion.

This is precisely the sort of thing the latter paragraph has done when discussing Hamilton, of course not all the press is guilty of this, many have gone with the former.

Even before Lewis was confirmed at McLaren, I read articles about Lewis being the Tiger Woods of F1.

I admit that the fact that this sport is very elitist and dominated by a white male hegemony, so of course it would be inevitable that people mention that he has broken through the many prejudices in F1 to finally make it to the grid.

But really every second word we need to be constantly reminded Lewis is ‘Black’?

I would have thought that living in 2007 most people have looked past the narrow frameworks of defining people simply by colour.
We know something about Lewis now, more than just his skin colour which has been pointed out endlessly, I would have thought or hoped, that when people talk about Lewis they talk about what he has done in F1, even after just two races, rather than his skin colour, maybe I am naive!

Ron Dennis and McLaren avoid dwelling on his skin colour, saying he got to the grid for his talent and nothing more or less.
So that’s what we need to talk and remember about Lewis Hamilton, he is in F1 because of his amazing talent.