Mercedes break boundaries with incredible new partnership
Mercedes break boundaries with incredible new partnership
GPFans Staff
Mercedes have confirmed they have partnered with LGBTQ+ group Racing Pride.
Racing Pride, founded in June 2019 in partnership with LGBTQ+ rights charity Stonewall, is a movement promoted and designed to champion LGBTQ+ inclusivity in motorsport.
The movement’s ambassadors include former W Series drivers Abbie Eaton, Sarah Moore and esteemed Formula 1 journalist Matt Bishop.
In addition to Mercedes, Racing Pride lists the Alpine, Aston Martin, Red Bull F1 teams, and the British Automobile Racing Club [BARC] as industry partners.
The group visited the Mercedes factory in Brackley in June of 2023 to deliver a workshop for the group's pride month activities.
Racing Pride will assist and advise in developing policies and procedures and training sessions for team members to embed themselves in LGBTQ+ inclusion and allyship.
Hamilton big fan of diversity movement
Mercedes' lead driver, Lewis Hamilton, openly supports the LGBTQ+ community and has included the rainbow flag in his helmet design.
“Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix operates one of the most successful, prestigious, and celebrated teams in the history of Formula One, and its cars are driven by two drivers with an enormous platform,” said Racing Pride Co-Founder and Director of Partner Relations, racing driver Richard Morris.
“Lewis Hamilton’s well-known commitment to LGBTQ+ allyship, combined with Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix’s status within the industry, means that this partnership has the potential to make a real and far-reaching impact for LGBTQ+ inclusion across motorsport and beyond.
“Racing Pride is certainly not only concerned with external visibility and awareness, though, and we are committed to ensuring through this partnership that the 1,200 team members working for MGP at Brackley genuinely feel that their working environment is one which is safe and welcoming for LGBTQ+ individuals and encourages all team members to be their true selves in a way which can only enhance the company’s ongoing success on and off track.”