Lewis Hamilton has been told to live up to his plans. (Image: Getty)
Female racing driver Sophia Floersch has told to “put your money where your mouth is” over his ambitions to hire a woman to race for his dream Formula One team.
As a long-time champion of gender equality in motorsport, Hamilton claimed that if he were to start a new team in F1 he would hire juniors Kenzo Craigie and Doriane Pin.
Craigie recently became a double world champion as he added to his OK-J FIA Karting World Championship with the X30-J title at the IAME World Finals.
While PREMA driver and junior Pin won Race One in Qatar on Saturday, ahead of F1 Academy 2024 champion Abbi Pulling, and sits second overall in an impressive season.
There has not been a female F1 driver since Giovanna Amati in 1992, while the last woman to make a grand prix start was Lella Lombardi in 1976.
Hamilton has repeatedly voiced his and is regularly spotted on the F1 Academy grid, including at the recent , having outlined his idealistic plans to hire Pin.
“Kenzo and Doriane,” Hamilton said when asked for his two ideal drivers if he had his own F1 team. “She’s a bad***. If I were to make a team… maybe one day I will… it’ll be diverse from the beginning.”
Alpine junior driver Sophia Floersch. (Image: Getty)
But Floersch, who is part of the academy and a F3 driver with Van Amersfoort, called on Hamilton to make good on his vow. She replied: “Put your money where your mouth is!”
It remains to be seen how serious Hamilton is about starting his own team. General Motors-Cadillac have been , after Michael Andretti spent hundreds of millions in efforts to get their application approved.
Hamilton founded Mission 44 in 2021, which he backed with £20million. The charity aims to support people from under-represented communities, following his upbringing as the onlyperson of colour in his field.
Put your money where your mouth is!
— Sophia Floersch (@SophiaFloersch)
And Hamilton has been defended by engineer Calum Nicholas, who replied to Floersch : “Very disappointed with this response.
“Lewis has poured more money and time into championing underrepresented groups than ANYONE in the history of our sport.
“The Hamilton Commission was a game-changer and without it, we likely wouldn’t have many of the programs working to break down the barriers to entry into racing. Why would you want to antagonise people that are already on your side?”
While F1 broadcaster Sean Kelly : “He was in the Academy paddock on Sunday too. Credit where it is due, he gives his time, which is probably even harder for him to do on an F1 weekend than just giving his money.”