Latest Episode | Cut To The Race Podcast
2020 was a year like no other, a year that encouraged F1 to reflect and begin new initiatives, namely in the #weraceasone campaign, the BLM initiatives organised heavily by Lewis Hamilton. F1 has announced these initiatives will continue in 2021, with a few changes to what we saw in 2020.
2020 saw the campaign focussed around the pandemic and inequality, in 2021 F1 has announced #weraceasone will contain three main pillars – Sustainability, diversity and inclusion and community. The commitment sees the teams and other personnel focus on 9 key areas:
- Creating a clear path towards sustainably fuelled hybrid engines, something that will be of significant importance to not only the sport but the automotive sector.
- Reducing the amount of single-use plastic bottles and cutlery and food waste in the pit and paddock.
- • Rolling out internships and apprenticeships within Formula 1 for under-represented groups to provide access to a promising career in the sport.
- • Funding scholarships for talented engineering students from diverse and underprivileged backgrounds with work experience opportunities at F1 and the Teams during their studies
- • Growing F1 in Schools – already the world’s leading school-age STEM education challenge
- • Working with our promoters around the world to establish and deliver programmes that leave a positive and lasting community impact.
- • Helping to grow awareness and support for the W Series and the talented young female drivers coming through the ranks
- • Moving towards new freight methods through adapting containers for use on modern aircraft and other modes of transport.
- • Continuing to develop our remote operations capabilities where action to date has already eliminated c.70 tonnes of freight being taken to each race.
A statement was issued outlining the new plan, saying “Throughout the season we paid tribute to people around the world for the incredible strength and fortitude shown against the global pandemic. The rainbow was chosen by Formula 1 to sit alongside #WeRaceAsOne as it became a symbol used internationally to bring communities together. Equally we used our restart to show that we as a sporting community stand united against racism and are doing more to address inequality and diversity in Formula 1.
This was highlighted at every race with the twenty drivers uniting in their support of ending racism before the start of the race. We plan to include a moment before the start of each race this season to show our united support for important issues and will be discussing this with the drivers and the teams ahead of the start of the season. This season the rainbow will no longer feature alongside the #WeRaceAsOne platform.”
“This season the rainbow will no longer feature alongside the #WeRaceAsOne platform. While the COVID-19 pandemic is still an ongoing battle, we are focussing the platform on the three core pillars of our ESG strategy: sustainability, diversity & inclusion, and community. In 2019, Formula 1 set out its ambitious sustainability, diversity, and inclusion strategy to improve the long-term future of our sport. This included our commitment to be net zero carbon as a sport by 2030 and create a more inclusive and diverse culture across Formula 1, attracting more diverse talent across technical, commercial, corporate, and on-air roles.
Additionally, the plan, in partnership with the FIA, looks at promoting a diverse driver talent pipeline by identifying and systematically eliminating barriers to entry from grass roots karting to Formula 1. As set out in our #WeRaceAsOne announcement last year, recent events have reinforced the importance of those issues and the need for us to accelerate and take further action to make our sport better, improve opportunity and have a positive impact on the world we live in.”
New president and CEO of the F1 group Stefano Domenicali said “Our WeRaceAsOne platform was very effective at raising the awareness of socially important issues and our steadfast commitment to make a positive change. We are very proud of it and the teams have embraced it fully. While our commitment through words to tackling issues like sustainability and diversity in our sport are important, it is our actions that we will be judged on. We have already made good progress on our sustainability plans and you will see strong actions being executed this year across all three of our WRAO pillars. We know we must continue to move forward on these issues and the whole sport is united in doing this in the months and years ahead.”
It is good to see F1 continues to use the influential voice it has across the world, and hopefully it’ll keep doing so in years to come.
IMAGE: F1.COM