Hamilton didn't ask other F1 drivers to kneel: 'I never even brought it up'
Lewis Hamilton was one of 14 Formula One drivers to kneel before Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix in a protest against systemic racism, but he didn't push for his fellow drivers to kneel with him.
"I never requested or demanded anybody to take a knee, I never even brought it up," Hamilton said, according to Nate Saunders of ESPN. "It was brought up by Formula One and it was brought up by the (Grand Prix Drivers' Association). When we did the drivers' briefing, (GPDA directors) Seb (Vettel) and (Romain) Grosjean both brought it up and asked the drivers whether or not they would do it and there were obviously several that said that they wouldn't, and I let everyone just say what they wanted to say.
"I opened up to them and I said 'Look, guys, I will be doing it but you do what you feel is right'. I'm really, really grateful for those who did it along with me, I think it's still a really powerful message."
Kimi Raikkonen, Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Daniil Kvyat, Antonio Giovinazzi, and Carlos Sainz Jr. chose not to kneel.
Hamilton, the lone Black driver on the circuit, wore a shirt reading "Black Lives Matter" on the front and "End Racism" on the back ahead of the race. He said he wanted to support Colin Kaepernick when the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback first knelt in 2016 but added he was "silenced" at the time.
"I had actually spoken to him a couple of years ago shortly after that for the U.S. Grand Prix and I had a helmet and everything made in red with his number on the top," the Mercedes driver said, according to Alan Baldwin of Reuters.
"But back then I was kind of silenced, I was told to kind of back down, don't support it. Which I will say that I regret. So it was important for me to make sure that during this period of time I did my part."
Hamilton finished in fourth place in Sunday's season opener.