Lewis Hamilton wins Styrian Grand Prix, calls out rival teams for lack of action on racism

Lewis Hamilton mastered the wet then mastered the Styrian Grand Prix, but he had tough words for rivals over their lack of support for his anti-racism protest. And a broadcasting blunder didn’t help.

Mercedes' British driver Lewis Hamilton raises a fist on the podium after the Formula One Styrian Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton’s two causes this season, to win a seventh world title and to use his platform to promote anti-racism, were both advanced a little further on Sunday with his victory in the Styrian Grand Prix.

First Hamilton completed the most comfortable of victories from pole position, recovering impressively from a mistake-strewn opening race on the same track a week earlier to finish 13 seconds ahead of Valtteri Bottas, his Mercedes teammate.

Then the British driver continued his strident stance on anti-racism by reiterating his disappointment that other teams had not been more vocal in their support for the message, singling out Ferrari, the most famous name in the sport, for a perceived lack of action.

“No other team has said a single thing,” Hamilton said.

“We’ve seen Red Bull’s mechanics take a knee, which is great. But publicly, as businesses and as teams, you look at Ferrari who have thousands of people working with them, I’ve heard no word from Ferrari saying they hold themselves accountable. We need (them) to do that. Everyone needs to pull together.”

Stepping triumphantly from his car at the end of the 71-lap race, Hamilton showed the raised fist of the “black power” salute, a gesture he reprised as he stood at the top of the podium for the first time this season.

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Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton gives the Black Power salute on the podium.

After an opening race that he had described as “psychologically challenging”, when he suffered a grid penalty in practice and a further sanction during the race for crashing into Alex Albon, Hamilton had earned pole position with a brilliant drive in the wet on Saturday and never looked like being seriously challenged on a Sunday afternoon stroll amid the Styrian hills.

Bottas, who had won seven days earlier, worked his way past Max Verstappen, of Red Bull, to reassert the superiority of the Mercedes cars and, further back, Lando Norris produced a second successive barnstorming finish in his McLaren. Unlike the previous week, when only 11 of the 20 drivers had finished the race, there was little sign of disturbance for the two teams who look likely to dominate a shortened season, as Albon finished fourth in his Red Bull ahead of Norris.

Before the race, there was once again an anti-racism protest from the drivers, albeit a less choreographed version than the week before. Hamilton again wore a “Black Lives Matter” T-shirt while other drivers’ T-shirts read “End racism”. Most drivers joined Hamilton in taking the knee and others chose to stand, as before, although a shortage of time meant that not all the drivers were present at the same time.

Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo of Australia leads Lance Stroll of Canada.

There was also criticism of the official broadcast for cutting away from the protest to screen a skydive arranged by the promoter, but F1 officials explained that the impromptu nature of the drivers’ protest made this unavoidable.

“Maybe next week we’ll try to do a better job,” Hamilton said. “I’ve spent time talking to other drivers, some of them don’t understand how impactful their voices can be. Some said, ‘I (demonstrated) last week and I’m not doing it again,’ some continued to have the same approach as the first week. I’d like to think at some stage, we’ll all be together and take the knee.”

Lewis Hamilton sends the Black Lives Matter message on the grid.

Once the race was under way, much of the drama came in the opening exchanges, as Charles Leclerc’s rush of blood on the first lap effectively took out both Ferrari cars. From fourth on the grid, Bottas soon picked off Carlos Sainz ahead of him and set his sights on overhauling Verstappen, which he duly did with four laps to go.

Norris had claimed the first finish of his career in his McLaren a week earlier by posting the fastest lap time of the race on the final lap. Sunday he again produced a remarkable sprint finish, passing Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez during the final 4.3km lap to finish fifth. Daniel Ricciardo finished eighth in his Renault.

Farther ahead, the only time Hamilton was not out in front was for six laps after he had taken a pit-stop to change to medium compound tyres. Otherwise, the victory that kick-starts his quest to equal Michael Schumacher’s record of seven world titles was never in doubt.

Much of his hard work had been done in qualifying on Saturday, when he embraced the wet conditions that disconcerted so many of his rivals. On Sunday, he simply reaped the rewards.

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Originally published as Lewis Hamilton wins Styrian Grand Prix, calls out rival teams for lack of action on racism