"Not a one-trick pony" – Lewis Hamilton's advantage over other F1 drivers explained by Toto Wolff

Lewis Hamilton is more than just 'a one-trick pony' according to Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff.

During the launch event of the new Mercedes AMG F1 W13 E Performance, the Austrian singled out Hamilton from all other F1 drivers by saying:

“I think what Lewis [Hamilton] has achieved is that he is not like many or most others. A one-trick pony driving the car and that’s it. But there is so much more dimension to Lewis’ life and I think [that’s] the most important [thing], and his driving provides him with the platform, is the fight against injustice, more diversity and inclusion and that’s so important. Because we, in our little microcosm, in a 99.9% white, middle-aged manager world, it’s something we really need to utilize to change. And we are trying that as a team and we have set ourselves higher levels that we want to achieve. We want to hire at least 25% of all new people to join the team from a minority background, underprivileged background and we are on a good path.”

Hamilton has been vocal about more diversity and inclusivity in F1 for years now. The seven-time world champion has used his platform to champion multiple causes and hopes to do more in the years to come.

Wolff also fired a warning shots towards all other F1 rivals during the launch event, claiming the team has no sense of entitlement going into the new campaign.

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Lewis Hamilton happy to see scope for more diversity in F1

Lewis Hamilton was himself asked about the diversity in Mercedes' junior line-up for the upcoming season.

Speaking about the need for more inclusion in the sport, the seven-time world champion said:

“Firstly, we are seeing diversity right here. I think it’s amazing to see the sport is now opening up. We haven’t seen, apart from perhaps Susie [Wolff], we’ve not seen many young girls come through. So, we need to make sure that we are providing a pathway for that.”

The Briton went on to add, saying:

“But it’s on a much, much bigger scale, the work that we are doing. With Ignite Mercedes and Mission 44, really working on getting kids into stem subjects, working with Formula 1 and with Stefano [Domenicali] to really make sure that we are including all the teams and taking them on a journey in this place, more representative or make it look more like the outside world, it’s key. And this is just one of those key pieces to the puzzle.”

Lewis Hamilton also confirmed that he never said he would leave F1 during the launch event.