Sir Lewis Hamilton receives support from House of Lords as 'discourteous and unprofessional' FIA President under fire

The House of Lords recently sent an explosive letter to the FIA president while supporting Lewis Hamilton. Previously, Paul Scriven, a Liberal Democrat, and 90 other lawmakers wrote a letter to Mohammed Ben Sulayem concerning the human rights implications of F1 in Gulf countries. However, the FIA president didn't respond to the letter.

Subsequently, Scriven sent yet another letter expressing his annoyance towards Ben Sulayem and how he had completely ignored the House of Lords.

In the second letter, Scriven wrote:

"Almost one year has passed since you received this letter, and yet, we have not had the courtesy of your response. Your failure to respond to our serious concerns is deeply discourteous and unprofessional. Why do you think you can ignore parliamentarians? Do you think that concerns raised over human rights and the policies of the FIA should be above scrutiny? We wrote to you in order to raise concerns that are in the public interest, and we expect openness and transparency from the FIA."

He also mentioned how the FIA's new rule banning drivers from making political statements directly targets Lewis Hamilton. Since the Briton is one of the most outspoken drivers on the F1 grid, the new amendment affects him the most.

The letter reads:

"It was with great concern that I learnt of the FIA's decision to suppress F1 drivers' voices from speaking out in what you deem to be political statements, a policy that will serve to shield F1 host countries from scrutiny over injustice. It is very clear to me that this policy targets Sir Lewis Hamilton, your most outspoken driver, whose comments on countries with abysmal rights records, particularly Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, would have undoubtedly not been well received by these corrupt and abusive regimes."

Apart from this, Mohammed Ben Sulayem is already under fire for making comments on F1's valuation and gender inequality in the past on his personal website.

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Lewis Hamilton sad to see new FIA and F1 rule banning drivers from making political statements

Speaking to The New York Times, Lewis Hamilton shared his thoughts on F1's new rule that bans drivers from making any personal statements on global issues. He hopes that the FIA reverses the rule and lets drivers freely speak their minds on race weekends.

Hamilton said:

"There are still so many barriers still in place. Hopefully, it's not going to be like this for much longer, but it's just sad to see we are still finding those things today."

He further explained the importance of speaking about certain issues to bring them into the spotlight, saying:

"If I don't have these conversations with people, if I don't bring up these difficult conversations, they won't necessarily get discussed or tackled, or energy from organizations won't necessarily be put into creating more inclusivity. Spending the time having those conversations and what it means and how positive it could be for everybody, it takes time. It's a constant job to have them."

Lewis Hamilton has constantly used his massive reach to raise awareness about racism, gender inequality, and other world disputes. Hence, he will be most affected by this new rule.