Seven-time Formula 1 world champions Sir Lewis Hamilton has defended Sky Sports F1 pundit Naomi Schiff, after she was subjected to bigoted criticism online over her media work.
Schiff is a former professional racing driver who began punditry work with Channel 4 as part of their coverage of the all-female W Series, in which she used to race, before agreeing to join Sky’s cast of talent for the 2022 F1 season after impressing viewers with her knowledge and personality.
Since contributing to the channel’s coverage of the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Schiff has been widely praised for her trackside analysis, and brings the average age of Sky’s presenting team down considerably.
With F1’s audience becoming younger thanks to the success of the Netflix behind-the-scenes documentary series Drive to Survive, Schiff’s media work means she is credited with helping a younger generation engage with complex race day broadcasting, and also hosts a Monday night stream called Any driven Monday.
On Monday night, a tweet from a Twitter account with the handle @TheDenMillwall caused uproar among motorsport fans. The account owners, whose bio lists interests in Milwall FC, Brexit, Donald Trump and the far right political group Britain First, tweeted a picture of Schiff in her racing uniform and asked followers to describe what qualified her to contribute to Sky’s F1 coverage.
Many respondents suggested that the tweet was bigoted, and that it implied Schiff had been chosen only because of her gender and/or skin colour. The tweet was met with a barrage of comments defending Schiff’s talent both as a racer and TV personality. The post has subsequently been deleted and the owner has changed their account settings to private.
Now, the most successful driver in the history of F1 has stepped in to defend the 28-year-old too. Responding to a tweet containing eye-rolled emojis from Schiff, who is a Belgian-Rwandan now living in the UK, Hamilton wrote:
‘Naomi is an ex-professional racing driver & totally qualified to give her opinion as part of the Sky team. She’s been a great asset since joining & we should welcome more representative broadcasting with open arms. Still have a long way to go to change these attitudes in sport.’
Hamilton himself has increasingly campaigned on diversity issues in the past few years. He is a prominent supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, and his Hamilton Commission has been set up to provide greater opportunity for young black people in STEM subjects.
The 37-year-old is also working with his Mercedes team to increase the diversity of its workforce, which like the rest of the Formula 1 paddock, remains very predominantly white, male, and heterosexual.
In an emotional interview broadcast earlier this year, Schiff told Hamilton that his success in motorsport and activism off-track had changed her own life for the better.
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