Lewis Hamilton’s father Anthony is set to receive an official role at the FIA helping the governing body with its young driver programme.
As first revealed by The Times and verified by Motorsport.com, Hamilton Sr has been working in an advisory capacity over the past 18 months and his role will become official at next month’s FIA conference in Macau, where the governing body will officially launch the FIA’s Young Driver Development Pathway.
According to The Times report Hamilton is said to have impressed FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem with his work as the governing body aims to smoothen the pathway for young drivers from grassroots level to a professional career, which has led to an official function.
Hamilton’s role is understood to have no bearing on how his son Lewis is feeling about Ben Sulayem’s governance, with the seven-time world champion – as well as other drivers – having clashed with the Emirati on several occasions.
As Ben Sulayem clamped down on drivers swearing on the team radio last year, Hamilton raised concerns over the president comparing F1 drivers to “rappers”, saying there was a racial element to his remarks.
On Wednesday Ben Sulayem celebrated “improvements” as he watered down the scale of punishments his governing body had initially come up with to crack down on swearing.
Ben Sulayem is up for re-election at the end of the year, with no official candidate yet to declare running against him. As first reported by Motorsport.com another F1 driver father, Carlos Sainz Sr, has confirmed he is considering running for president after being approach by various figures in the motorsport community to throw his hat into the ring.
The father of current Williams driver Carlos Sainz has yet to decide on whether or not he will follow through, with both father and son dismissing any concerns over potential conflicts of interest.
When Lewis Hamilton’s former Mercedes team-mate George Russell was asked about the swearing rules changes, he said: “We’ve still had no correspondence with anyone from the senior level at the FIA. So yeah, it’s all a bit suspect.
“It seems more challenging than it should be really, but we’ve all put our views forward.
“I wouldn’t say it’s gotten to a point of no return, but you at least want to see willingness from the other party.”
Ferrari driver Hamilton added: “I hadn’t seen it, so I don’t know where it’s stemming from. I mean, it is ridiculous. I don’t really know.
“Nothing I say is going to make any difference to it. It seems a bit of a mess there at the moment. So, yeah, there’s lots of changes that are needed, for sure.”
