Formula 1 ditches knee-taking

FILE - Lewis Hamilton took a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, before the Austrian Grand Prix. Photo: Dan Istitene/AP Photo

FILE - Lewis Hamilton took a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, before the Austrian Grand Prix. Photo: Dan Istitene/AP Photo

Published Feb 8, 2022

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Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali says drivers will no longer be given the formal opportunity to take a knee before races, stressing that it is now time for "action" to increase diversity in motorsport.

Britain's Lewis Hamilton and other drivers have knelt ahead of every race for the past two seasons in a show of solidarity against racism.

But F1 is set to pull the allocated slot from its pre-race schedule for the new season, which starts in Bahrain next month.

The sport announced it was extending its funding commitment to the Formula One engineering scholarship programme for under-represented groups until 2025. And it will carry on screening an anti-racism message ahead of every race.

"We needed to make sure that what we did was important to show the intention of Formula One in things that were really important for the world," F1 president and chief executive Domenicali said. | AFP

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