03 / Beyond the circuit
OPEN
THE GRID.
Talent is everywhere.
A way in should be, too.
The work / Follow the route
FROM A QUESTION.
TO A WAY IN.
Hamilton Commission / 2021
Make the barriers visible.
A research programme examining education, recruitment and career progression in UK motorsport.
Read this chapter Read the primary source ↗Thirteen awards. Eight reported destinations. Five destinations not reported.
Research → Scholarships → Published destinations
The person / The purpose
A DIFFERENT
KIND OF
OPENING.
Hamilton’s experiences as a young Black driver helped shape a question: why are so many people missing from the industry around the sport?
He launched the Hamilton Commission in 2020 to investigate. Mission 44, established in 2021, carries that work into education and employment, supporting young people whose opportunities are limited by disadvantage.
Mission 44 / The founder ↗This photograph predates Mission 44 and does not depict a foundation event.The route / Research into opportunity
2021 → 2025
CHANGE
THE ENTRY
POINT.
01Find the barriers.2021
The Hamilton Commission’s report examined barriers facing Black people in UK motorsport and set out ten recommendations, spanning education, recruitment and career progression.
Read the Commission report ↗02Build a route.2022
A recommendation for postgraduate engineering scholarships became a Royal Academy of Engineering pilot. Mission 44 supported master’s study and career development for Black engineering graduates.
Royal Academy of Engineering ↗03Make room.2023–25
Five scholarships in 2023–24 and eight in 2024–25: thirteen awards across the first two cohorts. The Academy’s follow-up describes eight recipients’ destinations, with five in Formula 1, two elsewhere in motorsport and one in wider engineering.
Five destinations were not reported in that announcement. These figures describe the pilot cohorts; they are not a measured employment rate caused by the programme.
Read the published follow-up ↗Thirteen awards / First two pilot cohorts
Every line
is a person.
The published destinations are a beginning, not the whole story.
5 Formula 1 teams
2 Elsewhere in motorsport
1 Wider engineering
5 Destinations not reported
IN THE FRAME.