Lewis Hamilton praises Ralf Schumacher after former F1 star comes out
Lewis Hamilton has praised Ralf Schumacher after he came out. (Getty)
Sir Lewis Hamilton has praised former Formula One driver Ralf Schumacher after he came out publicly on 14 July.
Schumacher recently announced the news on Instagram, uploading a photo of himself and his partner Etienne looking at a sunset. The picture was captioned: “The most beautiful thing in life is when you have the right partner by your side with whom you can share everything.”
Hamilton said that Schumacher coming out “sends such a positive message” to people in the queer community, which “liberates others to be able to do the same”.
The British race car driver has often supported the LGBTQ+ community, having previously sported a Pride flag on his helmet, even whilst competing in countries where homosexuality is illegal.
Back in 2021, Schumacher said that Hamilton’s support was “dangerous to F1”, but the Mercedes star has since responded by saying he’s glad that Schumacher no longer “has to fear”.
“I think he’s not felt comfortable enough to say it in the past,” Hamilton said before the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix. “But I think it just shows that we are in the time and finally can take that step and don’t have to fear. Hopefully, people will say that. I think so far I’ve heard only positive feedback from people.”
He continued: “And I think that’s because of the time we’re living in and the changes we are in. It all started from Seb [Vettel] and I standing on the grid here, fighting against what the government is doing here.
“When I was wearing a helmet in Saudi, in Qatar, and I know Ralf said that it wasn’t a good idea to do those things. But after that, he made a shift in his mind. And even him taking that step sends such a positive message, and liberates others to be able to do the same,” Hamilton concluded.
According to Carmen Geiss, a German actress and close friend of Schumacher, the couple have been together for two years.
Commenting on the post, Geiss wrote: “After two years, you can finally show your love to the world. I have known Ralf for more than 25 years and he has always been a great joy to me.”
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