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LONDON. — Lewis Hamilton has just become Formula 1’s new record holder for race victories and could, within a space of the next fortnight, also equal the record number of championships with a seventh world title.

The accolade of the most successful driver in the sport’s history awaits but 2020 is about more than just simply sporting achievement for F1’s leading star, as Hamilton explains in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports News.

As part of Black History Month, Hamilton spoke at length to Mike Wedderburn about the powerful stand he has taken against global racial injustice and the Mercedes driver’s desire to help make his own industry a more diverse place into the future.

As Hamilton, F1’s first and only black driver, explains: “If I stop talking about it, if I stop taking a knee at the forefront, at the pinnacle of motorsport, if I stop wearing this mask (Black Lives Matter) reminding that this is still an issue, then it will just go back to normal and this will be in 10, 20 years the same layout that it’s always been.

“And the access for minorities and people coming up will still be the same.”

“I want to be a part of the solution, shifting it for the future,” says Hamilton in the interview conducted at last week’s Portuguese GP, where he won for a record 92nd time in F1.

“For me, it was like OK, we’ve got to make this stand, we’ve got to make your voice heard.

“Because I’m winning all of these races, but it doesn’t actually mean anything unless you do something with the platform that it then provides you. I think all these years I’ve been . . . I feel like things happen for a reason in some ways and I think all of us are probably looking for what our purpose is and for me, I’ve been winning these races and succeeding and wondering, what does it all mean?

“What am I going to do with this? And this came round this year and I’m really, really proud, grateful to be a part of the big fight that everyone out there is fighting for.” — Sky Sports.