X44 Racing, Lewis Hamilton's Extreme E team, have announced Stephanie Carlin as their new team principal as part of a new inclusive and diverse team direction.
Motorsport has traditionally been dominated by a narrow demographic, but through work with The Hamilton Commission and Mission44, team owner Hamilton is seeking to make a difference.
Following the latest season of Netflix's Drive to Survive featuring the lowest female representation so far, with women speaking for 1.54 per cent of the total runtime according to Females in Motorsport, it shows how much further motorsport as a whole still needs to go.
As part of X44 Racing's review into expanding opportunities for marginalised groups and creating a more inclusive environment, X44 Racing have partnered with junior motorsport heavyweights Rodin Carlin.
Therefore, Stephanie Carlin, who will be team principal of the Carlin team's F1 Academy entry, the new all-female junior series, will lead the team in 2023 alongside deputy team principal Stephanie Travers, the first Black woman to stand on a Formula One podium.
Commenting on her appointment, Carlin said: “At Rodin Carlin, we are so excited to join forces with X44 Vida Carbon Racing and I am proud to be leading such an inclusive and diverse team into season three of the series.
“As fits with our ethos at Rodin Carlin, it is a privilege to be able to provide opportunities for up-and-coming engineers, mechanics and technicians, who we believe are truly the next generation of promising talent in our industry.”
The team have also announced George Imafidon as race engineer, a member of The Hamilton Commission who has worked with the team for the past two seasons, as well as introducing Calvin Langat as part of Extreme E's Racing For All initiative which allows each team to field an additional team member who wouldn't have otherwise had the opportunity.
X44 Racing will also use their platform to champion underrepresented voices, and ensure the world hears diverse perspectives on climate issues. In addition, the team will work with diverse content creators to tell sustainability stories from around the world – including the global south – and provide storytelling opportunities for the next generation of aspiring social media producers.
“I’m so proud of the incredible work that my team has undertaken so far in Extreme E, and I can’t wait for us to take it to the next level this year,” said Hamilton.
“We know from the findings of The Hamilton Commission that the motorsport industry is an incredibly difficult place to break into, and I hope that X44 Vida Carbon Racing can be a powerful platform to provide opportunities to the next generation.
“It has never been more important that we, as an industry, take real action to move our sport forward, and X44 Vida Carbon’s new direction is one of the ways I am committing to making that genuine change.”