The Mercedes F1 team announces a partnership to improve the diversity drive

As the need to address global racial inequality was further underscored by the May 2020 murder of George Floyd – an act that sparked mass protests around the world and resulted in sporting events that added regular platforms for attendees to make their own anti-racist statements – Mercedes has created a diversity and inclusion program called “Accelerate 25”.

According to the program, Mercedes intends to come from “underrepresented groups in every year up to and including 2025” at least 25% of all new employees.

The team also sets up formal work experience programs and events for ethnic black and minority communities, and conducts an assessment of any potential barriers to recruitment for these groups.

AFBE-UK was founded in 2007 and aims to increase the number of black and ethnic minorities involved in engineering by promoting the subject in schools and continuously supporting aspiring engineers.

The organization hopes, according to a Mercedes statement, to “drive significant change, sustainable growth and development and have a lasting positive influence on the technical capabilities of Great Britain” and has a recruiting portal that Mercedes will use as part of its Accelerate 25 initiative.

“We are very pleased to have joined the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers UK,” said Paul Mills, Mercedes Chief People Officer.

“As part of our Accelerate 25 program and our commitment to improving diversity in our team and in our sport, we have begun to identify organizations that can provide valuable knowledge and support as we step up our efforts along this path.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1st place, Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 3rd place and the Mercedes team celebrate after the race

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

“AFBE-UK’s wealth of experience in working with organizations and engineers to encourage and support black and ethnic minority engineers in engineering is a perfect fit for increasing our attractiveness and increasing the diversity of talent on our team.

“We look forward to working with AFBE-UK and learning from their valuable expertise as we make progress towards our goal of enhancing the diversity of our team.

“We are also very happy to work with Dr. Nike Folayan [AFBE-UK co-founder] In her role as Chair of AFBE-UK and as a member of the Board of Commissioners of the Hamilton Commission, the research project launched by our driver Lewis Hamilton has identified the main obstacles to the recruitment and development of blacks in British motorsport and has provided actionable recommendations to implement them to overcome them. “

Mara Makoni, Head of Corporate Partnerships at AFBE-UK, said: “We are very pleased to welcome the Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix as a member of the AFBE-UK family.

“Through this partnership, we aim to support the team in executing their Accelerate 25 strategy to achieve the results of improving diversity and ensuring that the most talented engineers from all backgrounds have access to careers in motorsport engineering.

“We’re excited to see MGP’s commitment to creating teams that better reflect the world we live in. Teams that are more diverse and promote the inclusion and belonging of people from often marginalized communities.

“Seeing such an elite brand dedicate real time and resources to this goal is a huge step forward for engineering.

“Boys and girls of all backgrounds can now dare to dream of being part of building the brand and sport they admire.”