Lewis Hamilton founds electric racing team

The X44 team – named after Hamilton’s own racing number – will enter the series at the start of its inaugural season next year, fielding pairs of drivers in the five global races held in damaged and under threat environments of the arctic, desert, rainforest, glacier, and coastline. The team and other Extreme E competitors will pilot identical Odyssey 21 electric SUV racing cars, with success relying solely on the male-female driver pairings’ and their individual talent.

While the six-time F1 world champion will not be racing or involved in the daily running of the team, he will provide support from afar, using his experience in motorsport to guide its success.

“Extreme E is an exciting new sustainability initiative, and this is a great opportunity to be involved from the outset as a team founder. Of course, my ambitions and commitments with Mercedes in Formula 1 mean that I won’t be operationally involved in X44, but I’m excited to play a different role in this new series, one that brings my vision for a more sustainable and equal world to life,” said Hamilton.

“Extreme E really appealed to me because of its environmental focus. Every single one of us has the power to make a difference, and it means so much to me that I can use my love of racing, together with my love for our planet, to have a positive impact.

“Not only will we visit remote locations facing the front line of the climate crisis, we will also work closely with these locations and leading climate experts to share our knowledge and leave behind a positive legacy in each location which goes far beyond the race track.

“As Founder of X44, I am looking forward to building my team around important values such as sustainability and equality. None of us are perfect and we all have improvements to make, but I am excited to use our platform to highlight the most serious issues facing our planet and the solutions we can all be part of.” 

The series is due to launch in Senegal in January 2021, followed by rounds in Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Greenland and Brazil, each separated by two months in order to allow the vehicles and equipment to be transported by sea aboard RMS St. Helena, which has been transformed to serve as an operations, logistics, accommodation and garage base for the championship.

While fielding an off-road competition in such fragile ecosystems may appear counter-intuitive, the aim is to raise awareness of serious climate change issues including melting ice caps, deforestation, desertification and rising sea levels and promote the adoption of electric technology. The series will also feature an Oxbridge-advised ‘Legacy Programme’ to working alongside the communities in race locations in order to leave a positive impact. And to further minimise environmental impact, the races will not be open to spectators, instead broadcast live on television and online.

Alejandro Agag, Founder and CEO at Extreme E commented: “We are thrilled to welcome Lewis Hamilton and his X44 team to Extreme E. Like us, Lewis is hugely passionate about motorsport, but also shares our belief that we can use sport to highlight subjects which are vital to the world, such as climate change and equality.

“Lewis is one of the most successful drivers of all time, and we’re all excited to see how his X44 team performs on and off the race track under his incredible guidance. A huge welcome to the Extreme E family Lewis!”

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.