Lewis Hamilton believes Formula One drivers should take their cue from other sports in uniting to take a knee before races. Before the British Grand Prix, which Hamilton won on Sunday, F1 held an anti-racism presentation on the grid but as at previous meetings some drivers opted not to kneel. The president of the FIA, Jean Todt, has said it would be inappropriate to push drivers into doing anything to which they do not accede. Hamilton won at Silverstone after a dramatic finale when his tyre gave out on the last lap. He now leads his Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas, by 30 points in the world championship standings. He is F1’s only black driver and staunchly committed to promoting the anti-racism and diversity cause within the sport but disappointed at the lack of leadership F1 has previously shown and a lack of unity from the drivers. In response F1 and the FIA created a specific time on the grid for the anti-racism gesture at Silverstone, which will be continued at races this season. However, while all attended and wore “End Racism” T-shirts once more seven drivers chose not to kneel. Hamilton pointed out that across nationalities in other sports there had been no such division. “Look at other sports, at basketball and football,” he said. “Spanish teams, Italian teams, teams all over the world, no matter what nationality or mixture they are, they are all doing it united, players from Russia, from Spain. So it’s a work in progress. When the reasoning for perhaps not doing it is how it will be perceived in your country, all you have to do is look at the other sports, because they are doing it.” He also reiterated his belief that everyone in the sport should share in the commitment. “It’s not the responsibility of minorities to have to go out and fight for rights. But unfortunately that’s the scenario we’re faced with.” Todt expressed his admiration of Hamilton’s stance and leadership. “I do respect somebody who has beliefs, and tries to use his image, his voice, his leadership to protect something,” he said. “I admire people who engage for something where they feel they can bring something.” However, he cautioned that the FIA would not force drivers to take any specific actions. “I feel it would be completely inappropriate to push people to do something they don’t feel.” Bottas also sustained a tyre delamination at the British Grand Prix, dropping him from second to 11th, as did the McLaren of Carlos Sainz. The tyre supplier Pirelli’s head of F1, Mario Isola, says the company is to investigate the cause as a matter of urgency before next weekend’s 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone. The cause is not yet clear, with excess wear due to the long stints the tyres were used for potentially at fault, as well as debris on the track. “We want to investigate not only the tyres with a failure, but all the tyres used in the last few laps of the race, to understand if we find any other cut or any other possible indication on what happened,” said Isola. “We don’t want to exclude anything, we want to analyse everything 360 degrees and avoid excluding any possibility because it’s a big mistake when you make these kinds of investigations. We have to consider all the possibilities.”