Lewis Hamilton founds Extreme E team
September 8, 2020
Six-Time Formula One World Champion, Lewis Hamilton has announced the creation of his very own race team, X44, which will make its debut in Extreme E, the groundbreaking new electric off-road racing series.
Named with reference to Lewis’s own racing number, X44 will enter Season 1 of the Extreme E Championship, with its first X Prix race scheduled to take place in early 2021.
As the team’s founder, he will not be behind the wheel or involved on a day to day basis but he will put the learnings of his motorsport career into practice to help guide the creation of a dedicated and competitive team.
X44 and its Extreme E competitors will race electric vehicles in five remote locations; arctic, desert, rainforest, glacier, and coastal; which are already damaged or severely under threat of climate change from a range of serious issues including melting ice caps, deforestation, desertification and rising sea levels.
Lewis Hamilton, Founder of X44 said: “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 One 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.
“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.”