Ralf Schumacher hailed for “big and positive impact” after coming out as gay

Racing Pride founding ambassador Matt Bishop has hailed Ralf Schumacher for having a “big and positive impact” following the announcement of his same-sex relationship.

Schumacher took to Instagram on Sunday to announce his relationship, posting a picture with his boyfriend, Etienne.

The six-time F1 grand prix winner becomes just the third openly LGBTQ+ driver in the history of the sport.

It has been met with warm reception, with Lewis Hamilton leading the reaction ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Bishop, who has worked in F1 for over 20 years across a number of roles with McLaren and Aston Martin, is one of the few openly LGBTQ+ representatives in the paddock.

He’s a founding ambassador of Racing Pride - an organisation centred around promoting LGBTQ+ inclusivity in motorsport.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after Friday practice in Hungary, Bishop hailed the impact Schumacher’s already had.

“It is having a really big and positive impact,” he said. “As Lewis said, this is not a new thing for Schumacher, we suppose. He is 49.

“But he’s finally felt able to public about it. He did it in a subtle and beautiful way, expressing that he has someone that he loves, who happens to be the same sex as him.

“He doesn’t want to be a pioneer or a trailblazer. He wants to be open and honest. That’s exactly how it’s been received. We do have a sport, F1 and motorsport in general, which is male, white and heterosexual in general. Perhaps even macho.

“If someone feels able to come out and be themselves, so much the better. I’ll quote Sebastian Vettel. He said: ‘Everyone in the world has an inalienable right to be who they want to be, and love whom they want to love’.”

Like Hamilton, Bishop feels more can be done within F1 and motorsport to make people more comfortable being open with their sexuality.

“You can always do a little more,” he added. “We founded Racing Pride in 2019 in association with Stonewall, an LGBTQ+ charity. Some people say ‘why are you doing that?’ We don’t only race in the western world. We race in places where the culture is disadvantageous to LGBTQ+ people.

“We go into go-karting where young people are struggling with the idea of ‘who am I going to love?’ At the same time as trying to be racing drivers. For mechanics and engineers, for some reasons, being gay is not so embraced as it is for somebody like me.

“Sometimes you speak to somebody working for a team, they’ve worked there for 20 years, they are ‘out’ to their family and married to their same-sex partner, they’re ‘out’ to their neighbours and friends, but the one place they can’t come out is in the factory where they work so hard to make the car go fast.

“That’s a pity. When Racing Pride goes into the factory, we say ‘there will be people suffering with sleepless nights’. If a percentage are unhappy they will deliver work at a lower level than they otherwise would be. In other words, if you get this right, you can make your car go faster. That gets their attention.”