Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team is dedicated to supporting and celebrating the LGBTQ+ community. In the first of our exclusive VOICES episodes for Pride month, we’re uncovering the story of racing driver and Racing Pride co-founder Richard Morris.
Developed in collaboration with Stonewall, and inspired in part by football's Rainbow Laces campaign, Racing Pride was launched in 2019 and gained support with drivers and teams at a national racing level in the United Kingdom.
Racing Pride has positively promoted LGBTQ+ inclusivity through guidance and education, and it has now partnered with Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team, helping to shape the team’s inclusivity policies and encourage further growth of our working environment.
Richard’s story is not only about his love for Formula One. It's about the journey that helped shape his determination to co-launch Racing Pride to make a difference in motorsport.
Richard Morris
In our first #IAMSTORIES | VOICES Pride Month special, we are joined by Racing Pride co-founder, Richard Morris. From playing with toy cars in his grandma's home to being a leading voice in the LGBTQ+ racing world. This is Richard's story, presented by Cognizant.
"I've always been in love with cars and motorsport for as long as I can remember. I used to push racing cars around the floor at my grandmother's house when I was a little kid.
"My dad has always been into racing; he used to [be a] mechanic, before I was born, in Formula Ford for his mate, just for fun. He introduced me to it [motorsport].
"We were watching Formula One since I was a little kid. I remember watching all of Michael Schumacher's eras of dominance. I think it was inevitable that I was going to get into racing myself at some stage.
"Racing Pride emerged from a number of things I've been thinking about for quite a long time. It emerged from my experiences in motorsport, growing up gay, and not having any role models in the sport, not knowing if I'd be accepted, not having seen anything that suggested I would be, and having heard certain things around paddocks that hadn't made me feel welcome.
“But I knew that the vast majority of people in motorsport want to be inclusive. They want to include the LGBTQ+ community, they just don't necessarily know how to do it.
"It got to a stage in 2018, where I was advancing in my career, [and] I'd just signed for a new team in Spire Sports Cars. I was really excited by that, and I knew I was in a supportive environment.
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A global interview series that anyone with a passion for our sport can be part of. This series is a celebration of the diverse and unique voices who make up our world, from F1 legends, to team members and fans from across the globe. Everyone remembers the first time they experienced the noise and drama of Formula One. Share your voice, your experiences and connect with the world through #IAMSTORIES | VOICES. Begin with Sebastian and Lance's stories.
"I wanted to start to make a difference, to change things for people who were coming through in motorsport. I was watching the rainbow laces campaign in 2018, and I thought 'wouldn't be great if there was something like this in motorsport?'.
"So, I literally just posted about that on my social media, and it got picked up by some of the right people. We started having conversations. We had a meeting at Stonewall, and Racing Pride was born.
"Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One™ Team adding its voice to Pride Month is absolutely enormous. It is a huge beacon of hope to the LGBTQ+ community in the sport.
"It's the first time that a World Championship level team has said to LGBTQ+ people everywhere, 'you're welcome in this sport. You belong in this sport. We respect who you are, we value who you are'.
"I don't think the importance of that can be overstated."
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