I worked with Lewis Hamilton very closely for 5 years when he & I were at McLaren. He’s an absolutely brilliant #F1 driver & a truly great man. He does a huge amount for diversity & inclusivity. By contrast Nelson Piquet Sr disgusts me. #WeRaceAsOne. That’s it. That’s the tweet.
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Matt Bishop 
@TheBishF1
Diagonal Comms MD; MotorSport columnist; Racing Pride founding ambassador; F1 sage; petrolhead; snooker buff; Londoner; novelist; historian; LGBTQ+
Matt Bishop 🏳️🌈 🏁’s Tweets
I’m so chuffed to have managed to get Seb Vettel on BBC #QuestionTime & I’m so proud of the way he answered questions in his 2nd language about the politics of a country in which he doesn’t live. Here he is talking common sense about Brexit. #BBCQT
#OnThisDay 70 years ago Nelson Piquet Sr was born. So here’s a pic of Lewis Hamilton. #EndRacism #DriveItOut #WeRaceAsOne
OK… I work for Aston Martin. But, as an #F1 ‘lifer’, I know when I’ve seen something special, & it’s only sporting to acknowledge the brilliance of a rival. So… Lewis Hamilton today reminded everyone who truly loves this sport why they fell in love with it when they were a kid.
I’ve worked with 4 #F1 world champions - Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso & Seb Vettel. They’re all remarkable, all driven, all brilliant. Today is a sad day but working with Seb has been - & remains - very special. What a driver. What a man. ❤️
Poor Steve Coogan. His brilliant comic creation, Alan Partridge, only works if it’s more absurd than that which it’s mocking. This morning Richard Madeley has single-handedly scuppered that with the most brazen #AccidentalPartridge I’ve ever seen! 😳🤔🤣
twitter.com/BuckinghamAlic
Here’s a personal announcement. I’ll be leaving Aston Martin on 30 December 2022. I joined on 1 January last year, so I’ve done 2 years. I’ve enjoyed my time as an Aston Martin man enormously, despite the many challenges, &, all in all, I think we launched the team well. (1/3)
Seb Vettel on BBC #QuestionTime just now: articulate, honest, engaging, wise. I’m well chuffed, but not at all surprised. I knew how good he’d be. #BBCQT
I’m very sad to hear of the passing of Sabine Schmitz, the only woman to have won the #Nürburgring24Hours, rightly known as ‘Queen of the Nürburgring’, & a star of , who’s succumbed to cancer, aged just 51. #RIPSabineSchmitz
Look what Seb Vettel gave me (read his words on all 3 pics)! I didn’t tweet them yesterday, because Twitter belonged to Fernando Alonso yesterday; I’m delighted that Nando will race with us next year, but #LGBTQ+ super-ally Seb will always be special. #WeRaceAsOne #LoveIsLove
Today is a VERY good day. Why? Because 30-odd years ago I arrived in #F1 as “the only gay in the village”, branded “fat faggot” by one of the drivers, & today the F1 team I work for has festooned its cars with #Pride logos. I’m not crying. You’re crying. #WeRaceAsOne #LoveIsLove
Has an #F1 driver ever appeared on the front cover of the award-winning #LGBTQ+ magazine #Attitude? No. Well, not ’til now. The latest issue is available at all good UK newsagents, & it contains a brilliant & unmissable 9-page feature interview with Seb Vettel. #Pride #PrideMonth
Working with Seb Vettel for the past 2 years has been a joy, an honour & a privilege, even if we discovered that he doesn’t know how to tie a tie! Cue this little vignette from Paul Ricard earlier this year! #DankeSeb
Remembering Roland Ratzenberger, whose 62nd birthday we should be celebrating today. If you know, you know. 😢
Impeccable old-school elder-statesman behaviour from Seb Vettel just now, making sure that Lando Norris was OK after his big Eau Rouge shunt. I’ve said it before & I’m saying it again: I’m massively proud to work with such a great guy. #BelgianGP
Someone recently asked me what a perfect 4-wheel drift looks like. I said: “Jim Clark, Lotus Cortina Mk1, Westfield, Brands Hatch.” Tell me I’m wrong. #SidewaysSaturday
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He lost his life at Curva Villeneuve, during qualifying at Imola, #OnThisDay in ’94. We who love #F1 will never let his memory fade. His name was Roland Ratzenberger. #GoneButNotForgotten
#OnThisDay 15 years ago, in Montreal, Lewis Hamilton won an #F1 GP for the first time. He’s since scored 102 more F1 GP wins. Maligned by 3 demographics - racists, curmudgeons &/or people who know nothing about racing - he’s one of the very greatest we’ve ever seen.
I’ll be honest: I’m actually now bloody angry that has been yet again ignored in today’s #NewYearsHonours. He’s a 6-time #F1 world champion, he’s a black man who’s dominated a white man’s sport, he’s a wonderful role model, & he’s a great guy. (1/3)
A Brazilian friend sent me this description of the video below. “Piquet is calling new Brazilian President Lula a son of a bitch, saying he should be in the cemetery, & using the pro-Bolsonaro slogan ‘Brazil above all, God above everything’. Disgraceful, pathetic & sad for #F1.”
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Triste fim de um ídolo do esporte. Parte 456,5. Discurso absurdo de Nelson Piquet.
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Well done & thank you Seb Vettel, brave & steadfast in your support of the #LGBTQ+ community of Hungary, literally walking the walk as well as talking the talk here in the Hungaroring paddock. #F1 #HungarianGP #WeRaceAsOne #LoveIsLove
We love to see it! Lewis Hamilton back where he belongs! In pole position! #HungarianGP
Who was the first Dutch world champion in motorsport? It wasn’t Max. No, it was Nyck, with whom I worked closely when he was a McLaren Young Driver & who’s a friend still. I’m gutted he’s lost his AlphaTauri drive but there’s life in the young dog yet. 💪
#OnThisDay we old McLarenites should pause to say thank you, dear Lewis, once again, for 2 November 2008, the best day of my professional life, when we shouted ourselves hoarse in the Interlagos garage as that amazing last lap unfolded, & you became #F1 world champion. (1/2)
I’ve just given Seb Vettel his pre-race media briefing. He was wearing these again. What a guy! What an #LGBTQ+ ally! #WeRaceAsOne
Message to Mohammed ben Sulayem: we’ll have absolutely no more footling nonsense from you about trivia such as Lewis Hamilton’s nose studs ’til you’ve got the FIA’s race-safety house in order. End of. #AzerbaijanGP
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Thank you, Lewis, for wearing an #LGBTQ+-themed helmet for the #BahrainGP. Support from straight celebs such as Hamilton is so valuable, especially in countries where LGBTQ+ rights are suboptimal. We at Racing Pride aim to defend the interests of LGBTQ+ people in all motorsport.
“Michael, you have 19 laps to pull out 25 seconds. We need 19 qualifying laps from you.”
“OK. Thank you.”
#OnThisDay in ’98.
If you know, you know.
Seb Vettel can drive an #F1 car brilliantly, but he can’t tie a tie; luckily I, who can’t do the former, am a dab hand at the latter! 🤣
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Looking dapper, Seb.
#SV5 gets dressed into a vintage 1920s outfit before heading out on track in the debut @astonmartin Grand Prix car, Green Pea.
#F1 #FrenchGP #AstonMartin
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#OnThisDay in '93 Alain Prost won the #CanadianGP. It was the last GP on which James Hunt would commentate. After the race he biked from the BBC studio in Shepherds Bush to his home in Wimbledon. 2 days later he had a fatal heart attack. He was 45. Truly, we'd lost a legend. #RIP
He’s as brilliant on track as ever he was, perhaps even better, & he’s an inspiration off track, too. Today he turns 37. #HappyBirthdayLewisHamilton
#OnThisDay 15 years ago this boy made his #F1 debut - & bagged his first podium finish. He’s since bagged 181 more. What a fantastic man he now is, both on track & off. I’m proud to have worked with him, & our great sport is massively enhanced by his ongoing participation.
#OnThisDay in ’75, at Nürburgring, Hesketh privately tested its secret 308B-TT #F1 car - TT for twin turbo. On full boost its experimental V14 engine produced 1800bhp, giving a top speed of 250mph (402km/h). Driver James Hunt said “It’s frightfully quick & the jumps are scary.”
A reminder that it isn’t only the lovely Seb Vettel whom we’ll be missing next year… but also the lovely Britta Roeske, Seb’s ever-loyal assistant, who’s been at his side throughout his #F1 career. #DankeSeb #DankeBritta
As a gay man & an staffer, I’m chuffed that, like Mick Schumacher’s, Seb Vettel’s #BahrainGP T-shirt supported all sorts of diversity: ‘Science is real. Black lives matter. No human is illegal. Love is love. Women’s rights are human rights. Kindness is everything.’
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So I’ll resume my #OnThisDay #F1 series today. Oh & my message to everyone on this platform, & elsewhere too, is: please think before you post, please check carefully that what you’re posting is accurate & fair, & please try to be kind. #WeRaceAsOne (3/3)
Today I praised Verstappen (pic 1), which attracted criticism from (some) Hamilton fans. I’ve praised Lewis often in the past (pic 2: just one example), which has often attracted criticism from (some) Max fans. It’s possible to appreciate more than one #F1 driver, you know? Jeez!
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Please explain why it isn’t OK for Gary Lineker to post on his personal Twitter account a comment critical of the Government… but it is OK for Fiona Bruce on BBC1 to downplay as “a one-off” the seriousness of a recent PM’s father breaking his wife’s nose.
When you’ve got a driver who loves & appreciates the history of #F1, this is the kind of helmet sticker he goes for. Well done, Seb Vettel. #AdiósCarlos #RIPCarlosReutemann 🇦🇷
Remembering Roland Ratzenberger, whose 61st birthday we should be celebrating today. If you know, you know. 😢
A SHORT THREAD: I’ve worked with 4 #F1 world champs - Hamilton, Button, Alonso & Vettel - & they’re all brilliant. I’ve been overwhelmed by the lovely reaction to the work my old AMF1 mates & I did with Seb last year to win the #TRMA23 #MostInspiringCampaign award yesterday.(1/3)
He lost his life at Curva Villeneuve, during qualifying at Imola, #OnThisDay in ’94. We who love #F1 will never let his memory fade. His name was Roland Ratzenberger. #GoneButNotForgotten
I’ve never run an #F1 comms day that has garnered so much positive media attention as the 3 initiatives my (very small) comms team & I worked on with Seb on Thursday; he knocked it out of the park; this BBC #QuestionTime answer was truly excellent. #BBCQT
#OnThisDay in ’77 Ronnie Peterson tested the 16-wheel ‘Monaco special’ version of the Tyrrell P34 (pic), designed by Derek Gardner to optimise front-end grip on the twisty streets of the Principality. In the end he raced the regular 6-wheel version.
Gay sex has been legal in Russia since ’93 but life for #LGBTQ+ people here can still be hard. Visitors from more liberal countries can help spread tolerance. That’s why in a Sochi hotel bar this evening I’m wearing a T-shirt depicting my hubby Angel & myself. #RussianGP (1/2)
Last #SaudiArabiaGP tweet from me: my 2 joint winners of #DriverOfTheDay, as much for what they did off track as for what they did on track. #WeRaceAsOne #LoveIsLove 🌈
Heartfelt tribute to Seb Vettel from Lewis Hamilton - “he’s a really beautiful human being.” He is indeed, Lewis, & so are you. ❤️❤️
Well done , brilliant on track & brilliant off track as usual, for speaking out on Instagram (see screen-grab) against the appalling new bill passed by the Ugandan parliament that would make it a crime merely to identify as #LGBTQ. (1/2)
#OnThisDay in ’93, at Donington, Ayrton Senna drove the greatest opening lap in #F1 history. Here it is, complete with commentary by Murray Walker & James Hunt. This 56sec clip, courtesy of , is F1 at its very best.
Lewis Hamilton has just walked in to the Istanbul paddock wearing this outfit. I actually think it’s very cool. #F1 #TurkishGP
This may sound gushing, & partial, but it’s true: I’m so proud to work with this wonderfully humble man.
#OnThisDay in 2006 McLaren announced Lewis Hamilton as a 2007 #F1 driver. “Lewis is going to find it tough in the first few races,” said Ron Dennis. “This will be a challenge & I know there’ll be a lot of attention on me,” said Hamilton. I think you came through OK, champ. 👍
I’m so proud of the brilliant people I used to work with at Aston Martin for all the hard graft we did together to win the #TheRaceMediaAwards #TRMA23 ‘Most Inspiring Campaign’ award this evening for the mega #DEI work we did with Seb Vettel last year. This is for you, Seb! 😘
James Hunt was born #OnThisDay 73 years ago - &, warts ’n’ all, there’ll never be another #F1 driver like him. #RIP
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Congrats , champion on track & off, & very nice to see you take the knee again so soon. 👍👏
The stage is set. I’ve cropped out of my pic the AMR22 (sorry, I know I’m a tease). It’s sitting under the camera gantry, ready for our launch & unveil, which you can watch on at 2.00pm. Oh &, yes, we’ll be launching & unveiling our real race car.
Will we see #F1 history repeat itself tomorrow? In 2009 Lewis Hamilton won the #HungarianGP in the McLaren MP4-24 (pic). The car had started the season badly, but it was improved thru the season, & it won its first F1 GP in Budapest. Let’s see Lewis do the same for Merc tomorrow!
Remembering Ayrton Senna’s father, Milton da Silva, who died yesterday, aged 94, who gave his 3-year-old son (pic) a pedal car, & who then went on to see him become one of the very greatest #F1 drivers of all time. #RIPMilton
An emotional moment for Driver Ambassador : her first podium. And, I don’t mind admitting it, an emotional moment for me, too. I’m so damn’ proud of her. #MiamiGP #WeRaceAsOne 🌈
#OnThisDay 5 years ago Nico Rosberg finished 2nd in the #AbuDhabiGP, enough to secure the #F1 world championship, celebrated with a victory leap of impressive elevation, & never raced an F1 car again. (1/2)
#OnThisDay in ’85 Alain Prost won the #MonacoGP for McLaren. But never mind about that because I now have an excuse to post one of the greatest #F1 pics ever taken: Stefan Johansson’s Ferrari 156/85 that weekend, photographed by Rainer Schlegelmilch: totally & utterly gorgeous.
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I’m not ready to retire. I’ve worked in #F1 for more than 25 years, & I intend to continue for a few more yet, in one way or another. I’m fit & well. Indeed, today I achieved my heaviest ever flat-bench-press 5-rep max: 95kg. There’s life in the old dog yet! (3/3)
She was a talented #F1 aerodynamicist, she invented the 2004 Williams FW26’s ‘walrus’ nose, & she was killed in a road accident yesterday, aged 50. Very sad. #RIPAntoniaTerzi
Yesterday, at HMP Feltham, a boys’ & young men’s prison, Seb Vettel told a group of prisoners: “Life isn’t fair. Some of us do things we regret. Everyone deserves a 2nd chance. If you live your life with an open mind, & if you’re ready to be inspired, things will happen for you.”
When I was in charge at #F1Racing, the cover star whose image sold us most copies wasn’t or , but the one ’n’ only trousers-on-fire Murray Walker. Here’s our March 2001 issue. He was a great commentator & a lovely man. Today is a very sad day. #RIPMurrayWalker
#OnThisDay in 2013, in Singapore, Seb Vettel scored his most dominant win from a statistical perspective. He took the pole, led all the way, drove fastest lap, & won by 32.6 seconds: his 3rd #F1 grand chelem. It may be astonishing to us now, but sadly he was boo’d on the podium.
Will we see a more touching #ItalianGP pic this weekend than this one, showing Seb Vettel walking the Monza circuit with his father Norbert, taken by Laurent Charniaux yesterday? I think not. 💚
Flashback to Suzuka 2022: I’m chatting with Fernando Alonso & his right-hand man Alberto Fernandez about driving for Aston Martin in 2023. We knew our car would be good but fastest in #BahrainGP #FP2 & #FP3 is so impressive. I no longer work for the team but I wish them all well.
Now... you weren’t expecting THAT, were you? Massively exciting news!
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NEWS: @AstonMartinF1 announces Fernando Alonso for 2023.
We are delighted to confirm that two-time #F1 World Champion @alo_oficial will join the team from next season on a multi-year contract.
Tap below to read more. 
#WeClimbTogether
#WeClimbTogetherI’ve had long correspondence with the 2 women we invited. There’s no doubt they were homophobically abused at the circuit. It’s sad they weren’t believed by everyone. But all online bullying of anyone, including those who disbelieved them, is wrong. Can we all now stop it please?
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After yesterday’s race, Sebastian stopped by to check in on Mollie and Julia, who were sadly recipients of the abhorrent abuse reported by many fans at the #AustrianGP.
More must be done to make #F1 a safer sport for all fans to enjoy.
All in. All welcome. All celebrated.
#OnThisDay in ’60 was born one of the greatest #F1 drivers who ever lived. This Montreal ’88 pic evokes him perfectly: arm aloft in victory, having beaten his McLaren team-mate Alain Prost, from pole, with fastest lap. We may never see his like again. His name was Ayrton Senna.
He never grew old because he was killed at 29. His eyes - the bluest in the history of #F1 - therefore never dulled. But today, had he lived, he’d have turned 78. His name was François Cevert.
#OnThisDay 21 years ago Lewis Hamilton (pic), 16, entered a Super-A Karting World Championship race at Kerpen, owned by Michael Schumacher, 32, who also raced in it & said afterwards: “He’s a quality driver; if he keeps this up he’ll reach #F1; he has the right racing mentality.”
At long last, after a mega career, Kimi Räikkönen has announced his retirement from #F1. The ice man was unique - we’ll not see his like again. Remember him like this. 🇫🇮 💪👍👌👏
He was the greatest of the great. Today would & should have been his 86th birthday. His name was Jim Clark. Pic: Lotus 25, Monaco, ’64.
#OnThisDay 22 years ago, shortly after one of the greatest overtakes in #F1 history. If you know, you know. #BelgianGP
I’m gay. My mum was a devout Catholic. She was also kind, wise, witty & clever. Before she died, she left orders that her coffin be borne from hearse to graveyard by 6 men: me, my brother, his 2 grown-up sons, my cousin & my husband. You, sir, could have learned a lot from her.
I wonder what this little kid would have said if you’d told him that he’d eventually win 100 #F1 GPs. Today, it happened. A truly magnificent achievement. Bravo! #Lewis100 #Hamilton100
“Big balls, buggering about & taking the piss”: 2 irreplaceable British #F1 legends, James Hunt & Stirling Moss; #RIPJamesHunt #RIPStirlingMoss
From
RetroGP.com
