Lewis Hamilton Tells Mercedes To Use Vegan-Friendly Leather
In 2017, Formula 1 Champion Lewis Hamilton became vegan, and has been pushing the cause since then through his endless reach on social media. Now, the man who won behind the wheel of a Mercedes, is asking the German marque to adopt vegan-friendly leathers in their road cars.
“Mercedes-Benz is a huge organisation, and I have got a phone call with the CEO later today to discuss how we can work on getting rid of all the leather supplied to the cars,” Hamilton told Malaysian magazine The Edge, according to Auto Week. “I want to be part of a system that is going to help heal the world and do something positive for the future.”
“Me personally, I feel the best I have ever felt, physically and mentally. All year I have felt strong mentally, but physically I have taken a big step and that is with the decision I have taken to change my diet,” he told Motorsport.com in 2017. “The best decision was moving to this team, the second-best was changing my diet, at Singapore. But I was still driving pretty good before that.”
During 2018, he was part of The Game Changers, himself being the Executive Producer alongside massive names such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan. The documentary argues for a plant-based diet, even for high performance athletes.
Tesla has adopted animal friendly materials in the interiors of their cars, so Mercedes wouldn’t be the first manufacturer to change from animal leather. The Silicone Valley company introduced its vegan-friendly interiors back in 2016 in the Model X, and since 2017 was offered as an option in the Model S. Manufacturers are searching for a premium replacement with Bentley looking to mushroom sources and others looking at plastic-baed leathers.
