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

Sc🧔humacher took to Instagram on Sunday to announce his relationshi🧔p, posting a picture with his boyfriend, Etienne.

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

It has been met with warm reception, with 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史: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 ꦕfounding ambassador of Racing Pride - an organisation centred around promoting LGBTQ🐎+ inclusivity in motorsport.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after Friday practice in Hung🔯ary, Bishop hailed the impact Schumacher’s al🃏ready had.

“It is having a really big and positive ওimpact,” he said. “As Lewis said, this is not a new thing for Schumacher, we suppose. He is 𒁏49.

“But he’s finally felt able to public about it. He did it in a subtle ꦕand 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 mac😼ho.

“If someone feels a൩ble 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 Ra🥃cing 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 ther🔯e 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.”