Hamilton reveals reasons behind Chelsea FC investment

Lewis Hamilton says his personal investment in Chelsea FC via a consortium of investors is "all about the community" and using the famed club as a means to promote inclusion and diversity.

It was revealed on Thursday that Hamilton and tennis star and close friend Serena Williams were part of a consortium of investors put together by former Liverpool FC chairman Sir Martin Broughton to enter a bid for Chelsea FC which is being sold by sanctioned oligarch Roman Abramovich.

Ahead of this weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, Hamilton revealed that he had been contacted by Broughton who conveyed his vision for Chelsea to the seven-time F1 world champion.

Hamilton was seduced by the project which embodies values "very much aligned" with his own. Hamilton and Williams, who spoke "multiple times" according to the Mercedes driver, will invest together and aggregate amount of £20 million into the consortium.

"This is all about the community," said Hamilton. "That's what really makes a football team - it's the people in and around it.

"[Chelsea has] been quite leading in the work in [diversity and inclusion] and becoming more diverse and progressive. So, it's not that we're associating ourselves with previous owners.

"Our goal is to continue some of the work that they've already done and have even more of an impact and engage more with the community."

• Read also: Hamilton invests in Chelsea FC takeover consortium!

Last December, Chelsea announced that it had lost £145.6 million for the fiscal year ending June 2021. But while conducting his due diligence on the deal, Hamilton was assured that reducing the losses would be a key priority of Broughton's consortium.

"Naturally, [losing money is] never the idea of an investment," said the 37-year-old.

"Through the discussions that we've had, the team plan to manage this moving forward and improve that and make sure they decrease those losses and turn it into a profit-making organisation.

"That's going to take a lot of work. There are so many moving parts… I don't have the strategy to all that.

"We haven't yet won the bid, I'm sure that will all come afterwards. But the team is a consortium of lifetime Chelsea fans and others that have come to it later like myself.

"There's not anyone that's a part of it that's with the mindset of losing. I already think Chelsea already has a winning mindset.

"But I think we can do better with how we move forward."

Hamilton said that his primary role as an investor would be to help the club improve its diversity and inclusion profile, an involvement compatible with his commitment to F1.

"There is still a lot of work to be done to be more diverse, and more inclusive," he said.

"It's an amazing platform to bring in and educate a lot of the amazing fans that are out there.

"There's some amazing talent within the team already that have really stood up against discrimination and worked very closely with the organisation to move forward.

"I know that's really important for, I think, the fans of Chelsea; the community is heavily invested in that also."

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