F1: Lewis Hamilton becomes part owner of Denver Broncos NFL team

With the final step of the purchase of the Denver Broncos by a group led by Walmart heir Rob Walton set for Aug. 9, the Walton-Penner group has added another high-profile investor to its ranks.

Walton announced Tuesday morning that seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton will now have an ownership stake. Hamilton joins former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who joined the group as an investor last month.

“We’re delighted to welcome seven-time Formula One World Champion Sir Lewis Hamilton to our ownership group,” Rob Walton said in a statement. “He is a champion competitor who knows what it takes to lead a winning team.”

Hamilton took to Twitter on Tuesday to express his excitement about joining the Broncos ownership group.

Excited to join an incredible group of owners and become a part of the @Broncos story!! Honoured to work with a world class team and serve as an example of the value of more diverse leadership across all sports. Roscoe already thinks he made
the team 😂 #LetsRide 🐎🔥 pic.twitter.com/TSLQdPM8Hz

— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) August 2, 2022

“We would love to see a diverse owner of the team, whether that’s a person of color, a female, or a Black man,” NFL Commissioner Goodell said. “We think that would be a really positive step for us and something we’ve encouraged and one of the reasons why we’ve reached out to find candidates.

“We’ll be very clear and we have been already with the Broncos that (diversity) is something we certainly seek to have in the ownership group and we’ll certainly try to encourage that as the process goes along.”