Six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and most of Formula One's 20 drivers took a knee on the starting grid before Sunday's season-opening Austrian Grand Prix.
The sport's only black driver, an outspoken campaigner against racial injustice and for greater diversity, wore a black T-shirt with 'Black Lives Matter' on the front and 'End Racism' on the back.
Hamilton was the only driver with 'Black Lives Matter' on the front of his shirt, as they gathered before the anthem at the Red Bull Ring.
The others wore shirts with the 'End Racism' message.
The knee protest was popularised by San Francisco NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick in 2016 and has gained momentum after the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis two months ago.
Television images showed six drivers standing behind the 14 that knelt, including Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
Both had already explained their positions on social media.
"I believe that what matters are facts and behaviours in our daily life, rather than formal gestures that could be seen as controversial in some countries," Leclerc tweets.
"I will not take the knee, but this does not mean at all that I am less committed than others in the fight against racism."
Verstappen, winner in Austria for the past two years and on the front row of the grid, says he's also committed to equality and the fight against racism.
"But I believe everyone has the right to express themself at a time and in a way that suits them," says the Dutch 22-year-old. "I will not take the knee today, but respect and support the personal choices every driver makes."
The two young stars, considered to be the future of the category, have been criticised in some quarters for not fully grasping the importance of complete solidarity across the paddock.
"The two future stars of F1 stood up," CBS F1 reporter Igor Mello tweets. "Bad look."
Formula One posted a video of the drivers on Twitter with the words: "End Racism. One cause. One commitment.
"As individuals, we choose our own way to support the cause. As a group of drivers and a wider F1 family, we are united in its goal."
