Lewis Hamilton has become a fan favorite because of the staggering amount of success he has had in F1. Not only do fans adore the Briton for his success on the track, but also for how he presents himself off it. The 38-year-old has launched several initiatives outside of F1 to provide more opportunities to underprivileged children and tackle important social issues such as racism, among several other things.
While Hamilton has earned quite the fanbase because of the same, he has come up against a worthy adversary in Max Verstappen recently. The Dutchman has already won two championships at the age of 25 and is cruising towards his third this season. In the process, he too has earned a huge fanbase of his own.
Since both Hamilton and Verstappen are two of the greatest drivers on the current grid, the fanbases of the two often argue with each other about who is better. As such arguments continue, it seems Martin Brundle may settle the debate with a recent tweet.
Martin Brundle claims 95% of fans like Lewis Hamilton as per his poll
Taking to Twitter, Martin Brundle recently revealed that he had asked several fans about which driver they liked the most. The Sky Sports F1 pundit revealed that as per his poll, 95 % of the fans liked Lewis Hamilton.
So I’ve been out and about in the summer break. Met many and all kinds of F1 fans who want to engage which is really great. Always thank them for their passion about our sport and ask them who they support. 95% have said Lewis, so there you have it. Just a Marty poll but fact.
— Martin Brundle (@MBrundleF1) August 21, 2023
Moreover, it is not just Brundle who seems to believe that the British driver is the most liked in F1. A fan also recently put up a Tweet, as per which Hamilton is the most-followed celebrity in the sport.
The fan’s Tweet recorded the number of featured articles that came out during the summer break per driver. As per the post, Hamilton had over 50% of articles about him. Interestingly, the second most followed celebrity was the 38-year-old’s dog, Roscoe, with over 10% of articles about him.
Rules of F1 journalism :
1 – Use Lewis Hamilton in every article
2 – Repeat Rule 1
3- Profit
And they say Lewis isn’t the face of Formula 1 😂 pic.twitter.com/mFhnwy6toF
— Buc Nasty 🏁 (@premystic) August 21, 2023
According to a report put out by speedwaydigest.com, Hamilton seems to have witnessed such a significant increase in followers thanks to F1’s Drive to Survive series. The report states that the Mercedes driver gained a whopping 98,730 Instagram followers in just one week at the start of this year.
With so many fans supporting Hamilton, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has provided an interesting reason to explain the same. The Austrian believes that the 2021 championship defeat to Max Verstappen could result in more fans having sympathy for the Briton and his side.
Toto Wolff believes Mercedes did not have much support before 2021
In a recent interview with BBC’s Radio’s Desert Island Discs podcast, Toto Wolff explained how the 2021 championship battle helped Mercedes witness a significant increase in followers. “The interesting phenomenon is that we as a team and Lewis as a driver, we didn’t have a lot of recognition or sympathy for having won so many times,” explained Wolff.
Even though Hamilton lost the title, Wolff believes that the way the season ended helped them witness an increase in support. However, he did admit that the defeat itself was extremely painful and that it continues to haunt them.
