Chloe Grant, a driver with the F1 Academy had the opportunity to meet with none other than Lewis Hamilton back in 2023. Grant, who races with the ART Grand Prix revealed the heartwarming story of meeting the seven-time world champion and how surreal it was to see the Mercedes champion from real close. Amid this, she also shared the interesting part where Hamilton helped her gain instant popularity on social media.
Grant recently appeared in the BackSeat Drivers podcast where she opened up about her racing journey and life. In between them, she spoke about meeting Hamilton. She said, “He’s [Hamilton] genuinely one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.” Following this, she added how the #44 driver shared her story on Instagram and this resulted in a huge boost in her popularity.
She stated, “I think I gained like 8K like it was mental. We were going crazy about it.” With this, Grant also smashed the wrong perception people have of Hamilton. She explained that the Silver Arrows ace does not deserve the hate he receives online.
The British driver’s extreme success in the sport where he went on to claim seven world titles also landed him in the bad book of many. Furthermore, his stands on geopolitical situations such as going against the Middle East earned him ample criticism and hate both online and offline.
Nevertheless, Chloe Grant ended Hamilton’s part by saying that the Briton met with them, interacted with them and it was all genuine. He was not doing them just for the cameras, or for promotions. Hamilton indeed was curious about the F1 Academy drivers’ past achievements and took out time to interact with each of them individually.
Hamilton leads the way in F1 as well as in the whole of motorsport for raising his voice for inclusivity. The seven-time champion often talks about how the sport should be gender-neutral and women should come up to have active participation in all categories of motorsport.
Susie Wolff wants more Lewis Hamilton-like ambassadors
Lewis Hamilton and his teammate George Russell were the only drivers to take an active interest in meeting with the F1 Academy drivers. Even though all the ten teams had their part to play, Susie Wolff was a “little bit” sad that it was only Hamilton to lead the way.
Wolff said to Sky Sports F1 as per PlanetF1, “It’s a little bit sad that it’s always Lewis. He’s always the one offering support, coming over, and really, because I think in the end, he knows what it’s like to be the only one and so he has an affinity.”
Lewis Hamilton was down at the track to congratulate newly crowned F1 Academy champion Marta Garcia pic.twitter.com/zH6vU7FZny
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) October 21, 2023
Notably, this was something even Hamilton also focused on as he went on to become the sole image of diversity and inclusivity. To make things more prominent, the Mercedes driver also spoke about having more female participation in his upcoming F1-themed movie.
As for Wolff, who is the current managing director of the F1 Academy, she believes getting all ten teams and more drivers aboard for the driver academy next season will not be a “mean feat.” This would be of great impetus for the deadline of having the first female F1 driver by 2030, set by Susie Wolff herself.
