Lewis Hamilton is one of the most popular personalities in F1 today. Besides his on-track brilliance, Hamilton is also famous for being outspoken about various issues away from Formula 1. He is a massive advocate for racial equality and was one of the leaders of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement in the sport.
Hamilton made his F1 debut in 2007 and caught the sport by storm. His teammate in his rookie season was none other than reigning two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, but Hamilton’s talent and maturity meant that he went toe-to-toe with the Spaniard.
Even off the track, Hamilton was incredibly mature and sometimes, even ‘savage’ according to some people. In an interview after a race in 2007, Hamilton who was driving for McLaren back then took a brutal dig at the race control, and even his fellow F1 drivers. One of the drivers had blocked his flying lap during qualifying, for which he labeled the entire grid as ‘incredibly freaking stupid’.
Lewis Hamilton lashes out at race director for racially discriminating against him
Hamilton is known for taking a stand against the FIA, and as it turns out, the seven-time world champion has always been following this, even in his rookie season. When a reporter asked him about how he felt after being called over by the stewards, Hamilton sarcastically said that he doesn’t care about it.
Hamilton revealed how the stewards call him over to their room after almost every other race, and that the decisions always end up going against him. When he was asked why he thinks these calls go against him, the Stevenage-born driver said that it was probably because he was black.
Of course, nothing concrete ever materialized out of these accusations and Hamilton went on to create history in F1, even with the supposed discrimination aimed towards him by the FIA.
Hamilton’s 2023 woes continue
Hamilton is a seven-time world champion today, and is arguably one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time. He has broken just about every record in the sport, other than becoming the driver with the most titles.
Hamilton wants to check that off his list before he hangs his helmet, but as things stand, Mercedes don’t have the car that can challenge for the title. He struggled in the opening round in Bahrain, and fell short of his teammate George Russell in Jeddah on Sunday.
The 38-year-old will be hoping for a much better performance from himself and the Silver Arrows when F1 travels to Melbourne for the next round of the world championship.
