Even though Lewis Hamilton and his brother, Nicholas Hamilton, have an extremely strong relationship, the two did have a moment of tension once. This moment of tension came when the two were playing Codemasters’ F1 2010 game back in 2011.
Lewis, who was driving for McLaren at the time, unsurprisingly chose the Woking-based outfit. On the other hand, Nicholas surprisingly chose Red Bull. Since Red Bull was one of McLaren’s main competitors back then, alongside Ferrari, Lewis was unhappy with his brother.
When asked how he felt that Nicholas had chosen title rivals Red Bull for the simulator racing game, Lewis replied, “I am a bit disappointed. I thought that he would want to be my teammate. I do not know what can I say. Disappointed“.
Lewis Hamilton beats Nicholas Hamilton in simulator racing
Nicholas Hamilton and Lewis Hamilton, along with an F1 presenter, competed against each other at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza on the Codemasters’ F1 2010 game. Lewis drove McLaren’s MP4-25 on that occasion, while Nicholas drove Red Bull’s first championship-winning car, the RB6.
Even though Nicholas is extremely strong in simulator racing, Lewis came out on top. The 38-year-old did cheat, though, on that occasion, as he cut the chicane multiple times and collided with his rivals to push them off the circuit.
Lewis Hamilton is the coolest person on earth. From his IG, “This year, [my brother] Nicholas Hamilton and I asked my team if we could make this day happen and here we are. Time in the sim [simulator] is incredibly rare and not something that is accessible for my brother…” #F1 pic.twitter.com/1H9SzNNgrJ
— Maya Contreras (@mayatcontreras) December 12, 2022
Although Lewis acknowledged that he cheated, he was just pleased to win the race. The 38-year-old hilariously asked Nicholas to ‘stop crying‘ and said his brother broke under pressure.
Lewis’ views on simulator racing have drastically changed now
Even though there was a time when Lewis Hamilton was a huge fan of simulator racing, his views on it changed drastically in 2020. The Briton stated that he rarely drives Mercedes’ simulator as he finds it ‘pointless.’
This is because the 38-year-old believes that he has found no improvement in his driving despite using the simulator on several occasions. Hamilton then acknowledged that while other drivers often participate in simulator racing, it is just his preference not to do so.
When F1 drivers are on break, several have been seen participating in simulator racing. For example, this activity was quite common during the COVID pandemic, with several drivers competing against each other.
Amongst the current drivers on the F1 2023 grid, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris are perhaps two racers that are most often seen competing in simulator racing.
