Lewis Hamilton may be the most popular F1 driver of all time with over 37 million Instagram followers, but that doesn’t mean he is on social media a lot. At least that is what he preaches; something that left him red-faced during the post-race press conference at the Spanish GP.
“Honestly, I am not really on a lot of social media, or reading the news,” the 39-year-old said. A fair claim, which could have sounded more credible had Hamilton’s phone not started blasting with several notifications at that very moment.
While it is very possible that the notifications Hamilton got were not from social media, the timing of the incident was what made it funny. Even Hamilton let out a small laugh as he silenced his phone which was right next to him on the couch.
‼️lewis hamilton’s phone blowing up with notifications the second he says “…well im not really on social media..”#F1 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/gv96EIURW4
— sim (@sim3744) June 23, 2024
On Instagram, Hamilton’s 37 million followers amount to more than what F1’s official account can boast (29 million) which is a staggering feat. On X too, the Stevenage-born driver is the most followed F1 star with over 8 million followers.
However, all of this doesn’t mean that Hamilton is on social media all the time. Competing at the highest level of motorsports, disconnecting from the online world does more good than harm and Hamilton knows that exceedingly well, owing to what happened last week.
Lewis Hamilton knows the cons of social media
Hamilton finished P3 in Spain, which is a great result for Mercedes who bagged their second podium of the season in the process. However, the Brackley-based outfit will also feel relieved. An email was circulated in the F1 paddock last week which accused the team of systematically sabotaging Hamilton’s results.
https://t.co/Tg97LBETr4 pic.twitter.com/3d2cpfzqm5
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) June 23, 2024
In the aftermath of the same, the team, and Hamilton’s teammate George Russell was subject to a lot of criticism and online abuse. Hamilton had to go public and urge his followers for more support, but not spread negativity at the same time.
Russell echoed Hamilton’s plea, and the ugly backlash has cooled down. However, in this day and age, with social media platforms giving people the opportunity to express their feelings in almost any way with little chance of backlash, keeping a leash on online abuse is getting increasingly difficult.
