“Lewis Hamilton – F1's most divisive champion of all time?”, asked my chum Ewan Marshall on Twitter over the Japanese Grand Prix weekend.
It’s hard to argue. Even Nigel Mansell, one who I’ve long felt Lewis shares a lot including in being a love or loathe character, doesn’t quite match it arguably. And we’ve just got our latest demonstration. You won’t need me to tell you about the goings-on with Lewis during the Suzuka gathering just passed. Snapchat, Instagram, walk outs. And the vitriol from fans and media alike.
Perhaps it’s something about the age – social media and all that. A cacophony of opinion; which often has to be strident to be noticed. Perhaps even the revered Juan Manuel Fangio would have suffered had Twitter existed in the 1950s. It doesn’t seem too unlikely that the likes of Stirling Moss, James Hunt as well as of course Our Nige would have been in for something like it. But whatever Lewis’s Marmite status is near impossible to deny.
Starting at the beginning in Japan, and his live Snapchat photography during the official drivers’ press conference on the Thursday. Appropriately I’ve heard the full range of responses – from extreme indignation right through to ‘what’s the fuss about?’
It was typical Lewis – unconstrained, unconventional, seeking to add colour to the proceedings. Not at all motivated by malice. But perhaps at the same time not being fully mindful of how others might react
I can see the objections, that some others in the room trying to ask or answer questions would have been distracted or embarrassed by Lewis’s antics. But even so I’m closer to the ‘what’s the fuss about’ end of the spectrum – and found the reaction rather po-faced, and over the top.
In many ways too it was typical Lewis – unconstrained, unconventional, seeking to add colour to the proceedings. The sort of thing that at its best does F1 a lot of good (and certainly it got the sport coverage in places it wouldn’t have ordinarily). Not at all motivated by malice. But perhaps at the same time not being fully mindful of how others might react.
As for him referring questioners to his Instagram account where he felt he’d outlined all his views on the matter, that hardly struck me as heinous. Referring someone to a previous answer is common in most walks of life. And the seethe reflects in part the old media’s insecurity about the new.
Lewis did have an auxiliary point too that these set-piece driver conferences are rather arid – all participating with the enthusiasm of a hostage on camera reading out their captors’ demands. That in the non-televised individual sessions as well as TV’s one-to-one interviews drivers are much more lively suggests the accusatory finger can be pointed at the format. Will Buxton worked out that it likely was something like Lewis’s 65th such press conference as an F1 driver. Buxton pointed out too that the fact that it is televised these days adds to the problem – as the press are wary that any quotes immediately are known by all, losing any sense of them being exclusive. Little wonder Lewis wanted to liven it up. And intentionally or not he’s done us a service by starting a debate about it.
Then there is that in response, to what he called the resultant “disrespectful” media coverage, Lewis didn’t take part in the usual post-qualifying Mercedes press conference.
Picking fights with the media rarely works (and not just in F1). To coin the weathered saying, the media always get the last word. They also get to frame the terms of the debate
Given what was outlined above we can stretch our imaginations to understand why Lewis was miffed at the reaction to his Snapchat antics. Yet if I had Lewis’s ear (stop sniggering at the back) I would have suggested that whatever he thought he should do the subsequent media session as normal. That way he’d have taken the moral high ground; been the better man.
And picking fights with the media rarely works (and not just in F1). To coin the weathered saying, the media always get the last word. They also get to frame the terms of the debate. And his walk out ensured only that the story stretched on a bit longer.
There are other things going on too. The media (and again not just in F1) likes little better than talking about itself, so always was going to give this one saturation coverage given its direct relevance to them. Much of the media has a high view of itself too – seeing itself as a vital cog in holding people to account. Martin Brundle in his latest online column spoke of them also being crucial for sponsors’ and other investors’ promotion as well as a crucial go-between for fans. Little wonder that much of the media reaction to being snubbed was irate.
Brundle also offered sage advice that, particularly given Lewis confirmed that it was only certain journalists’ coverage he objected too, that it would have been much more effective to approach those people directly and one-to-one, as that probably would have utterly disarmed them.
But armed the media were, and many of their number didn’t hesitate in aiming fire with all the artillery they had, particularly as on track Lewis spent most of the Suzuka weekend off the pace of his chief antagonist and title foe (and team mate) Nico Rosberg, and again fluffed his start. In addition to calling him variously “childish” and a “brat” among other things, Fleet Street’s finest also reckoned it was all impacting negatively where it mattered. They referred to “meltdowns” and to Hamilton being “fragile”, and even the more sober commentators looked there for explanations. Joe Saward reckoned that, out of the car as in, Lewis in Suzuka “seemed a little distracted”; Brundle meanwhile went so far as to state that him losing the Malaysian race and the resultant shenanigans between times cost him the Japan victory too.
There are in fact more obvious explanations for what we got on track in Japan than the ‘meltdown’ stuff, and ones foreseen long before Snapchat and all that
No doubt this formed part of the media’s justification for the line it took. Yet there are in fact more obvious explanations for what we got on track in Japan than the ‘meltdown’ stuff, and ones foreseen long before Snapchat and all that. Before even his engine went pop in Sepang. Here’s what Autosport’s Ian Parkes wrote after the Singapore round – three weeks before the Japan race in other words – when seeking to predict which of the Mercedes pilots could expect to be on top in each of the remaining events:
“Hamilton may be a three-times winner at Suzuka [actually two-times, his other Japanese Grand Prix win was at Fuji] – including the last two – but by his own admission it is a track on which he has never felt comfortable, believing ‘the set up has never really come together’ and he has never taken pole position at the track.
“Rosberg secured pole in 2014 and ’15, but was beaten into Turn 1 by Hamilton last year and struggled thereafter. With overtaking difficult at Suzuka, the starts that have played such a determining role for Mercedes this season will again be crucial.”
In the event, it’s almost precisely what we got. Almost to the point of being spooky. And as for his poor start, as Parkes also hints we know that Lewis has struggled with these all season. For some reason we’re always quick with armchair psychology explanations for any disappointing Hamilton result – probably too quick. Perhaps due to his heart-on-sleeve ways. Perhaps due to us liking to think we’ve spotted something. A coherent case can be made that the ‘meltdowns’ do not at all explain the Suzuka result.
And a point that got missed was that, his poor start aside, Lewis drove very well in the Japanese race, rising to third place and nearly second from eighth on a track not big on overtaking. He also closed down on Rosberg from 19.8 seconds to 5.7 by the end, without safety cars or anything else to aid this. Yes Nico was cruising probably, but he took similar time and more out of the likes of Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel too.
I’m the guy who knows, because I see backstage, and Lewis is as focussed as ever this weekend. Putting in those long hours, working… – Nico Rosberg
Lewis even got defended on this wider point by the most unlikely of sources, the self-same Nico. “I’m the guy who knows, because I see backstage,” Nico said after his Japan win, “and Lewis is as focussed as ever this weekend. Putting in those long hours, working, getting the car perfect and everything. For sure you don’t expect him to back off in any way, on the contrary he’s going to give it everything, as he always does”. Other Mercedes insiders reportedly confirmed the same.
To some extent it all begs the question though, and with it we return to where we came in. Virtually any other F1 driver you can name doing the Snapchat antics and little would have been said, and it would have stopped being said not long after the press conference finished. With Lewis undeniably there is a peculiar and extreme tendency for a froth of indignation to follow him around.
And it’s not even just when he does bad. Since the Suzuka weekend there have of course been the hatchet job articles spawning, but even the claiming of his last two world championships were both followed a number of ‘is he likeable’-type articles about Lewis (the point being that in each author’s view he isn’t).
Yes it seems this is about something bigger, and this is but the most recent manifestation.
Undeniably there is a disconnect between Lewis and much of the crowd in and around F1. And we can likely work out why. It’s perhaps not anyone’s fault as such either. Rather it’s that Lewis and much of the F1 crowd come from rather different worlds. The former we know about. And the latter, whisper it, is rather conservative.
Lewis and much of the F1 crowd come from rather different worlds. The former we know about. And the latter, whisper it, is rather conservative
And Mark Hughes hit the nail on the head in my view when he wrote of Lewis a couple of years back that “much of the vitriol directed towards him comes from what the image is – not the fact that he’s trying to convey it. He’s from a culture with very different social mores to those of the conservative motor racing crowd.
“He’s the rapper in the yacht club and many fans don’t like the fact that he has diamond ear studs, wears his trousers like Drake, tattoos his body. But what would they expect him to be into – Pink Floyd and Ben Sherman? He’s not of that world or generation. What really is the difference between those choices and Jackie Stewart’s long hair in the ‘60s or Jochen Rindt’s pink shorts and mohair coats?
"Rappers and motor sport; there could barely be two more divergent cultures – yet he’s of them both.”
Stirling Moss likely reflected the same thing, albeit viewed from the other end of the telescope, when he stated of Lewis that “he was one of the racing crowd before and now he’s whatever you call those superstars. And that’s not really the way we English go. We’re more reserved.”
Think too of the recent listing of F1 drivers’ favourite songs and Lewis’s very much stood apart. Most of the other drivers picked numbers frankly that many of us could imagine our Dads listening to. Even someone of my relative vintage could.
There is an irony kicking around the place too that often Hamilton’s most committed detractors in their next breath bemoan that there aren’t the characters in the sport that there once were, and eulogise the likes of Hunt’s ‘high jinks’. It’s hard to have it both ways. And one can only speculate what the fallout would be if Lewis was to punch a marshal, not bother to go to the podium after a Grand Prix win, or stomp out on a team literally at a moment’s notice mid-season. And the rest.
Given that it doesn’t seem reasonable to require him to adapt his ways (which are neither illegal, immoral nor are conclusively affecting his driving negatively) simply because they do not suit the F1 peculiar palate, the best and most reasonable solution it would seem is for F1 to learn to tolerate Lewis a little more than it does.
And while his detractors will speak (usually from afar) of a Lewis that is brattish, those who work with him closely will tell you of actually of a decent, thoughtful and respectful man, and one who is not at all aloof. “He’s actually a really lovely person to work with” said Merc engine boss Andy Cowell not so long ago. “I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a driver who so readily looks to blame himself…He is humble if it’s gone wrong…He doesn't seek anywhere to hide even if there are obvious places he could.”
He’s actually a really lovely person to work with – Andy Cowell
We got our latest example of this in Japan, after his poor start. While his boss Toto Wolff later spoke of a possible clutch problem Lewis had long since, almost instinctively, looked at himself for opprobrium.
As for when he falters in his conduct it reflects a genuinely emotional nature rather than an objectionable personality. And those closest to him confirm the view. “Because he’s an emotional person, when he thinks something, he’ll just say it” Paddy Lowe has said. “He’ll even say things he didn’t mean and will then regret it. We just deal with it.
“We all have certain behaviours and teams work around the strengths and the weaknesses of the people they have. No one falls out over it. Lewis talked to me about it and I’ve just said be who you are…that’s what works for you.”
Indeed – as Lewis said of his sullen demeanour after missing out on Hockenheim pole earlier this year, “that’s just how I deal with it”. It worked for him then. And you wouldn’t bet all that much on him turning up in Austin for the next Grand Prix to have it work for him then too.