c/o @lewishamilton Instagram
Happy Monday folks!
The F1 break is at an end, and in a few days we will be at one of the world’s greatest racing tracks to reconvene the 2015 Formula 1 World Championship.
It’s been a much needed and hugely enjoyable few weeks off. I’ve tried to resist looking at the papers or the twitter, but it’s fairly tough these days. However I made myself a promise that for as long as the teams were on an enforced break, I should do the same. Tweets to a minimum. No writing.
On returning to the keyboard, I was going to write a piece about how much I’m enjoying Lewis Hamilton’s 2015 instagram adventures, but apparently I’ve been well beaten to the punch on that one. It seems his Barbados exploits split opinion down the middle, from those like me who seemed to enjoy seeing him so at ease, to those aghast that he should dare to let his hair down, have a drink and dance with girls.
I landed in Barbados a few days before Lewis, for I imagine precisely the same reason as the world champion. The island is, as far as I’m concerned, the most relaxed and welcoming place on earth. And it was a happy coincidence that the weekend of arrival should fall not just over the island’s Emancipation Day celebration, but of Kadooment and the Crop Over street parade to celebrate the end of the sugar harvest, a tradition which extends back to the 1700s.
If you don’t have a plastic goblet in your hand filled high with either Mount Gay rum punch or the local Banks beer, and if you’re not jumping around to the Soca music blasting out of the lorries, I’d hazard you’re possibly not human. It’s impossible not to have a good time. That Lewis took a pasting in some elements of the press for inappropriately dancing with numerous women on the parade merely shows the preposterous levels some will stoop in order to have a dig. Taking a look at photos sent in by paps from the comfort of your London desk, it must be very easy to write a story. But if a picture can paint a thousand words, it can also be true that every one of those words is rubbish.
c/o @lewishamilton Instagram
I can vouch first hand that as a man on Crop Over you have zero choice over being danced with. The Carribbean gave the world a dance known as the “Whine” or “Wine”, which I guess today we’d call “twerking.” Standing road side and watching the parade, women in grand costumes just run up to you and start jiggling away. An awkward glance across to your girlfriend, see that she’s in hysterics over the whole thing, and the wiggly woman in question has already danced off up the road.
It’s just a bit of fun. Some people really do need to calm down and find something a bit more important to write about.
Perhaps its merely a reflection of the fame of Lewis Hamilton that so much of what he does should be poured over not just by the sports editors but now by the society columns and The Daily Mail’s celebrity pages. Hanging out with his newest breed of celebrity friends does, however, seem to have shifted his social media strategy. He is far more engaged and being far more open, something of which the younger generation of celebrity seems to be at far greater ease than those, dare I say it, of Hamilton’s age.
The Gigi Hadid’s and Cara Delevingne’s of this world are almost a decade Lewis Hamilton’s junior, and are perhaps acutely aware that in today’s throw away society, Andy Warhol’s idiom that everyone will be world famous for fifteen minutes has perhaps never been so true. It seems to me that fame, for today’s famous, has never been more fleeting. Making the most of it while you’ve got it and thrusting every element of your life into public view appears from the outside to be the manner by which these young celebs attempt to extend their tenure in high society.
Lewis Hamilton does not need to do this. His sporting prowess and success will more than account for his fame and ensure his longevity. However as a public figure, brand ambassador… celebrity… these are the people against whom he has to fight for column inches and shards of the spotlight.
If there is indeed a strategy behind his social media, it’s a smart one. And it is working.
Sitting on a little boat in Barbados with some other guests from the hotel we were staying at, en route to a bit of snorkelling, a British lad no more than 10 years old pulled my arm and pointed at a stunning house on the coast, no more than 100 metres up the beach from where we’d left.
c/o @lewishamilton Instagram
“Lewis Hamilton’s staying there,” he grinned, apropos of nothing. He had no idea I worked in F1. Why would he?
“Wow, that’s so cool!” I smiled.
“Yeah. I can’t believe he’s so close. He’s amazing.”
Later in the week, two Jamaican women on holiday started talking to us about a photo of Lewis they’d seen on instagram and did we know he was staying around the corner. Again, apropos of nothing.
It really gives resonance to Bernie’s comments about Lewis Hamilton being the world champion that Formula 1 needs. He is a true global megastar.
There were also a few times in Barbados that some lovely folks came over to talk F1. I hadn’t realised it, but many Bajans get their F1 fix through NBCSN. It made me tremendously proud that their first words were ones of thanks to the entire crew for bringing them coverage of the sport they love.
And, with Lewis Hamilton probably off on a paddleboard with Roscoe and Coco, it reminded me once again how incredibly fortunate I am to call this sport, and my passion, a job. And how, from within the bubble of the paddock we can pour over the minutiae and pull the sport apart over what we think it should or shouldn’t be, but that outside the narrow confines and narrow mindsets of we, the “insiders,” the sport still resonates, it still excites. It stirs passion. It thrills. As it always has and always will.
So yeah, I’m gutted the holidays are over. But I cannot wait to get back to work. Because it’s the greatest job and the greatest sport in the world.
c/o @lewishamilton Instagram
The Buxton Blog 
Bless you Will for seeing though the veneer of the hate and derision poured out by the social NIMBYS and have nots that castigate this man for enjoying himself.
Long may her reign.
Perfect Will. Perfect.
Beautifully written my friend with the last 6 words summing it up…….
Welcome back to work Will!!
Good job, tell Lewis to have fun, hopefully Nico will make the second half interesting!!
I think he used a hashtag implying he cared not what people thought of his exploits, and I fervently hope he doesn’t. Nobody’s life should be commented on from afar for profit.
I think what separates the Lewis talk about his behavior is it’s something you haven’t seen in World Champs in a while. From Schumacher’s first championship he was the typical German happy to out there winning and tell you he was, but reserved about his private life for people. With his string of wins he was dominated what we thought a world champ was. Alonso two straight showed a young happy guy, a bit more open than Schumi. Then you have Kimi which everyone already knew what to expect about Kimi he was what a lot of people thought they’d be if they were an F1 driver answering questions with straight to the point sentences not wordy paragraphs, and then partying it up. However even now you seem him taking a more reserved private life with the family. Lewis’s first championship still had him being managed in Ron Dennis’s corporate attitude preventing him to fully do what he wanted, so we didn’t learn fully about the Lewis have now. I do think he brought that corporate attitude to his first two seasons at Mercedes until he won another championship and now he’s letting the real Lewis out and I won’t say it’s directly tied, but he’s been doing even better this year.
It is fun to have friends who read the gossip page who’s this driver dating Rihanna? Or showing my mother these two English Bulldog’s of Lewis’s she loves. Hopefully he does open the sport up to some new fans. Vettel’s great for your hard core fans he’ll explain to you exactly what happened and can walk you through the entire race almost like Peyton Manning does after a game, but he is from all I read the most reserved driver on the grid about his private life so Lewis I believe is just a big departure on that style for reporters after four years of Seb dominance.
Another great article Will, really enjoy the fruits of your labour. You seem to understand our hero much more than others. I really think Lewis has the upper hand now with the media, they just don’t realise it 🙂
Thank you Will for this blog. As long as it makes Lewis happy and he is top in his sport, it is noone’s business Rita
I’ve really come to enjoy these Will. They are so well written, that there’s no need to add any comments, so I hope you realize many more people are reading these, enjoying them just as they are.
Very well said Will. I was just trying to think about this very same topic. But you’ve done it far better than I could have ever hoped to.
Slap on hand accepted. I’ll admit I’m not a big Lewis fan. We have so much access these days that we seem to think we know the drivers even though we don’t know anything more than what they are willing to share – and Lewis shares a lot!
I am very glad he has enjoyed himself and that will help him no end. We all need some time to clear our heads and that’s the most important part of a holiday.
Thank you Will.
Good post Will.
Lewis is very polarizing figure. The fans that like him really like him and the fans that don’t like him really don’t like him. It seems that there is no middle ground.
He is entitled to have a private life away from the track. He has created a public relations strategy that has people constantly talking about him. He prefers to do his talking on track.
He and Nico are employees of Mercedes and, as the try and achieve the difficult balance of an on track life and and an off track life while not doing anything to adversely affect their athletic ability in the long term, they should be mindful that they are ambassadors of a well known global brand that has an image that they like to present.
I’m fine with him having fun, go exciting places, and learning and do new things in his private life. Before he posts a snap or a video, he should take a moment and think if what he’s posting now might cause a potential sponsor not to want to do business with him in the future because of the image that he has chosen to present through his social media accounts. In his life after Formula 1, he won’t have to be as conscious of this. Right now, as current Formula 1 champion, Mercedes driver, and Formula 1 ambassador, he might not be able to adopt the “I don’t really care what they think” attitude because might effect future business opportunities. The only thing that made me cringe a bit was that I didn’t need to know that Lewis wore Calvin Klein underwear. Calvin Klein got free promotion but it was a little cringe worthy.
Lewis does do a fantasia job of being an ambassador for Formula 1, his sponsors, etc. and promoting the sport around the world. Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo also do a good job of this. They are not as megawatt about it as Lewis is but they do a good job. Sebastian reminds me of Michael Schumacher in how he conducts himself on and off track. Sebastian will always be one of my favorite drivers as Michael was when he was in Formula 1.