For some time now Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton has been too philosophical, especially on his Instagram. It was same during the 2018 Formula 1 German Grand Prix when he was booed by fans on the parade lap.
Naturally, Hamilton was on the ‘enemy’s’ turf with it being the home grand prix for his title rival Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. Even though he raced for the German outfit Mercedes, the roar for Vettel was much higher than his German team.
In fact, the race also had a huge section of Max Verstappen’s Dutch fan. The incident Hamilton related to, apparently took place on the parade lap of the grand prix for which he posted on Instagram as well – again on philosophical terms.
Boos for @LewisHamilton in the parade lap ahead of #GermanGP! He remains philosophical about it. #F1 @MercedesAMGF1 | @MsportExtra pic.twitter.com/NCdVAPA1Rp
— Darshan Chokhani (@DarshanChokhani) July 22, 2018
After winning the dramatic race from 14th on the grid to lead a Mercedes 1-2 where Vettel crashed to hand over the championship lead back to Hamilton, the British driver talked about the boos he faced which he said he weirdly felt ‘really happy’ about.
“It’s too early in the season to ever really feel like it’s [title] slipping away but of course it never feels good when you face adversity but, the longer you endure it, the stronger you grow,” he started, when asked if he felt the title was slipping away from him.
“I definitely felt at one point, there was Jesus, it’s a steep hill for us, but it’s OK. Y’know, just keep believing, positive things are going to come ahead. Just keep fighting, just give it everything you’ve got because at some stage things will come good.
“Today is one of the most unbelievable days for me because I prayed as I always do before the race and my prayers were really answered. It freaks me out a little bit more than normal. And then to see the kind of biblical storm afterwards.
“There was a lot of negativity before the race. Y’know, I think when you come to England, going around I don’t remember any of the fans booing. We’ve got quite a good group of fans in England. And when I came here, there was a lot of booing.
“The weird thing is that I was really happy about it. It was unusual. It’s weird that I’m still happy. It was because I kept seeing individually, a couple of different British flags in amongst a hundred or a thousand..a sea of red and then you’ve got a British flag in there.
“Then you have people from Mexico, people from England, you have people I think from Nigeria or somewhere in Africa with Hamilton shirts on – the name Hamilton on, standing in amongst the red. And it was just so positive for me.
“That’s why I said at the end, that love conquers all. And I really feel that the rain’s come down and just washed away any negativity. It’s a glorious day. It couldn’t have been a better day for me and one that I will always remember.”
While Hamilton said the British fans don’t boo, but they did a few years back at Rosberg. However, the British driver did take a stand for his Mercedes teammate and asked the fans to not boo during the podium ceremony.
Meanwhile, heading into the German GP weekend, Hamilton did stir a small controversy when he called Ferrari’s celebrations after winning British GP, especially the Vettel’s Egyptian dance as a sign of ‘weakness’.
When asked after the German GP if those antics serves any kind of motivation for the British driver, he said: “Honestly, I don’t need to search for a boost or energy from other people’s business. I just focus on mine.
“I’m just focussed on trying to be the best I can be in myself. Because if I’m my best and my higher self, I feel like I’m able to drive like I was able to today, regardless of all the people, who else is around doing whatever they are doing.
“So, I did say when I came here that you can see things and they can often be maybe a sign of weakness. As I said, if we just kept our heads down, we knew this weekend Ferrari were going to be quick – and they’re ridiculously quick on the straights.
“I think Valtteri [Bottas] did a fantastic lap yesterday, really great lap when I watched it – but he was just losing down the straights which there’s nothing you can do about. I’m just really proud of my guys as well, not getting phased by this fight that we’re having.
“They could easily jump to conclusions and say, oh well, they’re doing this or they’re doing that, instead of, you know what? All we can do is control our own destiny. All we can do is work on our starts, try and improve, make sure we do a better job understanding the car, doing a better job, pushing for better aero performance, all these different things.”