I have some advice and an urgent request for Lewis Hamilton whether he likes it or not, and the odds are he will NOT, and that my name will now figure highly on his growing list of British Formula One journalists he refuses to talk to. I don’t care.
It is this: recruit somebody to help and guide you away from whatever it is that is ailing you and putting you through your own actions in being at loggerheads with the media from your homeland. You are beginning to look a sad case.
In all the decades I have been covering F1 I have never known a driver be so blatantly difficult, obdurate and self-centred — with immature actions lowlighted by a peevish walkout from a press conference when it is his duty, and responsibility to his Mercedes team, to be available to answer questions posed to him by the media on behalf of the enthusiastic motorsport public at large.
Silence in this case is not golden.
And I cannot imagine his Mercedes employers, who sign his eye-wateringly massive cheques and are painstaking in their essential promotion and maintenance of respect for the brand, are too pleased with his attitude.
It has most certainly stirred an adverse and critical reaction from the dedicated grand prix journos, who year round tirelessly and dedicatedly traipse to the farthest reaches of the globe to report the races and reflect the responses, excuses, explanations and apologies of the drivers, winners and losers alike, in the service of the sport.
Hamilton’s weird — and juvenile — antics in taking pictures of other drivers and fitting them with funny faces on his mobile phone during a press gathering in Japan, and refusing to respond to media questions, followed by his mute walkout from a press briefing after qualifying, have left a nasty feeling among those who were there just to do their duty for millions of readers hungry for information and reaction from their hero.
“I don’t plan in sitting here any more,” was his dismissive departing message after his media tiff.
”I’m not actually here to answer your questions.”
And he inferred he would not be attending any more press conferences this season, imposing a written media blackout.
He said he was angry at newspaper coverage and heavy criticism of his behaviour on Snapchat and his oddball picture show. Paul Weaver in The Guardian said the 31-year-old had made a mockery of proceedings. Daniel Johnson in The Daily Telegraph described it as ”increasingly odd”. Joe Downes in the Daily Mail said it was a demonstration of “bizarre antics”.
Truth is: he needs to lighten up and be alert and obedient to his responsibility as a mainstream public figure worldwide and not just on the Formula One scene. Mercedes PR head Bradley Lord was visibly taken aback by the three times champs’ bottom-lipping.
I wonder if, as he is on the brink of losing out to his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg in the championship chase, his confidence has been so severely impaired he is resorting to sulky manoeuvres and conceited mannerisms to disguise his disappointment at his own, too frequent, abject failure in startline mess-ups to hold off the resurgent Rosberg. Or is it down to plain arrogance?
What the Mercedes hierarchy must remind him — and extremely urgently — is that the world’s media are there to do a job. And to the best of their honesty, dedication and ability.
Just like him…
— The author is an expert on motorsport
