Nice to see at least one British World Champion attending the BRDC Award ceremony on the 4th. The others must have been busy elsewhere?


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Well, he won an award (two, actually), which might account for his attendance. The only other F1 alumni to receive an award - Derek Warwick - was, surprise, surprise, also there. Not sure why other drivers should have been there?

edit: another British World Champion was there - Brendon Hartley, 2017 FIA World Endurance Champion. His WEC winning team mates, Earl Bamber and Timo Bernhard, although they're not British so I guess don't qualify.

Hartley is from New Zealand.

And rather bizarrely, he'll do a lot more for the sport of F1 going to fashion shows than he will an FIA award ceremony.

Don't see that, really. How will that raise F1's profile?

Lewis Hamilton is currently the only superstar F1 has with a significant reach outside of motorsport. Like it or not, and I don't, but people tune in to celebrity. His celebrity will get people interested in, and talking about, F1 when they normally wouldn't be.

First and foremost every driver should also pay his/her respects to the sport that made him/her a celebrity in the first place. And F1 doesn't really need any celebrity reach, does it? Just see how many celebs of different backgrounds trot around the pitlane every race weekend.

Lewis Hamilton is currently the only superstar F1 has with a significant reach outside of motorsport. Like it or not, and I don't, but people tune in to celebrity. His celebrity will get people interested in, and talking about, F1 when they normally wouldn't be.

It's not about celebrity reach, its about reaching people who follow celebrities. Including making Lewis Hamilton, an F1 driver, a celebrity.

Hamilton will retire as soon as Mercedes is no longer the best car by a big distance. Ferrari closed the gap a bit, but it would been another spectacular failure if Hamilton didn't win the title this season. Hamilton has always raced F1 in a car capable of winning races unlike Seb and Fernando. He's had it very easy career-wise and will give up the moment he's no longer in a car that is easy to win in.

So please answer honestly:

Do you think many people follow the fashion show awards ceremony with vigour? Tune in and watch this show and think "oh, what a nice chap in this red suit, I'll be an F1 fan now"? And that way Hamilton reached to them?

Or do you think that the reigning WDC should have honoured the greats of the sport that has made him famous?

Still not convinced that going to a fashion show will raise the profile of F1 one iota. I only heard about it because I follow F1, but otherwise it would have passed me by completely.

This is not a judgement on him going, but I just don't see how the sport benefits. I don't think every action he undertakes is for the benefit of F1

I don't know you, but are you in any way interested in celebrity? I'm not, I only know this happened because I'm a fan of F1 & MMA and I seen pictures of the biggest name in each sport at the same table (plus a few Facebook posts having a dig at Rita Ora).

I'm not claiming that Hamilton will capture everyone, but over a period of time his celebrity will get people at least slightly caring who wouldn't otherwise care.

I'm not, no. I don't really understand it, tbh.

But if I hear that e.g. Roger Federer was at a Grand Prix, it wouldn't inspire me to watch tennis, in the same way that Mike Tyson attending one years ago didn't have me searching the boxing schedules. So I don't get how a celebrity from any sport turning up at an unrelated event would convert anyone to watching that sport. I think the whole ambassador thing is overblown outside of official events.

And you won't get it, because you're not particularly drawn to celebrity.

Sports do well on the back of big names. Thanks for mentioning Tyson, cause boxing is a prime example of this. With individual events, you see the really stark differences between boxing events dependant on the names involved. Now boxing addicts will tune in for the skill & the talent, but those huge Pay per View events? You need to have 'celebrity' to excel you to those heights.

Hamilton needs to play the celebrity. Turning up to events like this, particularly off-season, is what maintains and adds to his celebrity. All us F1 die-hards will still be here regardless, but there will be people drawn in by his overall celebrity. It is just much more difficult to measure than in boxing as F1 doesn't have the Lewis Hamilton show, and has so many other moving parts which makes it more difficult to measure (varying TV deals, general competitiveness, TV schedules, many other drivers..).

Hamilton will retire as soon as Mercedes is no longer the best car by a big distance. Ferrari closed the gap a bit, but it would been another spectacular failure if Hamilton didn't win the title this season. Hamilton has always raced F1 in a car capable of winning races unlike Seb and Fernando. He's had it very easy career-wise and will give up the moment he's no longer in a car that is easy to win in.

Always good to back up opinions with facts;

Race winning cars in full seasons-

Vettel - 9/10 seasons - 90%
Hamilton - 11/11 seasons - 100%
Alonso - 10/17 seasons - 59%

What about none of the above?

It's not as simple as "oh I'm an F1 fan now" - but yes, over a time his celebrity will bring more people to the sport. In fact, the guy he shared a table with is a fantastic example of this. The amount of fans McGregor pulled in to MMA who previously couldn't name a single person involved...

I was a bit sarcastic, granted. But you seem to misunderstand one thing.

I am not upset with Hamilton for attending a fashion show that would attract fans. I applaud this, kudos for spreading the word, even in a silly (in my opinion) gala like that.

I am not even upset with someone missing it. Hell, Lauda, Fitipaldi, Piquet, Hakkinen all of them (10 WDC's combined) gave it a miss as well.

It's about Hamilton being the first ambassador of the sport as the reigning WDC. When he chooses to go see some models instead of paying homage to his trade, I find it a tad disrespectful. You may not think so and I respect that.

And McGregor's example is different as he didn't snob an MMA celebration to attend the fashion show, so I don't think it is comparable

Backing up opinions with fact is always good, but yours lacks depth. In fact, Vettel's 2008 season at Toro Rosso (1 win) has the same weight than his 2013 season (13 wins), yet there is a huge difference between both cars.

Yes, it's a bad comparison. Very few drivers would have won in the 20008 STR for example.

The reigning WDC champion is Rosberg isnt it?

Although you reference the fashion show he also attended the BRDC Awards in London that day. Are you saying he should have skipped the BRDC to attend the FIA?

No, it was most certainly not mocking Hamilton, rather made towards his diehard fans that have to defend him at all times. It's clear to see and I think you missed the whole point

Don't make a fool of yourself, people do watch Formula E. The HK E-Prix was far more entertaining than the Abu Dhabi GP by the way.

It's in the line above you. You're clearly taking objection to the topic. There is no need to go into defence mode whenever Hamilton is discussed

It's still funny. And FE is good fun to watch.

I can't see him retiring until he's either in a bad car for a season or two or is completely out of Vettel's reach stats wise. I think he could be in the game for longer than people think.

Certainly think he's got another couple of contracts first and won't retire before 36/7 whatever cars he's got. He's a sharp cookie and be knows he'll be a long time retired and I think he's more interested in breaking records and leading stats than he let on previously.

He's hinted a little at it in recent times and the Merc boss made a comment about stats or records and Lewis's interest in it I believe (I'm paraphrasing heavily, I can't recall the exact wording sorry) so I think he'll be around for a good while yet thankfully.

2-3 years time we could have a grid with Lewis,Seb,Max,Dan,Alo,Leclerc,Ocon,Sainz,Vandoorne and Norris all in pretty competitive shape. Ideally at the 5 biggest budget teams but maybe that's a step too far for the wish list but something like this for 2019/20 would do me..

Mercedes-Ham/Oco
Ferrari-Seb/Lec
Red Bull-Max/Dan
Renault-Alo/Sai
McLaren-Van/Nor

I may have strayed a little O/T sorry.

Nice to see at least one British World Champion attending the BRDC Award ceremony on the 4th. The others must have been busy elsewhere?


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That's one problem for Hamilton he has to be seen to attend everything whereas for some other drivers no one seems to care that much.

any evidence for this? How many are the current WDC, for example? Of course he's going to be in the spotlight.

Honestly, this poor Hamilton the endless victim thing is getting really old

Hamilton drawing unfair criticism RE his lifestyle got old about a 8 years ago tbf.

I wasn't referring to the topic but the FE reference.

He chooses to have a high-profile lifestyle, which inevitably comes with criticism. Drivers who shun the limelight don't get stories written about them. This is a surprise? He doesn't get singled out in that regard. Look how much flak Kimi used to get in his drinking and partying days. Or Button, for that matter. Or Irvine etc etc. Only none of them get portrayed as victims.