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Lewis Hamilton recently went to meet several female drivers racing in the F1 Academy. F1 Academy is an all-female support series started by F1 in 2023. It consists of five teams, each entering the series with three cars.
This means that there are 15 female drivers, all racing against each other and climbing the ladder to higher levels of racing. Since both F1 and F1 Academy have their race weekends in Austin, the Mercedes driver took some time out to meet the drivers racing in the support series.
The 38-year-old also posted an Instagram story with most of the grid and thanked them for having him, and he also urged his fans to learn more about these female racing drivers and watch their race around COTA. He wrote:
"Thanks for having me @f1academy. I encourage everyone to learn more about these women and tune in to watch them race tomorrow."
Soon after his interaction with F1 Academy surfaced on social media platforms, F1 fans were delighted to see Lewis Hamilton meeting drivers from the support series and promoting them. They praised the seven-time world champion for encouraging young female drivers and having a chat with them.
Here are some of the reactions from fans:
"A true leader, supporter, pioneer and fan!"
Lewis Hamilton's controversial take on intense 2023 F1 Qatar GP affecting drivers' health
Though Lewis Hamilton was unable to race the full length of the 2023 F1 Qatar GP due to an early accident with George Russell, he got to know how beat other drivers were after it. This was due to the intense heat during the race, with the on-track temperature reaching up to 36C.
However, the veteran driver feels that since F1 is an extreme sport, drivers must train harder to deal with these extreme conditions. Speaking in the drivers' press conference before the 2023 F1 US GP, he said (h/t Sky Sports):
"I'm going to be controversial as always. Obviously I didn't do the race, so didn't get to feel the pain that the drivers felt. But I have obviously been here a long time. Malaysia was much hotter than that race and I know what it's like to lose four or more kilos in the race and barely being able to stand afterwards."
Lewis Hamilton added:
"My feeling towards it is... this is an extreme sport. You don't have marathon runners who are passing out after the marathon, saying you have got to make it shorter.
"This is an extreme sport and we are paid very highly for what we do and from my perspective when I've not been feeling great at the end of the race, I've just got to train harder and that's how it's been for me."
This statement from the Mercedes driver is sure to divide opinions within the F1 fanbase and among pundits.
