For those who don’t know me very well, I’m a big professional Wrestling fan. It’s been a guilty pleasure of mine for a while. In Pro Wrestling, there was a wrestler there in the company until 2014, called “CM Punk”. Punk, was the embodiment of what a modern-day wrestling fan could love, like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, or a Stone Cold from the 90’s. Amazing talent, but with debatable character issues, but beloved by everyone and had the industry wrapped around his finger. Even after he walked out on the WWE earlier this year, his name still gets chanted at matches, especially when his wife wrestles.
Now, I know what you’re thinking; “Dre, why are you giving us Wrestling references on an F1 article?” Simple. Because I feel its the perfect analogy for what Lewis Hamilton has become within Formula 1 as of right now.
Given the way this season has played out, there’s now no doubt in my mind, that the sport of Formula 1 as we know it, revolves around him. And the side effect of this is spreading and affecting the way we perceive him, his team mate Nico Rosberg, the Mercedes team, and the sport itself.
And the scariest part is, it’s not entirely his fault. In my eyes, there’s a lot more to it than that.
First up, you have to look at Hamilton’s recent success. He’s a true title contender for the first time since 2010. (Yes, a guy of Hamilton’s stature hasn’t been in true contention in 5 years, amazing huh?), and this goes hand-in-hand with the fans, and the media. The British media and the guys on Fleet Street have probably gotten bored with talking about how awesome Sebastian Vettel has been for the last four years, and can finally talk about how great Hamilton’s being again.
On top of that, Lewis Hamilton is one of the marketable drivers in Formula 1, and has been for a little while. A largely respected black athlete is harder to find in Europe as opposed to the US side of sport, he has a ridiculously famous girlfriend in Nicole Scherzinger, and has an army of fans underneath him. With Britain being one of the strongest countries for F1 support, not to mention the patriotic nature of sports fans as a whole, it goes hand in hand.
And let’s not even pretend to hide it – Sky Sports F1 generally favour this Brits. It’s a British Sports Broadcasting vibe across the board, and we don’t even try to hide it. I mean heck, Simon Lazenby on multiple occasions have referred to him as “Our Lewis”. It’s obvious with Sky bein a private British broadcasting firm, they’re going to give Hamilton, Button and Chilton the nudge, and even more so this season with figures like Johnny Herbert constantly trying to stir the pot in his direction, especially during the more controversial moments of the season like Monaco and Spa.
Now, ethically, a debate over whether F1 Broadcasters should be objective or not is an entire debate in itself, but when you combine a broadcaster that leans towards Hamilton, but as a result of this, a lot of F1 and Hamilton fans buy into their agenda… Because why not? A TV crew is talking about your favourite driver, most people would love that. Heck, I’m a Sebastian Vettel fan when I take my journalistic hat off, and loved his 9 race winning streak, even if the races were boring and without real drama (Mostly).
And the way Lewis Hamilton handles the media is a factor too. No doubt, the two biggest talking points from this season in terms of “soap opera” style drama was when Lewis Hamilton got prickly at Monaco with “We’re not friends, we’re colleagues.” and at Spa, where he said that Rosberg hit him on purpose. This caused EXPLOSIVE divides on social media and a split in the stance of how fans dealt with it. Because in the eyes of many, Hamilton isn’t the best with handling the media, it split into two camps, those who like Hamilton and the anti-Hamilton crowd. Now, don’t get me wrong, I know there’s Rosberg fans out there, but let’s be real here, that camp is a LOT smaller than the camp that doesn’t like Lewis.
And as I said before, the “Hamilton effect” has spilled over to how the fans view Rosberg. Last year, Rosberg was viewed as the quiet, unassuming, but likeable guy going about his business, and proving he was more than a match for the new kid on the block, who just so happened to have a ridiculous reputation.
This year however, he’s been looked at more negatively, in the eyes of many, as the enemy. Many have accused him of cheating, again, at the two major flash points of the season in Monaco and Spa, and as said, Hamilton’s media handling has indirectly thrown Rosberg under the bus, as many fans who take his word for it, adding a little pinch of conspiracy, have victimised Rosberg as a result.
And as a result of all this as a result, I feel bad, but also praise the Mercedes team for the way they’ve handled things. Many forget, they already had a team orders dispute last season at Malaysia, but was quickly dissolved, and even with new management, I think overall, Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe have handled it well.
While Wolff and Lauda’s initial blame of Rosberg in my eyes was a mistake, they’ve dealt with their team’s disputes mostly in private, and have even opened themselves up to potential criticism from the fans by taking to Twitter and addressing the fans directly, the Mercedes social media department really embracing their “moral duty” to the fans to be as transparent as possible and to be the finger on the pulse for their fans to pass their views along. A unique and refreshing approach.
With Hamilton winning in Singapore, alongside Nico’s steering wheel failure, it’s now effectively a 5 round Championship and whatever Lewis Hamilton gets up to between now and then, we’re all sure as heck going to know about it, because that my friends, is the Cult of Lewis Hamilton. F1 is his world now, and we’re all living in it
