Lewis Hamilton can be hard to like, but why do the British press love to hate the Formula One legend? Even matching Michael Schumacher’s seven championship wins didn’t win universal praise at home
Britons’ love of the underdog makes the all-conquering driver and his team less popular, while the media portrays him as a diva and hypocrite: a preachy vegan with a jet-set lifestyle who lives abroad to avoid tax
With 20.6 million Instagram followers, Hamilton is by a country mile the most-followed driver on the Formula One grid, supported by an army of loyal fans known as “Team LH”.
“The greatest sportsman this country has ever produced – no doubts,” tweeted former Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand after Hamilton crossed the finish line in Istanbul on Sunday (November 15).
Yet Hamilton’s rise to F1 legend status has been accompanied by numerous articles in his homeland exploring the same question – “Why is he disliked?”
Just as in Schumacher’s all-conquering era with Ferrari, Hamilton and Mercedes have become victims of their own success.
Mercedes are accused in the court of public opinion of being too good and turning the sport into a tedious procession, winning the last seven constructor’s titles and Hamilton taking the last four world drivers’ titles (and six of the last seven).
“It’s not how F1 should be, but it is what it is right now and it has been like that in the past,” Hamilton reasoned last season. “But it is not our fault these guys are good at their jobs.”
For The Times’ Rebecca Clancy, Hamilton’s decision to move to first Switzerland and then Monaco – in part to pay less tax – was at the heart of any anti-Hamilton sentiment.