F1: Lewis Hamilton speaks about 'slums' controversy on social media

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton ensured the prevalence of “Hammertime” in the 2018 Formula 1 season.

In earning his fifth drivers title, his fourth since 2014, Hamilton left little to the imagination in succeeding with pure speed.

In a year where Ferrari and therefore, Vettel, had the stronger car for the better part of the season, the SF 70 H, it was nothing shy of pure brilliance to see Mercedes’ hero Hamilton succeed in the end the way he did.

Surely, all the facilitation’s that Hamilton’s being lavished with are utterly well deserved.

He was the star of the F1 Gala at St. Petersburg. And now, as seen recently, the spotlight at a recent awards ceremony held at Birmingham, in England. But implicit in the heart of such salubrious gatherings is true gentlemanly conduct, typically expected of World champions.

Isn’t it?

And possibly, this is where Hamilton’s earned the wrath of the F1 community in lines with his recent remarks about Stevenage, that part of the UK where he grew up.

When on stage, invited to collect yet another award in lines with his fabulous showing in the 2018 season, Hamilton expressed that it took a lot of effort on his part, and passion, to work his (and his family’s) way out of the ‘slums’ of Stevenage.

Interestingly, however, immediately after using the phrase ‘slum’, Lewis corrected himself saying, “okay it wasn’t slum really”, in his bid to explain what once was a financially challenged upbringing and existential realities for him.

For sure, a lot of credit goes to Lewis’ father who had to work multiple jobs in order to afford his son, an expensive passion ( Karting leading to the road to Formula 1).

But having said that, a fraction of fans, viewers or critics had already taken their knives out at Lewis even as the Mercedes driver spent perhaps a second or maybe even less in rephrasing himself at the award acceptance speech at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

Here’s what Hamilton exactly said:

“ Well, not the slums, but to get out of somewhere and do something. We all set our goals very, very high but we did it as a team."

Heavily criticized for the usage of a controversial phrase, Hamilton has now taken to social media to offer some explanation and clarification.

In case you didn’t follow the development, here’s what you ought to know:

For starters, Lewis has called for Stevenage residents to ‘not bother’ about getting upset about his controversial Slum remark.

He’s also called for anyone who’s felt upset over the incidence to ‘throw it to the side.’

He also insisted anyone who’s been caused an upset to let go of the negative energy that holding on to the incident might have caused.

Hamilton shared the above in an Instagram post.

What’s known is that Hamilton’s comments didn’t impress Stevenage’s Borough Council leader one bit.

That told, a question that what everyone needs to now answer is whether an explanation at the back of a controversial remark is enough for everyone to move ahead or is there a great sense in sticking with an issue and peeling off Lewis and his comments layer by layer, something which may only cause grief?