Lewis Hamilton is well known for his love of bling. Yet at the FIA mandatory drivers press conference before the Miami GP he excelled himself. He rocked up with multiple rings on each finger, 3 watches and a set of chains around his neck that would’ve made Mr. T from the A’ Team proud.
All this is part of an on-going war between the drivers of all FIA regulated levels of motor racing over wearing jewellery whilst racing.
Back in 2005 as drivers pressed for ever increasing safety regulations, the FIA responded introducing rules which banned drivers from wearing jewellery that could be hazardous.
That year, Christian Klien and Vitantonio Liuzzi who raced for Red Bull both wore ear piercings while in the car.
Klein responded, “In the end it makes no difference. I’ll just take it off for two hours in the race and then put it on again. I’ve raced with my earring since I was 11. I don’t know why they did this rule. I think personally it is not really necessary but I have no problem with it.”
The Italian was more militant. “They’ll have to cut my ear off to make me take it [the earring] off,” stated the Italian.
The mists of time mean we have no record of how this standoff ended.
The new FIA president elected for 2022 has decided this regulation has not been enforced properly and has put his foot down over the issue.
The teams were warned that their drivers who are part of the validation of the car racing package, will be sanctioned if they wear jewellery. Essentially this means the driver/car package prior to qualifying could be barred from taking part in the rest of the F1 weekend.
As did Luizzi, Lewis Hamilton has taken great exception to this crackdown. His ‘King of Bling appearance’ was most obvious in Miami, where he claimed if the FIA sanctioned him and refused to let him race, Mercedes had a reserve driver.
Amusingly when asked by the FIA interviewer as to why he was wearing 3 watches, Hamilton replied, “I need to be on three different time zones. Got some calls coming in”.
Post the race when questioned again about the FIA jewellery clampdown, Lewis replied, “There is no doubt that I will continue to discuss this topic. Next time I’ll wear four watches.”
Lewis defied the new FIA president Mohammed Bin Sulayem by refusing to attend the end of season FIA gala. Sulayem threatened to sanction him for his breach of contract.
So now Lewis again takes on the most powerful man in world motorsport by threatening to sit out a race if necessary.
In the press conference Lewis made it clear there were far greater issues in motorsport to be addressed and implied this was a hypocritical attack on certain diversity choices made by non-white participants.
So Lewis is the reason his package porpoises this season.
Did Lewis not want the rules enforced to the letter last year?
So by your words the FIA did not enforce major discrepencies and enforce the racing rules correctly which would have meant Hamilton winning the F1 world championship again. But they are prepared to rigidly enforce rules about a minor issue, jewelery wearing ffs. Does this seem a bit odd to you it does to me. The issue is not black and white or maybe it is all about black and white.
The rules of the game you play are applied, Lewis wants to be special. His should accept he is a normal participant with rules adhered by all who want to compete.
He cannot compete at present and therefore sanctions will not affect him but the sport!
I dont want to play with the naughty boys…they are mean to me..!..(sucking his thumb)
Same rules apply for all, most don’t have the privileges dealt to him and he still whinges.???
And as usual… those who fight racism and discrimination the most, are the worst offenders themselves.
Well said and so true
While I too feel maybe this is a tad too far in rule enforcing, I understand the point of it. And if the rule was there before its not something that has suddenly popped up. I have mixed feelings though as this applies to crucifix’s and wedding rings too I believe. All of a sudden though, Michael Masi must be looking good now compared to the new director!
this why people like Lewis will never get equal rights in this world
This is ridiculous lots of regular people working long hours for very little play have to take jewelry off and wear uniforms. I am appalled that they let him race. Hamilton needs to go.
All part of Hammy’s games… He’s like a spoiled child, and looks particularly stupid turning out like Bob Marley in bling… He’s being shown up by Russell on and off the track and only a matter of time till his ego snaps
When someone throws the race card around whenever they feel victimised, you have to lose all respect for them. I think as far as Lewis Hamilton is concerned and the issue he has with the rules on jewellery, it’s very much a case of ‘everyone is equal except that some are more equal than others’.
tell the arrogant spoilt has been either play by the rules like everyone else or go
Do you know what is to be targeted as a black man
Not a Lewis fan but agree with him on this stance
There other drivers who feels the same way as Lewuis, but most of the comments thus far are directed at one person. It makes Lewis’s point in F1 he is a lonely guy. More often than not negatives are directed towards him.
In Miami a driver did not turn up for pre race activities and not a word from FIA jorbthe loving dedicated F1 fans. Had it been LH, everyone would have said he thinks he is special.
Mercedes should make Hamilton tow the line or sit out the rest of the season and dock his salary it’s about time he grew up and stop playing the race card whenever things don’t go his way
They didn’t let the white drivers take off their jewellery. Racist people.
The FIA are only trying to enforce the rule book, something every Driver tries to “bend” to their own advantage, especially in the race e.g. SC pace or when to race/when not to race etc etc – we have heard this for so many years now directly from the cockpit.
However, Rules apply equally to all Drivers.
For those drivers that say “meh – okay”…this is a non-issue. For the rest, they might turn it into an issue, some small, some large.
But to imply – and the report only says that Lewis seems to imply that this was a hypocritical attack on certain diversity choices made by non-white participants, only Lewis will know how he feels about this.
And low, Lewis has been given a 2 month cooling off period, or whatever you call it, to sort this out. Perhaps other drivers have to – we do not know but I would have thought so. If not, then yes Lewis has been singled out – because he is the only driver seeing this as an issue. The rest are not. Therefore this is NOTHING to do with “diversity choices made by non-white participants” at all.
And then he plays the race card
The FIA president need to talk that Rag off his head when he drives
he never used to rally wearing a kaffiyeh, rein in the rhetoric or you will be taken off the website