Picture Credit: Twitter
On July 2, Sunday, Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time F1 champion was accused of disrespecting the Austrian national anthem during the race weekend in the country. The 38-year-old motorsport driver was spotted putting his fingers into his ears when the national anthem of Austria played a few minutes before the start of the race in Spielberg.
In the sport of Formula One, the national anthem of the host gets played on the track, just 15 minutes before the race begins. All the drivers participating in the race gather on the grid to respectfully stand while the standard proceedings take place.
Notably, when the picture of Lewis Hamilton making a seemingly disrespectful gesture surfaced online, the entire social media went into a complete meltdown. Fans were not happy with what the British driver had done on the grid, calling it unacceptable while demanding answers from him.
In the immediate aftermath, the Mercedes star hasn’t taken it upon himself to explain his actions or defend himself until now.
Previously, Lewis Hamilton had supported the pre-race build-up, including the driver introductions on the grid. He was quoted as saying, “I think it is cool that the sport's continuously growing and evolving and they're not just doing the same stuff that they've done in the past. They're trying new things, they're trying to improve the show always and I am in full support of it.”
Meanwhile, the Austrian GP wasn’t one of the best for Lewis Hamilton either. F1 officials imposed a 10-second time penalty on him after the race for infringements, which meant that he had to settle for the eighth position rather than the seventh-place finish on track.
