Lewis Hamilton awkwardly confessed he doesn’t ‘really know’ Richard Hammond after the former Top Gear presenter sent him a good-luck message ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix.
The Formula One legend, 41, was appearing at a Ferrari fan event in Shanghai hosted by oil company Shell, when the host beamed Hammond’s video on screen.
‘Lewis, the folks at Shell Helix have asked me to send you a message, rather thoughtfully,’ the 56-year-old’s message began.
After a preamble about Shell and Ferrari’s partnership, Hammond added: ‘What I really want to say is all the very best for the forthcoming Grand Prix in Shanghai. We shall all be watching. All the best, mate. Good luck.’
As the video ended, Hamilton appeared visibly baffled by the gesture as he turned to the crowd and raised his hand in confusion.
Asked by the event host if he had any response to Hammond, the seven-time world champion said: ‘I’ve never met him before. I don’t really know him.’
Richard Hammond sent Lewis Hamilton a good-luck message ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix
Hamilton looked confused by the video and confessed he doesn’t ‘really know’ Hammond
Hamilton then burst into laughter, and added: ‘I’ve seen him on TV a couple of times, so that was very strange. I was not expecting to see him of all people. Why did you choose him?’
As the crowd let out a laugh of their own, Hamilton quickly interjected: ‘No, I don’t know, it could’ve been anyone. But it was nice, the message was really nice. Thank you so much.’
‘I grew up watching his shows. It caught me by surprise.’
Many racing fans rushed to social media to remind Hamilton that he appeared on Top Gear twice and must have met Hammond in the past.
However, former show host Jeremy Clarkson replied to one such suggestion on X, saying: ‘In Lewis’s defence, James and Richard never met the guests.’
Hamilton is looking to secure back-to-back sprint race victories at Shanghai with another win this year, but Ferrari were outpaced by Mercedes in Friday’s qualifying.
With the 41-year-old starting in fourth place for Saturday’s sprint race, Hamilton said he was ‘really pleased’ but warned that there is ‘a lot of work to do’ in order to hunt down the leading pack.
‘I’m really pleased with the session, the engineers did a fantastic job to turn the car around, it felt great. But we’re losing a lot of time on the straights,’ he said.
Hamilton is looking to win the sprint race in Shanghai for the second consecutive season
‘We have a lot of work to do, we have to push back in Maranello to improve in power. It’s something we were conscious of last year, we thought that Mercedes started earlier and they’ve done a fantastic job.
‘We have to push to close the gap. When you’re down on power, it is what it is.’
Fellow Briton George Russell continued his impressive start to the season by claiming pole for Saturday’s sprint race, with Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli 0.289 seconds behind.
