Four-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton is spending his summer break helping to clean up a plastic-littered beach and spreading pollution awareness.
Instead of spending the 2018 Formula 1 summer break partying (which we know is exactly what Kimi Raikkonen is doing), four-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton found himself helping to clean up a plastic-littered beach and spreading pollution awareness.
The 33-year-old Briton helped clean up a beach on Mykonos, an island in Greece, and found several items in doing so, including a child’s shoe. He took to social media to express his frustration and urged the public not to purchase plastic or polystyrene products while slamming companies that are “fixated on profits at the expense of our beautiful planet!”
Here is what Hamilton had to say about the matter on Twitter.
I’m in just one of so many beautiful parts of the world today when we stumbled across this mess. We couldn’t stand by, we had to do something. We all need to act, we must stop supporting companies that are blindly fixated on their profits at the expense of our beautiful planet!🌎 pic.twitter.com/CBG0VD0jOs
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) August 7, 2018
More from Formula One
- Formula 1: Top Red Bull threat identified for 2024
- Formula 1: Why the Max Verstappen retirement obsession?
- Formula 1: Williams ‘mistake’ hints Logan Sargeant’s future
- Formula 1 awaiting key confirmation for 2024 season
- Formula 1: The ‘championship’ Max Verstappen only leads by 3 points
Hamilton’s actions garnered mixed reactions from fans and critics alike. While there were many who praised his efforts in cleaning up the beach, efforts that are certainly commendable, many called him out for his hypocrisy, asking questions such as “when are you signing up for Formula E?” and “when will you stop flying private jets?”.
Others pointed out the fact that Hamilton is sponsored by L’Oreal, a company that generates tons of plastic and definitely qualifies as a company that is “fixated on profits at the expense of our beautiful planet!” by his own standards.
In other words, as far as the reactions of people go when told by a celebrity to be more cognizant of their effect on the planet, “same old, same old”. Let’s just leave it at that.
Formula 1 action is scheduled to resume on Sunday, August 26 with the Belgian Grand Prix, which is scheduled to be broadcast live on ESPN2 starting at 9:10 a.m. ET from Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, Belgium. Nine races remain on the 2018 schedule.
Hamilton, who drives for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, has racked up five victories so far this season with 12 races in the books, and he leads the Formula 1 driver standings by 24 points (213 to 189) over Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Both Hamilton and Vettel are attempting to win their fifth career championship to tie Juan Manuel Fangio for second place on the all-time titles list behind only seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, whose 91 race victories sit atop the all-time wins list by 24 victories ahead of Hamilton’s win total of 67, which ranks second of all-time.