After Calling India A 'Poor Country', Lewis Hamilton Gets A Lot Of Flak On The Internet
He should have thought before speaking.
Lewis Hamilton has questioned Formula One's policy of organising races in new countries after the Vietnam Grand Prix was announced.
He said that he would prefer to see more stops in countries with a genuine racing tradition
"On the racing side, I don't know how important it is to go to new countries as such."
Reuters
"If you had the Silverstone Grand Prix and a London Grand Prix, it would be pretty cool."
The Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, will hold a Formula One street race from 2020 after signing a 10-year deal.
Formula One has steadily expanded beyond its traditional heartlands, adding races in China, India, South Korea, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Russia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, with mixed results.
Reuters
At the same time, historic European races in England, Germany and Italy have come under threat, while France dropped off the circuit for 10 years before returning this season.
"We've got a lot of real racing history in England, Germany, Italy and now in the States it is starting to grow," said Hamilton.
"But you only have one event per year in those places. If it was my business, I'd be trying to do more events in those countries."
He added: "I've been to Vietnam before and it is beautiful. I've been to India before to a race which was strange because India was such a poor place yet we had this massive, beautiful grand prix track made in the middle of nowhere. I felt very conflicted when I went to that grand prix."
"We had a grand prix in Turkey and hardly anyone came. Cool track, cool weekend but poor audience."
My country is a bit strange as we have the mix of all cultures.
¡ª Aakash (@AnEmpyrean) November 14, 2018
My country is a bit strange as have the world's largest democracy.
But @LewisHamilton off all these, we are not "poor country" as it seems to you.
P.S
You and @MercedesAMGF1 are still my favhttps://t.co/wxxtpj7pKO
After ruining India frm 1613 to 1947 "British" Racer Lewis Hamilton calls india a poor country. What about EIC's drain of wealth policy on us? What about destroying our markets with no scope to export? They also owe us the kohinoor!! Now who's poor? @ShashiTharoor @LewisHamilton
¡ª Ricky (@RikiP009) November 14, 2018
@LewisHamilton India is poor country hahaha i pity you Hamilton i guess you should have slipped your brain in one of your laps .. .. u just race to earn .. looks like .. if it's ur passion to race then you would have had passion to explore #shameonHamilton
¡ª Shreekanth Murali (@shreeingame1) November 14, 2018
Hey @LewisHamilton, My country might be poor but the heart of my people aren't, we are a developing country. And isn't it about increasing the popularity of the sport @F1 rather than you not liking to race in India??.
¡ª AKJ (@AwesomeAKJ7) November 14, 2018
And by the way you and @MercedesAMGF1 are still my fav.
@LewisHamilton you may be a world champion, but you are poor at history and the present, history says you british looted India, and present we are launching your satellites, we are the fastest growing economy. Please watch #namastelondon #lewishamilton #f1 @F1 @MercedesAMGF1
¡ª AAkash jaiswal (@ImAAkashJaiswal) November 14, 2018
Extremely unfortunate to read remarks of @LewisHamilton regarding India. Perhaps has little understanding of the fan following base of @F1 here. Ignorant of fan support for him & @MercedesAMGF1.All wd love to have the championship back in India. Those races were the best fr sure
¡ª Chaitanya Prasad (@Chatty111Prasad) November 15, 2018
Formula One has thrived in Singapore, but it didn't last long in India and South Korea. Vietnam also has scant racing tradition.
Hamilton said: "If you have the German Grand Prix and you've got a Grand Prix in Berlin, I think connecting to cities where a lot of people are is probably a good thing, not necessarily going to countries where they don't know so much about Formula One."
No wonder he faced a lot of flak on social media.
