According to Lewis Hamilton he ‘never really used to go out’ until 2015. That certainly changed last year and despite winning the world championship he was accused of putting his globe-trotting lifestyle before his racing commitments.
Just how busy Hamilton was away from the track during 2015 is illustrated in the data assembled by F1 Fanatic in the interactive map below based on his Instagram posts.
Hamilton made at least 14 separate visits to the USA during the year involving around two dozen transatlantic crossings in his private jet, only a small number of which were necessary commutes to and from race weekends from his Monaco base.
Hamilton attended fashion shows, charity fundraisers, music concerts and film premieres. He watched the NASCAR championship decider in Miami, the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao boxing match in Las Vegas and the Wimbledon tennis final (though famously he was unable to take his place in the royal box due to a dress code error).
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On set watching the great Ridley Scott direct Matt Damon in one of the final scenes of his new movie #TheMartian. pic.twitter.com/MUcX6tfpsD
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) October 14, 2015
But did this have an effect on his commitment in the cockpit? Hamilton conceded that after wrapping up the title at the Circuit of the Americas he wished the season was over. Once it was he quickly headed State-side once more.
Hamilton indicated his performance in the Hungarian Grand Prix – his worst result of the year – was affected by a celebrity rendezvous on the morning of the race. Having been invited to watch Ridley Scott filming The Martian at a nearby studio, Hamilton later revealed to the BBC in an interview he “didn’t sleep until like one o’clock and then I woke up at 4am” on the morning of the race and as a result he “felt terrible” before the start.
When the race began he immediately lost his advantage from pole position, then went off while trying to pass his team mate and later collided with Daniel Ricciardo. He finished sixth behind Fernando Alonso’s McLaren.
While former team principal Ron Dennis tutted at his jet-setting, Hamilton has embraced the greater freedom offered to Mercedes. As the maps below show, he is taking full advantage of it.
However the opportunities for him to do so will be reduced this year as the 2016 F1 calendar has 21 races instead of 19, including six back-to-back events.
And if Hungary showed he has reached the limits of how far he can exploit that freedom before it begins to affect his performance, he may feel those limits even more keenly if he finds himself with a tougher title fight on his hands in 2016.
Follow Lewis Hamilton’s 2015 world tour place-by-place
Planet Hamilton: The world according to the world champion in 2015
NB. Some locations are approximate.
2015 F1 season
- How a secret Mercedes engine mode helped pressure Vettel into a race-ending puncture
- Over 100 driver penalties issued in record-breaking 2015
- Part-time racer? The facts of Hamilton’s ‘jet-set lifestyle’
- A unique atmosphere: Going to the Italian Grand Prix at Monza
- The Complete F1 Fanatic 2015 season review
Lewis McMurray (@celicadion23)
7th January 2016, 12:07
Well done, this is such a cool feature Keith – if a little stalker-ish ;)
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th January 2016, 12:46
@celicadion23 Yeah it did start to feel a bit wrong going through all those posts!
Dan (@dan1124)
7th January 2016, 14:34
Stalking’s a very loaded term, I prefer to think of it as extreme liking.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
7th January 2016, 16:36
I guess one question is “Would Lewis be offended or embarrassed by this?” and another is “Is it any of our business?”. I think the fact Hamilton put the messages out himself is important, it wasn’t other people seeing him in those places, so he doesn’t have expectations that he visited those places and didn’t want to not be noticed. I guess that answers the “Is it any of our business?” question.
Different cultures have different standards of decency and decorum, and the internet is no exception, and in fact you’d probably find some parts of the internet where this would be considered a taboo, while in other parts it would be entirely appropriate.
I have seen various F1 personalities (and other famous people as well) in my job as bus driver here in New Zealand, but in New Zealand it was considered inappropriate to actually make a fuss about someone famous if they were “incognito” or in public but wanting to be just part of the crowd, so I didn’t say anything as I didn’t consider it appropriate.
Would you be happy if someone like me posted something like this?
BasCB (@bascb)
8th January 2016, 6:59
exactly that @drycrust.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
7th January 2016, 23:47
Exploratory Journalism… Well done, good story, best so far on tipic we all question…
So on his worst race it did affect him.
But maybe his lifestyle helps him psychologically win against Nico.
Supremacy (@supremacy)
14th March 2016, 19:14
I like the shades ad the hat
Kgn11
7th January 2016, 12:19
I know many are going to fixate on his comments about Hungary and his lack of sleep, but bear in mind he said the same thing on the weekend of the title decider in Abu Dhabi 2014.
Fact of the matter is this, his lifestyle has had no adverse effect on his ability to perform on a race weekend. Also I’m sure that if he sees whereby it’s affecting his performance, he’s professional enough to put an end to it.
John H (@john-h)
7th January 2016, 20:04
Presumably he was actually trying to get to sleep the first time! Hardly the same.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
7th January 2016, 23:52
Good or bad, his lifestyle resulted in winning the championship with races to spare…
alanore (@alanore)
8th January 2016, 10:13
Yeah I agree, if he truly thought he was losing races because of it, he would simply stop.
Also if he can sleep on the plane (I’m sure the private jet helps) then a lot of transatlantic travel is not that crazy at all. It basically fall asleep in Europe wake up in the US.
Samouri (@samouri)
9th January 2016, 22:45
People will always look for anything, and no matter how insignificant that it is, to be critical of Hamilton.
SteveR
11th March 2016, 1:31
Howdy there Fortis!
Stubborn Swiss (@stubbornswiss)
7th January 2016, 12:28
Great map!
It would be interesting to see similar maps for other drivers, so as to visually compare their globetrotting habits.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th January 2016, 19:02
@stubbornswiss Thank you :-)
Akshat
7th January 2016, 12:33
This is awesome Keith !
ColdFly F1 (@)
7th January 2016, 22:43
Yes great article Keith for the off season. Best of all it does not even feel like a gossip magazine article; enough interesting facts and links.
And now over to the leading actor himself:
22 February – Monte-Carlo; Hamilton: “Heading home to rest so I can be at 100% for the next tests/Melbourne.”
24 February – 20 Fenchurch Street, London; Elle Style Awards
25 February – The O2, London Brit Awards; Hamilton: “At the Brits with my extremely talented friend Ellie Goulding. What an honour, thank you for having me.”
Girts (@girts)
7th January 2016, 12:42
For sure, Hamilton should be allowed to have fun. All work and no play makes Lewis a dull boy. However, I am not sure what such an extensive social life of the acting world champion tells the world about F1 as a sport.
I think that the greatest thing about F1 is the total commitment. No matter if you are a mechanic, an engineer or a driver, you throw everything at winning and forget about the rest. You dedicate your life to the sport and pay the price by giving up other things that you love. That is how it should be. If you can party, travel around the world, make music and win the world championship by the way, then what is the value of that world championship? It makes F1 look like a very expensive version of hobby stock racing.
I do not want Hamilton to be a corporate robot but I think it will only be good for F1 if everyone clearly sees the bad effects of ‘jet-set lifestyle’ on Hamilton’s race results in 2016.
Kgn11
7th January 2016, 13:08
So going out and enjoying ones self during their spare time is somehow showing lack of commitment?
Has he not dedicated and made the necessary sacrifices to get to where he is now? So why can’t he have a little fun?
What it tells the world is, that if you can do both, be committed 100% and at the same time have a social life.
Girts (@girts)
7th January 2016, 14:07
It is a matter of extent. For sure, every F1 driver should be able to spend time with his family and friends, have a hobby and go on holiday. But 14 separate visits to the USA during a year and partying until 1 AM before the race day is probably too much. There is obviously a reason why people start asking if Hamilton is just a part-time racer or make fun of his many ‘careers’.
I think that this story is not really about Hamilton, it is more about F1 and how it is perceived. So far I have never supported the view that F1 is too easy and I also do not agree that it is all about technology. However, these will become legitimate questions if real or thought to be ‘part-time’ racers regularly win world championships.
Kgn11
7th January 2016, 14:18
I’m sorry, but where was it mentioned he partied until 1 am the day before a race?
As for the 14 visits to the states, first we would need to know what those visits were for and as since no one but he knows, it’s rather irrelevant to make assumptions.
One year whereby he himself stated he wanted to go out more as in the pass he rarely did, he’s now being labelled with the tag, ‘part time racer’. Are you kidding me?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th January 2016, 14:54
No need to make assumptions, all the information is there.
Robbie (@robbie)
7th January 2016, 15:40
@kgn11 He also admitted to off-track distractions costing him on Sundays in 2011, the year Button bested him at Mac, so it’s not like his adventures of 2015 should be a surprise nor considered a one-off.
I’m sure he will be fully focused again for the start of this season. After all, he spent the last bit of 2015 learning that you can’t give Nico an inch, he’s that close. He got a taste of what Nico had been going through…struggling in dirty air and the second pit slot, which may have shown him (LH) that maybe Nico was just handcuffed sometimes, and is a better driver than the aero and tire regs sometimes allow.
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
7th January 2016, 14:45
@girts
1976 (and not only on 4 wheels)? “When playboys ruled the world”, a movie said?
Girts (@girts)
7th January 2016, 15:11
@davidnotcoulthard Well, 1976 was 40 years ago. F1 was still transforming from a niche sport to a global spectacle. I imagine that other sports also had lower requirements in the 1970s as the world records have changed quite significantly since then despite much stricter doping controls. Moreover, the 1976 world champion, who often gets mentioned in similar discussions, was exceptional even for those days. It is a very beautiful chapter of F1 history but you cannot turn back the time.
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
7th January 2016, 16:21
@girts Actually, I take that back – shouldn’t have equated Lewis’ celebrity-ism (not a word but anyway….) to James’ and Barry’s playboy-ism (might this one be a real word?) the way I did…….
markM
7th January 2016, 19:54
@Kgn11
I take it you didn’t read the article? Hamilton clearly stated he made a mistake staying out late on the night of the Hungarian GP. No one is questioning his leisure to do what he wants during his “free time”. But the night of a race? Would you not think if you are getting payed millions from a team they expect you to be not tired and fully ready for a grand prix? Its like the kid who parties before the exam at school, what do you think the result will be? This man is getting millions so he should work at it when he is asked to perform.
Sonics (@sonicslv)
7th January 2016, 13:15
@girts But what if a champion is better than the competitor that he can have life outside of F1 and still be champion? What if he already won the championship, can’t he just enjoy what he likes (although what most drivers likes is driving)? What if instead of forced always dedicate 100% (110% is silly) of someone life to F1, someone is allowed to take a break to recharge and coming back refreshed instead of breaking down?
Hamilton may or may not perform worse in 2016, but let’s judge him at the end of the year instead of even before he gets into the 2016 car.
CarWars (@maxv)
7th January 2016, 16:24
We can already judge him for 2015, if we need to that is..
Anyways he did great and is back to back champion. A little relaxing and some fun probably was what he needed to get it done.
JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
7th January 2016, 16:35
@girts
If you can party, make music and still beat 19 other talented drivers who are so dedicated they have given up everything to focus just on F1 I then surely the value of that world championship is even higher than if it had taken all of your effort?
Girts (@girts)
7th January 2016, 19:44
@jerseyf1 Of course, you can say: “See, Hamilton is *that* good, he won the world championship with one hand, while Rosberg worked his butt off and still could not beat him.” But I do not think that it anyhow shows that F1 is not too easy or that the driver can still make the difference (18 drivers obviously had very different cars). That was my point – if I see that F1 world champion can take it easy and still beat all his competitors, while the world/olympic champion in another sport has to sacrifice much more to be the best, then I might start to think that F1 is not challenging enough.
Jon (@johns23)
7th January 2016, 23:58
Party pooper! You cant say he doesn’t make F1 interesting though. F1 can be a bit mundane sometimes
Girts (@girts)
8th January 2016, 5:53
@johns23
I completely agree.
caci99
7th January 2016, 12:47
Well, as long as he can win the championship and fulfill team requirements he can do whatever he wants. If I had the opportunities he does have, I would have been to a lot of concerts myself :).
Sumedh
7th January 2016, 13:15
Is it really only Hamilton who has such a life-style? Don’t we all have that one facebook friend who compulsively has to post everything on social network. Doesn’t mean he or she is the only one partying or going around. It just means he or she is most active on social networks.
Same with Hamilton. Just because we read about him so much on instagram doesn’t mean he is a “part-time racer”. It just means he is active on instagram, nothing else. Look at Alonso and Button for comparison. While Hamilton has his music, Alonso has his cycling team, Button has his triathlon, all 3 examples of engagement outside F1 which take up a lot of time and effort. Just that one of these activities is conducive to posting on social networks, other 2 are not.
Hamilton is fine. Don’t over-analyze him. And don’t stalk him, Keith!! ;-)
lockup (@)
7th January 2016, 13:23
I think it’s great. Out-hunting Hunt. There ought to be so much more to life than driving F1 once a fortnight. If he occasionally overdoes it and takes the edge off his performance – thank goodness!
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
7th January 2016, 14:49
@lockup Well, I’m not sure about out-Hunting James….. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71C7vsX%2BOJL._SY355_.jpg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tjSvfgA6tk
RAI on the other hand…….
Nick (@npf1)
7th January 2016, 14:54
Love Kimi, but neither would ever top this: https://www.facebook.com/espnf1/posts/331789673532436
lockup (@)
7th January 2016, 15:27
Lol @davidnotcoulthard, though istr Lewis saying something about big balls, and something more recently about the joy of sex. I don’t recall James ever having four supermodels in his garage …
Plus on Lewis’ side of the scale there’s racing a Koenigsegg, cruising his LaFerrari, P1 and Cobra, pranging his Zonda at 3 am, snowboarding with Lindsey Vonn. It’s true afaic the religiousness works against the appealing badboy thing, but altogther it’s not bad really. He said “The best thing is probably good sex in a good car” in an interview for Playboy, so let’s not be greedy. We don’t really want him falling asleep on the track or decking a marshall, do we? :)
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th January 2016, 19:04
@lockup
Damn, didn’t get that one in the round-up…
Robbie (@robbie)
7th January 2016, 14:51
Hey if Merc is fine with whatever LH has done then who are we to judge? I’m just not sure that if I were one of certain members of the team I’d be impressed. Sure, you’ve won the WDC and now you wish the season were over, but it’s not, and the team is still focused on a driver 1-2 in the WDC, ie. the team does not consider the season over. So at a bare minimum, if you’re going to party your way to not getting poles and not owning any part of the race(s) at least do us a favour and don’t act all entitled to alternative strategies you haven’t earned that would only serve to screw Nico.
So I really don’t care what LH does…he’s gotta be himself…but as I say if I’m a Merc team member being asked to now take extraordinary measures to bend to his unearned entitled whims, I’m giving him the proverbial finger while I politely tell him that’s not on, while he rudely cranks his setting anyway.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
8th January 2016, 0:00
This is a dream for Mercedes.. One of hotest stars, surtenly hotest driver, does playboy life, social media and drives Merc to work … He should just take it easy on La Ferrari apperances and get SLS GT or something.
Sonics (@sonicslv)
8th January 2016, 4:03
@Robbie
But when he said that, he already did all his part for the team goal. Mercedes already secured the WCC, Hamilton already secured the WDC, the only thing left is for Rosberg to secure the 2nd place in WDC, which is not something Hamilton can do. The best thing he could do to help is giving Rosberg wins while he getting 2nd place so Rosberg can gain maximum points compared to the biggest threat (Vettel in this case), and that’s actually how things panned out. Also with more Hamilton exposure, Mercedes will get more commercial value out of him, which means there’s no logical reason why Mercedes will hate him, in fact probably they’re really grateful Hamilton doing that by himself.
Nick (@npf1)
7th January 2016, 14:53
I think the main difference between Lewis and most of the other drivers is that he’s open about it. I’m not saying it’s a negative thing, but ever since photos of Kimi falling off boats stopped appearing people have been calling for F1 drivers to be people again. Lewis happily obliges, and it’s suddenly too much for some.
As for the commitment thing, maybe I have a romantic vision of the past, but what about Graham Hill or Jim Clark? They raced in other series as well, during F1 seasons. Sure, less races and different era, but I’m yet to read the first person questioning Nico Hulkenberg’s 2015 performance since he also committed to Le Mans. When F1 drivers enter a rally or a karting event, there’s a bigger shot that they’ll end up injured or end up in a different rhythm than when they go to Paris a few days in between testing.
To be entirely frank, my observation is that the people who complain about Lewis’ social life the most are the ones who don’t like him anyway. As a former die-hard Ferrari fan, I know people liked to hold Kimi’s drinking habits against him when he was at McLaren, but all was forgiven after 2007. Now everyone likes to say Kimi is unmotivated, rather than drunk. No doubt, once Lewis starts losing pace, we’ll get some inspired writings about him from some publications as well.
Maybe it’ll affect his performance. So be it. Lewis and Mercedes will undoubtedly take action if that is the case. Let him have some fun, as a triple world champion. I’d be more concerned if Max Verstappen or Carlos Sainz starts backpacking through Asia in between races.
Fikri Harish (@)
7th January 2016, 15:21
Oh my God. What is this, Gossip Girl?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th January 2016, 18:57
@fihar I’m going to say… no.
badger (@badger)
7th January 2016, 22:50
Well that’s my whole belief system blown out of the water!
Johnny_Rye
7th January 2016, 15:43
Ultimately, as long as his performance on track does not suffer then LH’s globetrotting is not an issue, he has no responsibility to the sport besides his adhering to his contract, he owes nothing to us fans. Does your boss care what you do outside of work as long as you perform at work? Let’s be honest too, 1 race like Hungary a year where you still become world champion by the margin he did is fine.
That being said, I fear that he wont know where the line is, and the line will come. He obviously enjoys being out and about and eventually this will have an affect on his racecraft if he keeps it up at this pace but the longer he is able to manage both, the more he’ll try and justify a one-off/two-off/three-off bad performance.
As it stands right now, he is managing the balance perfectly. If anything, i wish he did do more to promote F1 on his trips to the US, although i dont feel he is obligated to….it’d just be nice.
mantresx (@mantresx)
7th January 2016, 16:04
Ha you almost make it sound like it’s an addiction and he’s about to hit rock bottom. Some people of course are indeed addicted to “partying” but in Lewis’ case there’s so much people around him and that depend on him that they wouldn’t let him spiral out of control I think.
Johnny_Rye
8th January 2016, 3:35
Lol, yeah I wrote that wrong! Definitely didn’t mean that he’d spiral out of control. I meant more like there is a fine line between being at his peak while continuously winning and pushing it too hard outside of his work. For now I really don’t believe there’s a negative effect, but I do believe that the point will come when it does.
He’s stated his freedom has improved his racing, isn’t it possible though that he keeps pushing outside of work to improve his racing and he pushes too far?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th January 2016, 19:07
Surely whenever he appears in the media over there he’s referred to as ‘Lewis Hamilton, F1 champion’? Merely by going out there he’s doing something to raise the sport’s profile.
Rockie
8th January 2016, 8:36
This baffles me when I hear this, in no way does he promote the sport other than brand Hamilton, how many of this his so called celebrity friends show up to watch F1 races, other than being invited by Bernie?
And Monaco does not count!
Xusen (@xusen)
8th January 2016, 14:12
He is doing more than the people taking all the money out of the sport.
I am guessing the Lewis Hamilton – Formula 1 World Champion <<the bold part.
Johnny_Rye
8th January 2016, 17:47
Besides the 60 minutes interview, he doesnt speak about Formula 1 very much in his travels. Yes, there is usually a intro or name/title on the screen that includes Formula 1 World Champion, but usually it is self promotion rather than trying to boost the sport.
Granted it isnt his job, and im not criticising him but it’s just a personal wish that he’d use his ‘star power’ more is all