© Jiri Krenek for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
F1 photographer Kym Illman points out some fans’ hypocrisy after Lewis Hamilton got attacked for ‘allowing’ a female Mercedes press officer to hold an umbrella for him.
F1 photographer Kym Illman recently posted a photo of Lewis Hamilton walking around the paddock, while a Mercedes press officer Charlotte Davies holds an umbrella for him.
In a video on his YouTube channel, Illman noted that one third of comments garnered by this photo have been critical of Lewis for supposedly ‘allowing’ Davies to hold his umbrella.
“Who is holding the umbrella?” Davies asked.
“Well, that’s Charlotte Davies, and her role is press officer at Mercedes, so she has to accompany Lewis to a lot of the media commitments.
“Do you think this is people not liking Lewis, or is that people just don’t like women holding umbrellas for men?”
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Illman then pointed out that press officers and other team personnel accompanying the drivers are paid to do just this sort of work, and he proceeded to show numerous photos of other drivers with press officers and other personnel (mostly female) holding umbrellas for them.
“Now all of these women I’ve featured here are working for the team. It’s their job to accompany the driver.
“They are paid money to do this,” Illman said.
He added that none of these other photos have garnered almost any negative comments, which led him to conclude that Lewis was being targeted because these people don’t like him personally, and not because of anything that was going on in the photo.
Illman then showed a photo in which Lewis, despite the usual protocol, is holding an umbrella for his former physiotherapist and assistant Angela Cullen.
You can watch Illman’s full video below.
