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Lewis Hamilton says he disagrees with other drivers’ positive comments about F1’s return to Saudi Arabia, but refuses to get into specifics.
Last year, during Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Free Practice 1, a nearby Aramco refinery had been attacked by The Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen. The black smoke from the refinery engulfed the Jeddah Corniche Circuit and Free Practice 2 was delayed by 15 minutes.
Taking this into account, at the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Thursday press conference, Kevin Magnussen, Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll, Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton were all asked to give their opinion on being back in Saudi Arabia.
After all other drivers explained they were happy to be back, and expressed their trust in Formula 1 management to keep everybody safe, Lewis Hamilton expressed a different opinion.
“Not much really to add, all the opposite to everything they said,” the Briton said.
Asked to elaborate on his comment, Lewis said:
“Well, I didn’t elaborate on it, so it’s open to interpretation.”
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Asked if he was happy to be racing is Saudi Arabia this year, Lewis said:
“Like I said, it’s open to interpretation. I’m looking forward to getting in the car, for sure.”
Lewis was then asked if he meant that he was happy to get into a car that will take him to the airport.
“No, no,” the Briton answered.
“I’m looking forward to driving the car here. The track is pretty awesome. And I’m looking forward to the challenge of trying to figure out whether or not we are closer this weekend or whether we are further behind.
“So that part of my job I’m excited about.”
A journalist then tried to get more out of Lewis by asking him if he was having issues with “the political side of things” or “the safety side of things”?
“That’s something I don’t want to get into either,” he answered.
“So hopefully everyone has a safe weekend and hopefully everyone gets home safe afterwards. That’s as much as we can do, right?”
The journalists didn’t stop there, so Lewis was asked if after last year he ever thought about not racing in Saudi Arabia again.
“Well, the thing is, if I’m not here, Formula 1 will continue without me,” Lewis answered.
“So what I try to do is just try to learn as much as I can. When I’m going to these different places, I still feel that as a sport go into places with human rights issues, such as this one, I feel that the sport is duty bound to raise awareness and try to leave a positive impact, and I feel like it needs to do more.
“What that is, I don’t have all the answers, but I think we always need to try and do more to raise awareness for things that the people are struggling with,” he concluded.
