Categories: Picture of the dayRace and classic pictures

Has Lewis found his new team mate?

40

Lewis Hamilton was in Canada on Monday night watching the NBA game featuring the LA Lakers competing against the Toronto Raptors.

The Raptors' mascot is clearly doing some schmoozing with the three-time world champion, but we're not altogether sure that it would be able to squeeze into the cockpit of a Formula One race car any time soon so it seems that Nico Rosberg's place in the Mercedes team is safe for a while longer yet.

Monday's game is expected to be the last professional outing for NBA legend Kobe Bryant in Canada, and Hamilton was pleased to have had another chance to see Bryant in action before he retires from the sport.

"What he has achieved in his career is absolutely phenomenal," Hamilton told Sportsnet after the game. "I’m from London, but I’m a huge fan of the NBA, so I’ve been watching it for a long, long time. To watch his career success and to watch him in his final year is a real privilege."

Hamilton arrived in Toronto aboard his £20m blood-red Bombardier CL-600, and posted some snaps on Instagram of himself standing on the wing of the private jet before driving to the Air Canada Center for the game - which saw the Lakers lose 102-93 to the home side despite all of Bryant's best efforts.

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.