F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Hamilton gets his hands dirty, slams plastic waste

Lewis Hamilton may be on holiday, but the four-time world champion went on a clean-up mission this week, spending a few hours in the rubbish, cleaning up a beautiful cove while denouncing plastic pollution.

The Mercedes driver took off for Greece after the Hungarian Grand Prix, friends in tow, for a well-deserved summer break.

The group settled in at Mykonos but an excursion off the beaten tracks led to the discovery of a cove littered with all sorts of debris, plastic and detritus.

Hamilton posted a video on Instagram highlighting the presence of the rubbish and the impact on the environment of all the plastic bought and thrown away by people.

"I’m in just one of so many beautiful parts of the world today when we stumbled across this mess," he wrote. "We couldn’t stand by, we had to do something…"

The 33-year-old denounced "profit fixated" companies and urged everyone to boycott those who mass produce plastic bottles and polystyrene materials.

"I just wanted you guys to see the impact you're having when you buy plastic and throw it away. This is where it goes. It's disgusting," he said.

"What you end up buying ends up in the damn sea. Think. Think about it. We came here and this was completely covered in plastic bottles.

"We all need to act, we must stop supporting companies that are blindly fixated on their profits at the expense of our beautiful planet!"

While Hamilton received overwhelming support on social media for his action, a few followers also brought up some good points.

"Hey @F1 how about starting with banning disposable plastic water bottles at races including in the driver's room? Install bottle refilling stations instead please. Next: eliminate plastic bags and swag in the promo and souvenirs dept," tweeted @allhankynopanky .

Another took aim at Hamilton's sponsorship ties with companies hardly helping the driver's cause.

"You mean like L’Oréal, Sony or Puma? Maybe when virtue signaling to the rest of the world what we should do, you should do more than criticise the same ones putting money in your own back pocket.

"Care that much? Cut ties. THAT makes a statement, until then hypocritical sycophant!"

Still, until multi-national corporations start seriously addressing the issue, a clean-up is in the works. And Lewis is doing his part. Are you?

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Michael Delaney

Recent Posts

Sebastian Montoya steps up to Formula 2 with Prema

Sebastian Montoya, the 19-year-old son of former Formula 1 star Juan Pablo Montoya, is set…

11 hours ago

Sauber finds its ‘Northern Star’ under Binotto’s leadership

When former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto took on the role of Chief Operating Officer…

12 hours ago

Leclerc hails a season ‘without missed opportunities' in 2024

Charles Leclerc concluded the 2024 F1 season with a sense of satisfaction, the Ferrari driver…

14 hours ago

Coulthard sounds alarm over FIA president’s rift with F1 drivers

Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard has voiced his dismay at FIA president Mohammed Ben…

15 hours ago

The rapid rise and fall of Super Aguri in F1

Super Aguri's application to join Formula 1 became a reality on this day in 2005,…

17 hours ago

Ferrari's 2024 Season: Marked improvement and a fight to the finish

Ferrari roared back into contention in 2024 to deliver their strongest season in years, thanks…

17 hours ago