“Do you feel sorry for someone who earns fifty million dollars a year?” Lewis Hamilton gets slandered over honest and candid mental health admission

“Do you feel sorry for someone who earns fifty million dollars a year?” Lewis Hamilton gets slandered over honest and candid mental health admission

Lewis Hamilton

Formula One is undoubtedly one of the most physically and mentally demanding sports around. The toll which one race weekend takes on a driver’s state of mind is quite intense, and imagine doing that for almost 23 races on the calendar, year in and year out. Mercedes driver and seven-time champion, Lewis Hamilton made a candid admission about his mental health struggles off-late, given the the tragedy that has been unfolding around in the world for the past two years.

The Briton made this announcement on an Instagram story, and revealed that it was hard to stay positive during such testing times. Even Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff came out in public and spoke about his mental health struggles last month. What happened at the Abu Dhabi GP in December would have impacted Lewis Hamilton severely, which was the reason why he switched off from social media.

Former F1 driver, Robert Doornbos showed some sympathy for the seven-time champion, as he believes that the Briton needs time to recharge for every new season. In an interview with Zigo Racecafe, as quoted by GP Blog, Doornbos said: “He wants to be champion every season, has to recharge every season, because everyone focuses on him. Of course that’s just tough. I understand that.”

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I don’t feel sorry for Lewis Hamilton: Arie Luyendyk

Lewis Hamilton in his W13
Lewis Hamilton in his W13

Arie Luyendyk took a rather critical view on Lewis Hamilton’s honest admission. The former believes that Lewis Hamilton has the privilege of driving the best car in F1, and is making about 50 million dollars a year. Hence, the former Indycar driver thinks it should be not be a tough task for Lewis Hamilton, and bluntly stated that he does not feel sorry for the Briton.

“I do not find that tough at all. Do you feel sorry for someone who earns fifty million dollars a year and drives the best car in the series? I don’t feel sorry for that,” said Luyendyk.

Lewis Hamilton has several problems to solve on track, given that Mercedes are lagging behind in terms of their car development, as compared to rivals, Ferrari and Red Bull. In a shocking turn of events, the Briton even failed to make it out of Q1 in Jeddah for the first time since 2017. However, luck has favored Hamilton in the opening two races on the calendar, given that he finished P3 in Bahrain, and P10 in Jeddah.

There is certainly a long way to go in the season, but Mercedes have to get their act together, and give their drivers a car which could compete for consistent podiums.

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