‘Anything for the agenda’: Journalist faces F1 twitter wrath for ‘clickbait’ tweet about Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen
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Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen at the press conference of the Hungarian Grand Prix (Image through IMAGO / HOCH ZWEI)
Max Verstappen is sitting pretty on the top of the standings, and by the large has dominated proceedings this year. While Ferrari and Charles Leclerc did present a challenge for quite a bit of time, eventually, through their own missteps and through Verstappen and Red Bull’s own excellence, they do not pose any immediate threat now.
Verstappen has won 11 out of the 16 races that have been held yet, and in fact, he’s been so dominant that he could possibly, if not feasibly, wrap up the championship in Singapore, with 5 rounds yet to go. While this would certainly be a disappointment for the fans, it’s not Red Bull’s fault, but rather, the blame should go to the teams who could not keep up with their tight-strung operation.
Lewis Hamilton recognizes as much and stated: “Definitely, I feel for the fans. For everyone and even for us last year, going right down to the wire, was intense for everybody. It’s never great when the season finishes early. Even when I’ve experienced having it finish early in places like Mexico,“ But a journalist transcribed it rather…differently on Twitter, and that earned her the ire of the fans.
F1 fans flame journalist: ‘Not remotely like what [Lewis Hamilton] said’
Formula 1 fans are intensely protective of their favourites, and this is especially the case for Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fans. A journalist transcribed Hamilton’s quote as if he said directly that Verstappen clinching the championship is not great for the sport, but fans were not happy with that, as the Briton was already receiving hate for saying it. But it was taken out of context.
Fans came out in spades to call her out for the error, as the framing of the sentence is quite misleading compared to what he had actually said on the topic. Hamilton acknowledged that it wouldn’t have been great for the fans even when he himself was winning the championships early. For 5 of his 7 championship wins, Hamilton wrapped up the title before the last round.
Fans called the title ‘clickbait’ and misrepresentation in order to attract more attention. Even if that was not the case, that was what the tweet had ended up doing, and for the wrong reasons. The journalist later corrected herself, but it was a bit too late.
There is definitely some truth to Hamilton’s words, and he recognizes that he himself had been in that situation many times in his career. The battle we had been promised for years, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc was supposed to happen this year. But it did not, instead, largely through Ferrari’s own mistakes, Red Bull have dominated this season.
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)