Embracing his own ‘Call of Duty’
F1 STAR LEWIS HAMILTON
AUSTIN — Each winter, threetime Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton spends time skiing with a group of his friends near his house in Aspen, Colo., then returns to the home’s theatre room for a four-hour session of “Call of Duty,” the wildly popular video game. It’s a tradition he’s embraced for as long as the video game has been in production.
So when producers of the game recently invited him to appear in the game, he didn’t hesitate.
“I was like, ‘Absolutely!’” Hamilton said. “It’s actually the only game I play.”
It’s just the kind of life Hamilton, 31, leads these days — a mix of celebrity, sports and non-stop adventure.
Hamilton spoke to USA Today on the eve of the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, where he snatched his third world championship last year. The event begins Friday with qualifying rounds and culminates Sunday with the race.
He was in Austin early promoting a newly-announced partnership between Epson and the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 team for which Hamilton races.
In a wide-ranging interview, Hamilton shared his thoughts on video games, making F1 more popular in the U.S., chasing Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg for the individual championship this year, and using his massive social media following to help others.
Hamilton, who has been driving for corporate teams since he was 13, roared Into the Formula One racing scene in 2007, breaking numerous records and narrowly finishing second in the individual championship. The next year, he won his first championship at 23, becoming the then-youngest Formula One world champion in history and the first black driver to ever win a championship. (Hamilton’s mother is white and his father is black.)
He’s since won two more titles, the last one coming last year after a dramatic win at the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin.
But it’s Hamilton’s off-track life that has made him a household brand.
His on-again, off-again relationship with Nicole Scherzinger, lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, ended last year, but he’s since been spotted with Kendall Jenner in Cannes and Monaco and Rihanna in Barbados during Carnival.
Forbes ranked him 49th of its 100 top-earning celebrities this year at $46 million (tied with actress Jennifer Lawrence), and he has more than 11 million followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram combined.
“There has never been a Formula One driver who has taken F1 places like this,” said Jon Noble, F1 editor at Motorsport.com. “Half the (racing) world loves it. Half the world doesn’t like it and thinks he should be focused on driving.”
He added: “On the track, there’s no question he’s one of the best F1 has ever seen.”
This year, however, has been a bumpy one for Hamilton. Some bad starts and mechanical failures have cost him valuable points and a potential shot at a fourth championship. Rosberg currently leads Hamilton by 33 points with four races to go. Hamilton has never lost the world championship to a teammate.
When he’s on the track, he’s focused on the other drivers and the clock, not Rosberg, Hamilton said. “There are 21 other drivers I’m racing against,” he said.
A major goal of Formula One has been to draw more U.S. fans. But with just the one U.S. F1 race each year in Austin, it’ll be hard to generate interest in the sport, he said. Hamilton said he’s bemused when he goes out to dinner in U.S. cities and meets people who don’t know who he is or have never heard of F1, given the sports massive popularity around the globe.
One way to capture more interest: street races through U.S. cities. “They got beautiful cities here where they can have street races,” Hamilton said. Races in places like Los Angeles or New York City “would engage with people that perhaps don’t know about it.”
Hamilton’s not just about racing and video games. Wedged between Facebook posts of his fashion shoots and car photos is a post urging followers to click on a UNICEF link to help victims of hurricane Matthew in Haiti and other Caribbean nations battered by the storm. Images of families torn apart by the storm were heartbreaking, he said.
“You think about those families, it always puts things into perspective,” he said. “If I lost a member of my family through something like that, it would just be devastating.”
He added: “I’m in a really fortunate position. I have access to millions of people by a click of a thumb. For me to ignore that and not utilize that would just be selfish.”