06/10/2016
NEWS STORY
Sections of the British media has hit out at Lewis Hamilton for showing a lack of respect during today's FIA press conference.
From the outset, the Briton appeared distracted as he played with his mobile phone, first taking pictures of himself and then the other drivers attending including Fernando Alonso, Pascal Wehrlein, Carlos Sainz and Jolyon Palmer. Kimi Raikkonen wasn’t interested.
Asked by a journalist what he was doing, the Briton replied: "Yeah, no, just... it's quite funny, just some snaps of us drivers, it's quite funny. That's about it.
"Hey man," he added, "we've been doing this a long, long time and it's the same each time so got to keep adding new things to it."
Indeed, using Snapchat, Hamilton was changing the voices of his fellow panellists as they spoke and using the app to make them look like rabbits and foxes, while telling his followers: "This s*** is killing me."
Turning his attention to Mercedes communications boss, Bradley Lord, Hamilton posted a picture of him alongside the words... "Bradley - could this interview be any more boring. I wonder if I will have time to go to B&Q on Monday, need a new sofa."
Just a week after leaping to the Briton's defence following his engine failure in Malaysia, and subsequently suggesting that there was a plot against him, the media was quick to turn on the world champion.
"Think the world champion could have ditched the phone and concentrated a little harder for the benefit of the huge Japanese audience," tweeted The Times Kevin Eason in reaction to Hamilton's antics.
"I agree," added The Sun's Ben Hunt, the FIA press conference format is static, but you can't defend this."
Hamilton subsequently took to Twitter himself.
"Today was meant to be fun, not at all disrespectful," he wrote. "Some people take themselves too seriously. I had a blast, highlight of my day! Re press conference, it's been the same for 10 years. It's not the media or mediator, it's the format. Fans should be asking the questions!!"
Check out our Thursday gallery from Suzuka, here.