zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Racing
/
Lewis Hamilton's Champagne Spray Sparks Dumb International Outrage
Lewis Hamilton's Champagne Spray Sparks Dumb International Outrage-October 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:11:43

The latest calls for Lewis Hamilton to be banned from China over spraying a Formula One grid girl just serve as more proof that you should never, ever listen to anything printed in the . Out of the billions of social issues to raise about the Chinese Grand Prix, Hammy's champagne simply isn't one.

Images of Hamilton spraying a grid girl have made their way through the dumbest depths of social media, where people who don't understand the context are now calling for Hamilton to apologize to the lady at the least, or to be banned from China altogether at the worst. reports that images from the podium celebration have been "angrily pored over by outraged Chinese," who are calling for his head on like-Twitter-but-with-more-Chinese-Big-Brother services like Weibo.

The Daily Mail's so-called international incident is just as ridiculous. It leads off with a bunch of sensationalized close-ups of Hamilton spraying the grid girl with champagne who doesn't appear to enjoy getting wet. It then goes on to show Lewis spraying another grid girl at another race and spraying Nico Rosberg with ridiculous captions that make it seem as if spraying champagne is a thing done out of malice and domination, not the "WOOOOOO HOLY CRAP I JUST WON A GRAND PRIX" that it is.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Daily Fail tossed this article to someone who's never seen a motor race in their life, because they clearly don't understand the point of the whole "spray everyone and everything with champagne" part of the podium celebration. That is the point. You spray everyone and everything with champagne, because you just won a Formula One race. You, Person Standing On This Podium, have done something that only a handful of people in that field, much less the world, are capable of doing. Go nuts.

People spray champagne even at the smallest motor races. WOO I JUST WON A THING! is a valid human emotion worthy of blasting everyone within cork-shot with bubbly. Shake it up and have at it like they're Super Soakers. Did no one at the Daily Mail ever own one of those, either?

No, instead, they gave voice to a group galled Object, a campaign against media sexism and what the Daily Mail quotes as "sex object culture." Object chief executive Roz Hardie explained the group's objection to the spraying to the as such:

If this if the case we think Lewis Hamilton should apologise for his actions and think carefully about how he behaves in the future. For most people, it would be apparent that she is not enjoying it.

It is surely a very difficult position to be a grid girl and she would have had little option but to stand there and take it. That is something of which he should be aware. But instead, he appears to have abused her position.

It's unfortunate that a great victory has been marred by what appears to be selfish and inconsiderate behaviour.

So, there's missing the point, and then there's being so far off the point that you've hit Pluto.

Lewis was a bit of a selfish buttock after the Chinese Grand Prix, but that was all in . Admittedly, I was a bit harsh when I called him out over his post-race comments regarding teammate Nico Rosberg because he was closer to the mark Mercedes asked him to hit on lap times than the television broadcast made it seem. However, his me-me-me-first attitude won't fly if Mercedes wants to maximize their shot at a constructors' championship, and even Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff is now saying that he may have to make an "unpopular call" to protect that. Wolff explained to :

It is not just the two guys out there but about a thousand people working on these cars. If it ever comes to a point of interfering between the two of them because we risk to lose a race win, we would do that. We do not have the gap any more from last year where we can just let them push each [other] until the very end. We need to manage the gaps between the two of them.

It could have come to a point on Sunday where we could have been very firm on the radio saying this is what needs to be done in order not to risk the race result. It could come to a situation where we risk losing the win to a Ferrari when we might have to do an unpopular call and manage them more.

The message to Hamilton and Rosberg there is clear: drop the attitudes with each other or we'll "manage" this situation more. Wolff was careful not to mention team orders, but the threat of heavier-handed team management is real, particularly if a Ferrari is on their tail. Mercedes' job is to get both cars to finish as high as possible in a race, and neither driver can be so focused on their own race that they take an unnecessary risk or fail to finish.

Hamilton wasn't selfish at all when it came to spraying that champagne, though. That was the least selfish part of this entire grand prix. Dude was happy. Let him enjoy it. Let's examine exactly how willing to share Mister Hamilton was up on that podium, shall we?

Spraying rival Sebastian Vettel!

Spraying teammate Nico Rosberg, who appears to be trying to catch champagne spray in his mouth!

Getting sprayed and making "ack! cold liquid!" faces of his own!

Spraying the crowd!

Given that Formula One is admittedly a bit of a sausagefest, you can safely estimate at least 80% of the people he's spraying aren't even female, which makes this allegation of sexism on behalf of a spray-happy Hamilton even more ludicrous. The has an even more extensive gallery that shows podium celebrations doing what podium celebrations do: get people wet.

As for Object, Hardie at least gets a little closer to the point when she attempts to connect her beef with Hamilton with the larger problem at hand.

"Motor racing appears to unnecessarily portray women as sexualised objects and that probably makes it even harder for the women to stand up for themselves," explained Hardie to the . "We would hope people in the industry would be respectful to these women."

There you go. If you're looking for sexism at this podium celebration, how about the fact that women are used as decoration for the stand in the first place?

That's the practice that's worthy of criticism here. Hamilton's an equal-opportunity sprayer, and not sexist in the least bit. What's sexist is the practice that for being unnecessary, outdated and dumb.

Don't expect to see scantily clad women standing next to the cars at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this…

As far as any bans from China are concerned, I'm absolutely fine with the whole Formula One show not going there again, given China's and . Sure, Shanghai International Circuit is one of the more interesting Tilkedromes, but China as a whole desperately needs to get its own house in order before anyone complains about the "" on social media.

Why do we go to China instead of Germany this year, again? Honest question. There's the other very real, and very bad Formula One social issue that you should be in arms about, folks: the brutal-authoritarian-regime-filled schedule. Why are we lining the pockets of dictators instead of going places where we actually want to see Formula One race?

Accusing Lewis Hamilton of being sexist in any way, shape, or form over champagne spray is missing the point.

found where the woman in the picture discussed the "incident" , where she told Shanghai Daily that she "didn't think too much" about being sprayed by champagne and wasn't really offended by the spray at all.

Contact the author at .

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Racing
You've Probably Never Heard Of The Coolest Canadian Car Ever Built
You've Probably Never Heard Of The Coolest Canadian Car Ever Built
Name a car from the early 1960s built by a famed racing driver with curvy, lightweight aluminum bodywork, a big American engine, and a reputation for being unruly and fast as all hell. Your first thought was probably the famed Shelby Cobra, did you know there was a who...
Oct 22, 2024
Listen To In-Car Audio From Race Cars While You Work
Listen To In-Car Audio From Race Cars While You Work
If you follow racing in the U.S., you probably already know about the . Most of the episodes are too much of a distraction to put on as background noise while you work, but a couple of recent entries in his series have been working incredibly well for me....
Oct 22, 2024
Get Ready To Spend All Your Money On Retro Formula 1 Merch
Get Ready To Spend All Your Money On Retro Formula 1 Merch
Fellow nerds, get ready to open your wallets, because I’ve found what may be the greatest store of all time. With designs from Formula 1 teams like , you’re sure to find something that fits your particular nostalgic niche. I’d like to introduce you to Racing Retro. I first...
Oct 22, 2024
Race Team Would Rather Create A Fake AI Woman Rather Than Hire A Real One
Race Team Would Rather Create A Fake AI Woman Rather Than Hire A Real One
In another unsurprising example of motorsport’s inhospitable mindset toward hiring competent women, the Racing team has announced a new partnership with Ava Rose, a literal , who will... engage with fans? Share knowledge about technology? “Navigate the cutting edge of innovation to create positive change” (whatever that means)? I...
Oct 22, 2024
Local Businesses Want Compensation After Allegedly Losing Money During Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix
Local Businesses Want Compensation After Allegedly Losing Money During Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix
If you listen to Formula 1 or local officials from Las Vegas and Clark County, you’d probably think November’s inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix was a success. Some sources estimated that the city of Las Vegas made over $1 billion in revenue from the event — but there were...
Oct 22, 2024
After Delivering 8 Seasons At The Back Of The Grid, Haas F1 Team Dumps Guenther Steiner
After Delivering 8 Seasons At The Back Of The Grid, Haas F1 Team Dumps Guenther Steiner
The partially North Carolina-based squad has determined that after , it needs to mix things up a little. The team’s firebrand has been following an abysmal 2023 season which saw the team score just four points-paying finishes. The team’s , where scored a fourth-place finish, but that season too...
Oct 22, 2024
Copyright 2023-2024 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved