"20 years ago, racing drivers were just about racing"- Lewis Hamilton's passion for fashion shared by Zhou Guanyu

F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia - Practice
Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes and Zhou Guanyu of China and Alfa Romeo F1 talk in the Drivers Press Conference before practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on March 25, 2022 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Lewis Hamilton's love for fashion is admired by Zhou Guanyu, who claims the Briton was the first to bring personalized fashion to the paddock. Hamilton is known to arrive at the paddock in style, turning heads with his own unique sense of dressing.

Guanyu and Hamilton have more in common than just the ability to hurl a car around a track at 300 kmph. Both drivers are self-proclaimed fashionistas and are often the best-dressed drivers on the grid. As per Guanyu, Lewis Hamilton paved the way for drivers to express themselves at race weekends - a culture that did not exist 20 years ago in the sport. The Chinese rookie is more than impressed by the seven-time world champion's actions, both on and off track. He claims that Hamilton's style has helped him express himself better in the F1 paddock.

In an exclusive interview with Crash, Guanyu Zhou spoke about Lewis Hamilton's love for fashion, saying,

“It’s been great in the last few years watching Lewis showing a different style in the paddock. This year I’ve been trying to show the stuff I usually like to wear in the paddock. In the past, maybe 20 years ago, racing drivers were just about racing. We still have our enjoyable personal stuff to do and to be showing that on Thursdays, I think it’s great. Obviously he was the first one to be open in that way and it wasn’t easy. I fully remember the first time he did that. A lot of people were saying ‘why is he wearing that?’ and I was one of the guys who liked his fashion sense."

Lewis Hamilton has no plans of ending partnership with Mercedes

Hamilton's association with Mercedes goes back a long way, with the Briton having won six world championships with the German team. He recently expressed his desire to stay with the team until the very end and has no plans of leaving the Brackley-based team.

Hamilton recently spoke about his future at Mercedes and winning another title, among other things, in a recent interview at Formula 1. He said,

“My goal was always to be with Mercedes. I love that we have the long partnership we have. I feel like we are embarking on a lot of really positive things, not only in the sport, but outside. I think there’s a lot of work, a lot to accomplish together, so I want to be a part of that."

The world champion added,

“I think I’ll always be with Mercedes until the day I die. I feel like I can race for quite a bit longer, so I’ll be potentially steering towards that.”

Despite failing to turn heads in 2022, Lewis Hamilton is always able to extract maximum performance from whatever car he drives. The seven-time world champion will try his best to win his eighth title in 2023 if the team can provide him with a car that can compete at the front.

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