{"id":84605,"date":"2025-08-22T08:47:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T08:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/84605\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T08:47:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T08:47:05","slug":"lewis-hamilton-brutally-told-he-shouldnt-be-an-f1-driver-motorsport-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/84605\/","title":{"rendered":"Lewis Hamilton brutally told he &#8216;shouldn&#8217;t be an F1 driver&#8217; &#8211; Motorsport &#8211; Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lewis Hamilton&#8217;s &#8216;cool vegan guy&#8217; image has come under fire from seven-time Grand Prix winner Juan Pablo Montoya. The Colombian, who competed in Formula One for Williams and McLaren, argues that a ruthless mentality is what distinguishes the 40-year-old from current world champion <a data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.the-express.com\/latest\/max-verstappen\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Max Verstappen.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Hamilton transitioned to veganism in 2017, embracing a plant-based lifestyle for moral and environmental considerations. <a data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.the-express.com\/sport\/motorsport\/180630\/lewis-hamilton-ferrari-f1-schumacher\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">It comes after Hamilton was slammed for his &#8216;theatrics&#8217; amid his Ferrari struggles.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The <a data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.the-express.com\/latest\/lewis-hamilton\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">British driver<\/a> has been outspoken in urging his devoted followers to reject animal exploitation for entertainment and explore the advantages of vegan living. He even backed a restaurant chain, Neat Burger, alongside Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio, which offered plant-based alternatives to mainstream fast food favorites.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, the company decided to shut down its remaining UK outlets permanently this year. His pet dog, Roscoe, also maintains a vegan diet.<\/p>\n<p>Yet Montoya believes Hamilton&#8217;s plant-based approach reflects the root of his recent performance issues. &#8220;I don&#8217;t get it,&#8221; he told <a data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|Link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/juan-pablo-montoya-interview\/\" target=\"_blank\">CoinPoker.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Hamilton wants to be portrayed as this cool vegan guy who doesn&#8217;t want to hurt any pets or any animals. But that guy shouldn&#8217;t be a racecar driver.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Because the guy that wants to be a successful racing driver is the person that doesn&#8217;t mind crushing people in his head. He does whatever it takes to win. That is what Lewis used to be; that is what Max is.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think from what you hear, he&#8217;s working really, really hard, and he really wants success. That is very good to see, but he&#8217;s probably not getting enough traction within the team to get the changes. It&#8217;s really hard to get traction when the other guy on your team is quicker than you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hamilton finds himself in a challenging position as the post-summer break stretch approaches. The seven-time world champion has been unable to secure a podium finish across his initial 14 race weekends wearing Ferrari colors, and following difficult outings in Belgium and Hungary, his self-assurance seems to have hit rock bottom.<\/p>\n<p>DON&#8217;T MISS&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>The Stevenage native branded his own displays as &#8220;useless&#8221; following qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where he missed out on Q3 for the third consecutive occasion, including sprint shootouts. He even suggested Ferrari should &#8220;change driver&#8221; if they desire improved outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>Verstappen, by contrast, has been squeezing every ounce of performance from his car in 2025, delivering two victories for Red Bull, who currently occupy fourth place in the Constructors&#8217; Championship table.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, the four-time world champion holds just a 15-point advantage over George Russell in the drivers&#8217; standings, and has managed only one podium across his previous seven Grands Prix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lewis Hamilton&#8217;s &#8216;cool vegan guy&#8217; image has come under fire from seven-time Grand Prix winner Juan Pablo Montoya.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[1687,372,6537,832,3006,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-84605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-f1","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-max-verstappen","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}