Viraldice: Formula One Driver Lewis Hamilton Has Been Forced to Apologize After Criticizing His Nephew for Wearing a Dress

o you know who Lewis Hamilton is?

If you don't, you should. At age 32, the British Formula One driver is considered the greatest of his generation, if not one of the greatest drivers of all time. He's won the World Championship four times – in 2008, 2014, 2015 and 2017, and has had about 62 wins overall.

Basically, he's Formula One's Tiger Woods.

Did we mention Hamilton is biracial? This is important because Hamilton is the only black Formula One driver. Period. For the first time ever, people of color are actively watching Formula One racing – for him – which means he’s literally changed the game, just like Tiger Woods did when he first burst into the zeitgeist. There’s even a term for it, the “Hamilton effect.”

Hamilton first started racing with McLaren. He was signed to McLaren’s Young Driver Support program in 1998 after he approached McLaren team principal Ron Dennis at an awards ceremony and said “one day I want to be racing your cars.”

Three years later, he was a driver for the Formula One team, breaking records, and almost immediately cementing himself as a role model for young men of color.

As the Guardian explains:

For the first time in its history, motor racing is capturing the attention of the black community, an audience rarely associated with the predominantly white sport. As Hamilton cruises from podium to podium, the 22-year-old rookie driver from Stevenage is being hailed as a new black icon.

Hamilton even earned an MBE, a Member of the Order of the British Empire, one of the highest achievements a British citizen can attain.

The point is, Hamilton is someone people look up to and admire, which is why his actions this Christmas holiday were so spectacularly stupid and offensive.