“It’s really remarkable to see people out there who are facing such challenges and are just being brave in the face of them,” Lewis Hamilton told Reuters in an interview ahead of the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix, as he appreciated Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr.’s Socrates Award win. The victory of the soccer player subjected to multiple episodes of racial slurs had made the 7x F1 world champion proud. A year later, Vinicius has given Lewis another victory to be glad about.

Real Madrid withstood a Borussia Dortmund barrage to win the Champions League for the 15th time as Dani Carvajal and Vinicius Junior struck late in a 2-0 win at Wembley on Saturday. Interestingly, Vinicius (23 years and 325 days) is the youngest player to score goals in two Champions League finals. The 23-year-old had also scored against Liverpool in the 2022 final. The Brazilian’s display yesterday drew accolades from all over the world, including the country’s adopted son.

Lewis Hamilton, who on several occasions has appreciated Vinicius’ fight against racism, took to Instagram to acknowledge and celebrate the soccer player’s incredible win. Hamilton reshared a post by Vini on his Instagram story captioned, “GOOD MORNING CHAMPIONS,” where he is holding ‘The Trophy’ after Real Madrid won it for a record-extending 15th time.

While Hamilton usually leaves no stone unturned to praise and have a positive outlook, his recent ‘hot’ outing had him spilling beans over the sorry condition of his current team’s Mercedes machine.

Lewis Hamilton blames Toto Wolff-led Mercedes for his struggles

Lewis Hamilton appeared on a popular YouTube show, ‘Hot Ones’ run by the First We Feast channel and hosted by Sean Evans. The show’s format entails the celebrity guest eating chicken wings with the world’s spiciest hot sauces. Amid that, the guest is also required to answer questions posed by Sean. In this case, specially prepared vegan wings were served to Lewis as he was interviewed.

In the interview, he was asked about the moment he struggled the most with his F1 car. Taking a dig at W15, he answered, “Right now… At the moment (such a conflict) is every second.” However, later, on a serious note, he added, “Probably at the beginning of the race, you know when you’re on heavy fuel. You can’t go 100%, you can’t do qualifying laps every lap so you have to pull back and try to hit the corners a little bit slower to go longer basically.”

Did you watch Lewis’ hot takes in Hot Ones? Name your favorite moment in the comments section below.