Unbothered Lewis Hamilton Once Cashed In on P Diddy’s Friendship to Sneak Out of Infamous F1 Scandal

Ever since his arrival in F1, Lewis Hamilton took the world of motorsport by storm. It took him no time to adjust to the intensity of the sport and that showed in the results. However, his rookie season was marred by one of the biggest scandals F1 has gone through, infamously called the “Spygate”. However, the then-McLaren man wasn’t too bothered as he was busy partying with American rapper P. Diddy.

Ferrari and McLaren found themselves in murky waters as the controversy of industrial espionage rocked F1. McLaren was found in possession of Ferrari’s documentation that included their design secrets. As per Motorsport.com, the secrets were believed to be worth a total of approximately 800 pages.

Lewis Hamilton denied being aware of the scandalous developments at his team

The Prancing Horse management immediately suspended its chief mechanic Nigel Stepney. They also took legal action against McLaren’s design chief Mike Coughlan. The FIA in its investigation found McLaren in possession of the documents. However, they couldn’t find any evidence of the Woking-based team using them in their designs.

Their rookie driver Hamilton, who was leading the drivers’ points tally then, wasn’t much aware of the situation, though. Speaking ahead of the British GP, Lewis Hamilton said, “I haven’t heard much about it.”

“I looked on the internet when I had half an hour at home and I asked Ron [Dennis, the team’s chief executive] about it,” he continued. “But I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had time to think about it, and it doesn’t impact on my job. At the end of the day, I’ve got to come here and race the car and try to win.”

“I got a call to say that P. Diddy had invited me to a special dinner,” he further added. “When I got there they were waiting for me and I sat down next to P. Diddy. Out of all his guests, I was sitting next to him.”

Read More: Veteran Lewis Hamilton Schools Max Verstappen About the Bitter Truth of F1 While Firing a Subtle Warning

Finally, in its verdict, the ruling body disqualified McLaren from the constructors’ championship and imposed a heavy fine of $100 million.

The rivalry between Hamilton and Fernando Alonso did not go down well for either of them

While the team was barred from the championship run, their drivers Hamilton and Alonso weren’t. However, the duo, instead of prioritizing the fight against rivals, fought each other. Resultantly, they both finished the season with the same number of points and missed out on the championship by just one point.

While the championship battle was still on, both Lewis and Fernando did whatever they could to pip each other. Alonso resorted to a bizarre strategy to get the McLaren garage on his side. Speaking on the Pitstop podcast in September, former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley revealed, “one of Fernando’s tactics is to try and bring the whole team to his side of the garage.”

He continued, “and Fernando’s manager or his trainer, he’s handing out little brown envelopes, stuffed with cash, to everybody who wasn’t on Lewis’ car.”

Watch This Story: Biggest Scandals in F1 History

To this day, the 2007 scandal remains one of the darkest stains in F1’s history. The fact that Lewis wasn’t too worried about it back then seems a little too casual.