Wolff: Better for Hamilton to polarise than be boring
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Mercedes Formula 1 chief Toto Wolff says it is better for Lewis Hamilton to polarise opinion than be “down the middle and boring” after debate about the five-time world champion’s Britishness over the Silverstone race weekend.Hamilton was asked on Saturday at the British Grand Prix why his Britishness was sometimes questioned, sparking debate over the matter across sports media as figures such as Rio Ferdinand and Piers Morgan lent their support to Hamilton.Hamilton ended the weekend with an emphatic victory in front of his home crowd for the sixth time to extend his F1 championship lead.Asked about the debate following the race on Sunday, Mercedes F1 boss Wolff said he was happier having a driver like Hamilton who split opinion than one who was less interesting.”I think racing in front of the home crowd at Silverstone, he wants to do well, and that puts an additional tension and intensity into the situation,” Wolff said.”For me, many of the sports stars, they polarise. You will have heard similar comments about Serena Williams yesterday. Half of the people love her and want her to win everything, and the other half cheers for her opponents.”You’d rather polarise than be down the middle and boring, in my opinion.”Hamilton explained the importance of taking victory at his home grand prix after the race, calling it “the greatest single moment for any athlete in the world”.”It’s one of the single most incredible feelings and special moments an athlete can have,” Hamilton said.”I come here and I’ve got this incredible support. They always talk about how much does it lift you up and it’s a huge amount of energy but a lot of weight comes with that, a lot of responsibility. People save up so much money to come to this grand prix. Everybody is buying merchandise and flags and you just want to deliver for them so much.”It’s not only for yourself and your own ability, you know you can do it, but for your team. I’ve got like 40 family members here – from my mum’s side, from my dad’s side, a bunch of them from the Caribbean. So I just really, really wanted to deliver.”And when you achieve something like today and you see all those British flags – I was looking the whole time for a flag, ‘someone give me a flag!’ – because one day I’m going to be able to look back and I’ll have that picture of me in the car with that flag, and I’ll always be able to smile until my dying day.”
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