F1 Champ Lewis Hamilton Faces Backlash For Calling India ‘Poor’

Brit Lewis Hamilton is F1 royalty having already won the championship title and now guaranteeing the constructors championship having just won the Brazilian Grand Prix. Hamilton commands a loyal following throughout the world but it looks like many of his fans in India have taken offense to his latest comments.

Formula One has looked to expand its presence in recent years to gain a bigger global market and reach new audiences. Some of the new countries that have hosted F1 races include India, Singapore, Turkey, South Korea, Azerbaijan, Abu Dhabi, Russia and Bahrain. The experience has been awesome for the fans but not all of the venues have been a success for the F1 brand.

Louis Hamilton was very transparent recently in his views on whether F1 should be expanding into new markets. He prefers for F1 to stick to countries that have a tradition with racing and not jump into new markets that have no history with the sport. India was one of those countries that did not have a great F1 inaugural experience.

In a statement, Hamilton said

I've been to India before to a race which was strange because India was such a poor place yet we had this massive, beautiful grand prix track made in the middle of nowhere. I felt very conflicted when I went to that grand prix

His remarks about India being ‘poor’ did not go down well and Hamilton’s Twitter blew up as hundreds of Indians took offense to his comments and called him out on it. Some of the comments were quite interesting as they pointed out that Hamilton’s countrymen travel in droves to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and make millions from playing in ‘poor’ India.

Some of his fans have also made it known that they would no longer follow the ‘arrogant’ Brit because he failed to understand that ‘poor’ countries like India pumped in significant revenue into the dying F1 racing and helped give it a new lease.

Indians are generally very emotional but also a very learned bunch of people. They questioned Hamilton’s logic for referring to the 5th largest economy in the world as ‘poor’ and pointed out that Britain is ironically no longer in the top 5 economies in the world.