Lewis Hamilton bemused by Chinese grid girl controversy

Lewis Hamilton was bemused by controversy, which arose in China around him spraying a grid girl with champagne during the podium ceremony.

In the days since his victory in Shanghai feminist group Object complained Hamilton had “abused” the grid girl by dousing her with champagne. It labelled his behaviour “selfish and inconsiderate” and demanded an apology from the world champion, despite the fact Hamilton is not the first F1 driver to have sprayed a grid girl or dignitary on a podium before.

When asked about it in Bahrain, Hamilton seemed unfazed by the whole issue.

“I hadn’t really heard too much about it until today,” he said. “Obviously, when you arrive, you get a debrief as to what has happened during the week, so fortunately for me it has not overshadowed my week. Ultimately, it was a great weekend, and generally my actions are through excitement. This is Formula One, the pinnacle of motor sport and I’d just won a grand prix for the team. You should see it was a kind of a fun thing. I would never ever intend to disrespect or try to embarrass someone like that.”

The grid girl in question, Liu Siying, was quoted as saying she was not bothered by the incident in local media since the event.

“It lasted for only one or two seconds, and I did not think too much about it at all,” she is quoted as saying by Shanghai Daily. “I think some foreign media are more sensitive about the topic compared to local media. I was just told by my employer to stand on the podium, and that’s what I did.”

Referring to those quotes, Hamilton added: “I don’t really know the reasons why people have brought those things up. This is a sport so many love, and the more we show character and fun it reflects how great this sport is, and that’s what I try to do. It hasn’t affected me, and it’s nice to know the lady kind of wrote in. If she had wrote in and said she was really upset then perhaps I would be more concerned.”