Lewis Hamilton seen doing something ‘unusual’ in the Spanish Grand Prix paddock that’s not been seen ‘for a long time’

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton wasn’t keen to hang around in the paddock at the end of the Spanish Grand Prix.

He watched on as Charles Leclerc secured Ferrari’s third Grand Prix podium of the season.

Lewis Hamilton has enjoyed two top-three finishes in 2025, but they’ve both come in Sprint Races which are worth far fewer points.

The Spanish Grand Prix looked like the perfect opportunity for Hamilton to break his podium duck.

He pulled off a brilliant move on George Russell on the opening lap, but his hopes of being the best of the rest behind the two McLaren drivers quickly faded away.

Max Verstappen overtook Lando Norris to open up a significant advantage over his rivals.

Leclerc then had to ask Ferrari on the team radio to tell Hamilton to move as he was impacting his strategy by driving too slowly.

Fans were devastated when they saw Hamilton overtaken by Nico Hulkenberg in the closing stages of the race, even if the Sauber driver was on much fresher tyres.

The seven-time world champion was spotted doing something in the paddock ahead of the race by photographer Kym Illman that he admitted he hadn’t seen for some time.

Hamilton has always had a unique approach to the press in Formula 1 and was keen not to draw too much attention to himself across the race weekend.

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Lewis Hamilton’s ‘unusual’ approach to the paddock at the Spanish Grand Prix

Reflecting on what happened behind the scenes before the race, Illman said: “Today, he [Hamilton] drove his car nearly into the paddock. They opened the big gate, [and] he got out, only a few of the media were at that gate.

“He chatted for some time with some folks out there and then his security guard got an umbrella out to deliberately hide him from the media.

“It’s an unusual thing and we haven’t seen that for a long time. Although, this is what happened on Thursday.

“He stopped, had a look at probably 10 photographers who’d run up there, myself included, and then decided he would go over to the gate that goes into pit lane.”

When Hamilton realised there were still photographers waiting for him, Illman continued and said: “He [Hamilton] then proceeded to pretty much walk behind his security man, phone up to his face and walked past us and on through pit lane and back into the garage.

“I’m not sure what that was all about. As you can see, he was wearing Ferrari kit.

“I understand he’s done a deal with Ferrari that allows him to wear fashion gear a certain number of days a year.”

Illman went on to say that Hamilton not wanting to be photographed doesn’t happen with ‘any other driver,’ however, he admits it must be a ‘grind’ for the seven-time world champion at this stage of his career given how long he’s been the centre of attention in the paddock.

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Lewis Hamilton disagrees with Fred Vasseur over Ferrari’s approach

Hamilton hasn’t reached the heights that he or Ferrari would have hoped this season.

There are many reasons for that and while Leclerc is slowly increasing the gap over his new teammate in the drivers’ championship, he’s only challenged for victory once and that was in Monaco.

In the back of every team’s minds will be the upcoming regulation changes in 2026.

Ferrari haven’t given up on this year’s car yet, but it won’t be long before they turn their attention to next season.

This is where Hamilton and team principal Fred Vasseur don’t appear to see eye to eye on the team’s next steps.

Vasseur and Hamilton don’t agree on where Ferrari’s focus should lie and they need to be realigned soon to avoid any division within their ranks.