Lewis Hamilton’s immense popularity means his security detail often has to be extremely vigilant about protecting the seven-time F1 World Champion.

Hamilton’s time with Mercedes has come to an end after 12 years – the British driver won six Drivers’ Championships during his time with Brackley, with Hamilton and Mercedes becoming the most successful driver/team partnership in the sport’s entire history.

Mercedes’ book reveals a ‘pretty dark’ moment

With Hamilton’s popularity growing to the point where he became intrinsically linked with Formula 1 internationally, the seven-time F1 World Champion is instantly recognisable around the globe.

This has meant Hamilton needs security details to ensure his safety as he gets around, as being out in public unprotected could represent potential hazards to him.

With more than 38 million followers on Instagram and over eight million on X (formerly Twitter), Hamilton is cautious about revealing his whereabouts when not at the racetrack behind the protection of the F1 paddock.

During the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix weekend, however, Hamilton’s security detail was particularly cautious after he’d been given gifts by fans even in the paddock.

In the recently published Inside Mercedes F1: Life In The Fast Lane, written by Matt Whyman, the writer revealed an incident he’d witnessed while accompanying the Mercedes team during his season of research.

During the race weekend at Spa, Whyman wrote that, “Just now, the visiting bodyguard is focused on not dropping any of the gifts in his arms, from good luck charms to drawings, cards and teddy bears.

“They’ve been presented to the driver by fans as he made his way through the paddock.

“Handing in the haul for safekeeping, the guy confirms he’s checked everything for trackers and thrown away the liquids.”

This resulted in Mercedes communications manager Adam McDaid scrambling to get a box for the items, saying ‘That’s pretty dark’, acknowledging the chance – however slim – that Hamilton could be targeted in a moment of opportunism.

“Hamilton’s bodyguard shrugs as if to suggest that he can never be less than constantly vigilant,” Whyman summed up.

More on Lewis Hamilton in F1

👉 Lewis Hamilton car collection: Take a closer look at his incredible private garage

👉 Lewis Hamilton net worth: Where does he rank amongst the world’s 50 highest-paid athletes?

Whyman’s intensive research into the Mercedes team allowed him first-hand access to watch how Hamilton and teammate George Russell interact with the engineers and crews, and he revealed how both drivers shared insight and feedback from driving the car with their engineers.

Describing it as an “endlessly fascinating” process, Whyman told Mirror Sport, “Where George is very prescriptive and very lyrical and describes things in a very accurate way, Lewis is much more emotional about his description of what is going on with the car.

“It is how he feels – is he happy with this, is he not happy with this? It is very interesting listening to the difference between them, yet they both provide this raft of information.

“I remember talking to James Allison, the technical director, and he was saying that they have got thousands of sensors on the car and can get all kinds of data that we want, but the one piece of data that they cannot get is, ‘How does it feel as a human being? What is the feeling?’

“All they want from the drivers, they do not want them to say what is wrong, they just want to know how it is feeling and it is their job to translate that feeling into mechanical and aerodynamic speak.

“Over the course of 18 months, that was an absolute privilege to listen to. It was a joy to be there as a non-engineer.

“To hear that, it is like they are speaking two different languages and they have to try to translate it, to the best of their abilities. It is endlessly fascinating, the detail that they go into.”

Matt Whymans’ Inside Mercedes F1: Life In The Fast Lane is available for purchase now, and offers exclusive behind-the-scenes insight into the daily operations of a World Championship-winning Formula 1 team.

Read Next: Why Sergio Perez deserves to be remembered for more than a poor F1 2024