“20 CM Away From 50K Fine”: Lewis Hamilton Narrowly Avoids Crashing Into Red Bull Before the Start of Japanese GP

Credits: IMAGO / Motorsport Images

Right before the start of the Japanese Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton saved himself and his wallet when he narrowly avoided colliding into Sergio Perez‘s RB20 parked on the track. According to a clip, Hamilton was passing the cars, riding his scooter, and this was when he stumbled after hitting a cable on the ground. Had Hamilton fallen on track, he could have easily injured himself and therefore, increased his as well as the team’s jeopardy in Japan. If not on track, but fallen on Perez RB20, a fine was on the way for sure!

Going by the record, Max Verstappen once had to pay a hefty $50,000 fine for touching Hamilton’s Mercedes back in 2021, and one wouldn’t expect the seven-time world champion to get away either.

The video of this incident is now doing rounds on the internet and this led to fans cooking insane stories out of it. Given below are some of the reactions from X (formerly Twitter), and @Stefanie had the most interesting comment who pointed out the fine:

@F1 Mood lauded Hamilton for recovering himself:

@Arham is glad that F1 avoided a Red flag:

@Kenneth Loggins took a jibe here for sure:

Lewis Hamilton and his love for scooter

Lewis Hamilton might drive an F1 car and race around the track at over 200 miles an hour, but keeps an interesting choice for his non-racing hours. The Mercedes star’s unique taste sees him travel around the paddock in his personalized scooter.

Hamilton has been using the ride since 2019 due to his urge to control environmental damage, and this led him to choose the electric-powered scooter over anything else because it’s fast and portable.

While many wonder what scooter the most successful F1 driver on the planet uses, well, it’s one from the Chinese technology giant, Xiaomi. According to reports, the 39-year-old rides the Xiaomi Electric Scooter Pro 2, but not a regular one. Hamilton’s ride is an officially licensed product of the Mercedes AMG F1 team and therefore, sports the same color as that of their challenger.

However, the Briton’s choice came to a standstill after the recent prohibition at the Australian Grand Prix this year, and so was his long-time rival and competitor Fernando Alonso’s. According to the rule by the organizers of the Melbourne race, scooters weren’t allowed inside the venue during the race weekend! So, the duo were far from impressed, to say the least, but couldn’t help either.