Lewis Hamilton has faced numerous high-speed crashes during his illustrious Formula 1 career. But it wasn’t any of these dramatic moments on the track that made him think ‘it’s all over.’ Instead, it was a surfing accident.
Hamilton’s career is studded with incidents, from being airlifted to hospital after crashing into a barrier at 280 km/h during the 2007 European Grand Prix, to being part of a massive collision at the Belgian Grand Prix, and more recently, a nerve-wracking crash with Max Verstappen in 2021 which saw Verstappen’s car land on Hamilton’s Halo device.
Yet, none of these compared to a single surfing incident in terms of the fear it instilled in him. While catching waves with surfing icon Kelly Slater at Pipeline, known for its complicated breaks over razor-sharp reefs, Hamilton found himself in dire straits.
“The biggest wipeout I had I was with Kelly Slater, on Pipeline,” Hamilton shared on Hot Ones. “It was like 20ft waves and Kelly was like ‘there’s no way you’re coming out there. You’re crazy.'” Ignoring the advice, Hamilton paddled towards the waves.
“As I started to try to paddle in I got sucked into the ‘kill zone’ basically,” he recounted. “So I got sucked in, and I turn around and see this set of four waves coming and that for me was like: ‘it’s over, it’s all over.'”
Hamilton’s account gets even more harrowing: “As I threw my board, I dove down and grabbed the reef and I could hear this wave crash behind me. My board got ripped off and snapped in half. I came back up, obviously gasping for air and the next one was coming so back down, grabbed the reef again as another wave comes over. So I did that three times.”
After nearly drowning, Hamilton managed to swim back. “But after that I was ‘Okay, massive props to these surfers’.”
Interestingly, Hamilton remains an avid surfer. He first took surfing lessons in 2014 in Abu Dhabi and humorously noted the benefit of no sharks at the wave pool: “These waves are amazing, but the best thing is no sharks! No chance of getting my ass bit!”
Despite the scare, Hamilton continues to surf, showing the same resilience and determination that he brings to the racetrack.
Source: Planetf1
