Lewis Hamilton's Emotional Reaction as Arsenal Ends Title Drought
On a grey Montreal afternoon, with the St Lawrence River breeze cutting across the paddock, the talk in Formula 1 drifted away from tyre compounds and strategy sheets to something far more emotional: football, and Arsenal’s long-awaited Premier League crown.
Lewis Hamilton, now in Ferrari red but still very much Arsenal through and through, admitted the moment got to him when the title was finally confirmed on Tuesday night.
“I shed a tear, to be honest,” he said, the words landing with the weight of 22 years of frustration released in North London.
City’s 1-1 draw with Bournemouth had done the maths for Arsenal, ending a wait that stretched back to the Invincibles. For Hamilton, it pulled him straight out of the paddock and back to a street corner in Stevenage.
“I remember being five years old, playing football around the corner in Stevenage. I was the only Black kid in the area, and everyone supported West Ham, Tottenham, or Manchester United,” he recalled.
The allegiance that now feels so natural came from a family nudge.
“She gave me a little dig in the arm and said, ‘You have to support Arsenal.’ We had a laugh about that the other day,” he said of his sister, the one who set his colours in stone.
From Stevenage kickabouts to a seven-time world champion still emotionally hit by a club’s title win, it was a reminder of how deep football runs in this paddock.
Gasly flies the PSG flag
Not everyone in Montreal was toasting Arsenal.
Sitting a few garages down, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly quickly planted his own flag in the ground, and it is very much Parisian.
“I’m glad we started talking about real stuff,” he joked, leaning into the rivalry as he declared himself a proud Paris St Germain fan with a Champions League showdown against Arsenal looming next week.
PSG arrive at that tie as serial domestic winners again, fresh from sealing a fifth successive Ligue 1 title with a 2-0 victory away to Lens. Gasly expects the European clash to live up to the billing.
He called it a “fantastic game of football” in the making and left no doubt about which way he will lean. “I’ll obviously be rooting for PSG, and hopefully they can bring in a second Champions League,” he said, ambition for his club matching the one he carries in the cockpit.
Perez plotting a World Cup dash
Farther along the pitlane, football talk turned from club loyalties to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Cadillac’s Sergio Perez has his eyes on a different calendar date entirely: the World Cup on home soil, and specifically the games in his native Guadalajara.
The Mexican is prepared to tear up his mid-season schedule to be there.
“I literally have to come just for the game and then go back to Europe. We will make it happen,” he said, as if arranging a quick trip across town rather than an intercontinental dash between grands prix.
For Perez, the chance to watch Mexico at a World Cup hosted in his own country is non-negotiable.
“It’s a World Cup at home. Anything can happen,” he added, hopeful but realistic about his nation’s prospects, clinging to the chaos and possibility that define the tournament.
Antonelli torn with Italy absent
At the sharp end of the championship, Kimi Antonelli leads the drivers’ standings, yet when it comes to the World Cup, the Italian finds himself without a natural team to follow.
Italy’s absence leaves a hole he is still trying to fill.
Championship leader he may be, but in football terms he is a neutral with a soft spot or two. “I do really like Brazil, for example, the way they play the game,” the Mercedes driver said, drawn to the swagger and rhythm of the Seleção.
There is also a familiar global icon pulling at his loyalties.
“But again, I’m also cheering for Messi, one of my favourite players when I was little, and also I got to meet him in Miami,” Antonelli added, the childhood admiration still very much alive after a face-to-face meeting.
“Italy is not in it, unfortunately. So we’re going to wait another four years, maybe,” he said. “It’s a disaster, but it’s okay.”
From Hamilton’s tear for Arsenal to Gasly’s Parisian pride, from Perez’s planned dash to Guadalajara to Antonelli’s search for a surrogate nation, the Canadian Grand Prix weekend is already carrying the pulse of another game entirely — one that will keep tugging at these drivers long after the chequered flag falls in Montreal.
