Lewis Hamilton has told England football fans not to sing ‘It’s Coming Home’ until the Three Lions have actually won the World Cup. His request to supporters of Thomas Tuchel’s side came on the opening day of the tournament in North America and after the Formula 1 legend admitted he is also supporting another country this summer.
Hamilton said: “For me, it’s tied with England. Honestly, Brazil has always been my favourite team. Growing up in England, I used to love watching Brazil play. I think it’s the colours, the culture, and the players always just looked the most skilled, they were so cool. I just appreciate where they come from. Many of the players come from the streets where they play with no shoes and there’s something quite special about Brazilian culture.”
Naturally, his words sparked plenty of reaction back home. But, speaking on media day ahead of this weekend’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, hours before the World Cup was due to get under way with co-hosts Mexico taking on South Africa, Hamilton doubled down on his support of the South American giants.
Asked for his World Cup predictions, he said: “I don’t have a prediction. I don’t follow it that much, that close to be honest. I will tune in every now and then. I will always keep a close eye on what England is doing. I just hope they don’t sing ‘It’s Coming Home’ too early, because that’s what we normally do. Sing it once we’ve got it, not before. It’s a great song, but I’m looking forward to seeing the guys in yellow in Brazil. I love watching Brazil.”
Hamilton has finished second in each of his last two Grands Prix and seems to have finally found some rhythm for the first time since joining Ferrari. He seems well-placed to pick up his first win for the Scuderia soon, but admits that likely won’t happen unless Mercedes have a bad weekend, or his team can make significant performance gains on the Silver Arrows.
And for Hamilton, the latter would be preferable. He said: “I hope that we can be there for a scenario like that, but I think we exist to win and I don’t think we exist to win by default from someone else. We exist to win through pure performance and earning it and that’s what we’re working towards.
“With a car it’s very complex, it’s not one thing that changes everything, it’s a combination of many things, moving parts coming together and working together in synergy and I think we are finally in a place where we’re working really well as a team collectively.
“Every single person in this team has something to bring to the table and my goal when I arrived was to try to encourage everyone to try to push to elevate. We all can always elevate and be better, including myself. I’ve arrived this year with a much better mentality, fitter and a much better approach. A combination of all those things.”