When Lewis Hamilton was growing up as a budding F1 driver, he would have never thought how close he can come to his idol, Ayrton Senna. It was during Lewis’s childhood days when Senna hit his stride, becoming the top gun of F1. About 3 decades later, Hamilton has scaled and perhaps surpassed what Ayrton achieved. Likewise, there are some uncanny connections in their F1 experiences as well, especially with fans. Recently, the Mercedes driver revealed some memorable anecdotes about his fans, that resemble a connection with Senna’s days in F1.

In a featured Q&A with Petronas Motorsport, Lewis Hamilton mentioned some of his unforgettable experiences with his fans. He told his teammate George Russell how a fan even gave him a Japanese souvenir gift.

Lewis said, “I have had kisses on my cheek. I have had hugs. A fan gave me a pair of these Japanese Boxer Shorts. They were so tiny. I was like may these are kids’ ones or something. So I thought it would be funny to try on. But I couldn’t get them on.”

Apparently, these experiences have a lot of similar themes to the fan experiences of Ayrton Senna. Back in Ayrton’s days, he once kissed a Japanese TV star on the cheeks during a live interaction, unlike Lewis, who got kissed on the cheeks by fans.

So, it may be the converse scenario, but there is the Japanese and kissing connection between the two champions’ fan interactions. Still, Lewis getting a pair of Japanese boxers is hard to beat.

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Besides these off-track moments, the careers of Hamilton and Senna have not been quite poles apart. In fact, Lewis has got some qualities that possibly make him top Ayrton’s exploits in F1. Be it good moments or bad, there is the odd connection between the Briton and his Brazilian racing hero.

The Odd Connections in the F1 Journey of Lewis Hamilton and Ayrton Senna

Looking at the start of their careers, both Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton started in a roughly similar manner. On one hand, Senna had to work his way through to the top, with initial years at Toleman and Lotus. Meanwhile, Hamilton jumped into a top team right away at McLaren.

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Although, Ayrton Senna’s prime period started and only ended with his demise in 1994 in Imola. Meanwhile, Lewis had a roller coaster until 2013 before hitting that prime at Mercedes.

Still, looking at their top periods, the precision, the race craft, their qualifying pace, and their overtaking maneuvers were absolutely perfect without major hiccups. It was probably Hamilton emulating Ayrton’s steps toward his peaks of F1 success.

But, the emulation somehow also got replicated in his bad moments too. If we put the title deciders of 1989 and 2021 on the same pedestal, the resemblance is unreal. Of course, F1 was completely different 3 decades ago than in 2021. Yet, many would call the controversy, the clashes, and the intensity in the air at Suzuka and Yas Marina in the respective years quite similar.

Hamilton would not have wanted to emulate the moments of Japan 1989 from Senna’s career. It perhaps is his connection with the Brazilian legend that gave him the good as well as the bad moments.

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Eventually, Lewis won’t mind, as even he knows it is a sport of ups and downs. Be it Senna, Schumacher, or him, every world champion has experienced controversial moments at least once. Hamilton would rather smile and cherish the good moments and probably the Boxer shorts as well!