Lewis Hamilton would’ve suffered a few sleepless nights at least post Abu Dhabi 2021. Safe to say, what’s ensued in the aftermath of that race, has also tormented the 38-year-old racing ace. But while the 7x champion reels back from these on track setbacks, he seems to have his plate full when it comes to the department of bad luck banging down his door. Driving an F1 car at break neck speeds wouldn’t even make the Brit flinch, but he does share a very real fear with many of us fans, too.

In the past, Hamilton has spoken up when asked about his love for surfing. And naturally, on the eve of the Australian Grand Prix, he would’ve taken the opportunity to ride amongst the waves. But there still is one impediment to Hamilton really enjoying the sport, and Down Under is where Hamilton faced his fear, eye-to-eye.

F1’s official Twitter account shared a video of Hamilton describing Hamilton’s sojourn with a shark whilst out surfing before the race weekend in Australia began. They captioned the tweet, “Whilst other drivers have met the more friendlier Aussie locals… @LewisHamilton nearly met a shark, whilst out surfing!” And just this was enough for F1 fans to take over the social media platform.

Fans react as Lewis Hamilton comes face-to-face with his biggest fear

Hamilton has been quite vocal about his fear of sharks. As soon as this tweet went viral, fans rushed to the social media website to light-heartedly mock the 7x champion. One fan even commented, “Context: Max verstappen is the shark.”

Let’s take a look at just a few of the fan reactions from this tweet describing Hamilton’s scary encounter.

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A few fans even got Max Verstappen entangled in this meme fest about Hamilton.

It was a field day for F1 memers online. As it turns out, Michael Masi was also in attendance at Albert Park. After the events of 2021, they obviously don’t see eye-to-eye pretty often.

Anyway, Hamilton wouldn’t be too miffed with some friendly fan banter, right?

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We hope Hamilton wasn’t too distracted with the shark given he has a big race coming up this Sunday!