On Tuesday, Mercedes‘ Lewis Hamilton posted a cryptic message on his Instagram story. This messaged triggered debate about what he was referring to when he said that he considered “giving up on everything.”

Soon, it was disclosed that the Briton was talking about the global environmental situation. In light of his plea, he urged his 13.1 million followers to turn vegan, though his message also attracted a few detractors.

Some supporters, labelled him a hypocrite for driving petrol cars and jetting around the world for his job. Fortunately, he was on the receiving end of some amount of support, from compatriot and fellow champion, Damon Hill

“Lewis will get no end of flack for this, being a jet stetting F1 star,” Hill tweeted. “We are all hypocritical to greater or lesser degrees. But if people like him don’t speak out then we all carry on in the same vein and don’t even try to change. Its not that bad, eating carrots.”

After posting the message, Hamilton deleted most of it, leaving only the part about giving up.

“Honestly, I feel like giving up on everything. Shut down completely,” he wrote. “Why bother when the world is such a mess and people don’t seem to care. I’m going to take a moment away to gather my thoughts. Thank you to those of you who do give a damn about the world.”

“It’s taken me 32 years to understand the impact I am having on the world and I’m figuring out daily what I can do to play a better part,” he said.“I want my life to mean something and honestly up up until now my life’s had no meaning.Being a part of the issue is not meaningful.”

“Being part of the solution is and I’m striving to do better. I urge you to do some research, find the compassion I know you have within you to recognise what you are contributing to in terms of what you eat which keeps the meat and dairy industry flourishing and therefore, deforestation, animal cruelty, our seas and climate decaying on a daily basis.”