Lewis Hamilton Named Honorary Citizen of Brazil

British F1 driver Lewis Hamilton waves at the audience after being awarded the Honorary Brazilian Citizenship, during a ceremony at the National Congress, in Brasilia on 7 November 2022. (Photo by EVARISTO SA / AFP)
British F1 driver Lewis Hamilton waves at the audience after being awarded the Honorary Brazilian Citizenship, during a ceremony at the National Congress, in Brasilia on 7 November 2022. (Photo by EVARISTO SA / AFP)
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Lewis Hamilton Named Honorary Citizen of Brazil

British F1 driver Lewis Hamilton waves at the audience after being awarded the Honorary Brazilian Citizenship, during a ceremony at the National Congress, in Brasilia on 7 November 2022. (Photo by EVARISTO SA / AFP)
British F1 driver Lewis Hamilton waves at the audience after being awarded the Honorary Brazilian Citizenship, during a ceremony at the National Congress, in Brasilia on 7 November 2022. (Photo by EVARISTO SA / AFP)

Brazil named Formula One superstar Lewis Hamilton an honorary citizen Monday, feting the British seven-time champion with a ceremony in Congress.

Hamilton, 37, has a close relationship with Brazil, home of his boyhood idol, the late champion Ayrton Senna, and scene of his first Formula One title in 2008.

Wearing an electric-blue suit, Hamilton received a certificate and a medal in the green and yellow of the Brazilian flag from the speaker of the lower house of Congress, Arthur Lira.

"Seven-time F1 world champion Hamilton, British by birth but Brazilian at heart," Lira said to loud cheers.

Hamilton, who said he was honored, spoke emotionally of Senna, a three-time F1 champion (1988, 1990, 1991) who died in an accident at the San Marino Gran Prix in 1994.

"I really want to dedicate this honor to Ayrton Senna," AFP quoted the Mercedes driver as saying.

"When I was five years old I saw Ayrton race for the first time, and that was the moment I knew I wanted to be a world champion like him."

Hamilton, who has called Brazil a second home, has won the Sao Paulo Grand Prix three times (2016, 2018, 2021).

But his greatest memory there is perhaps from 2008, when he passed Germany's Timo Glock on the last corner of the last lap to finish fifth and pip Brazil's own Felipe Massa for the driver's title.

The dramatic finish made Hamilton the youngest F1 champ in history and first black driver to win the title.



Piastri Confident McLaren Will Stay Strong All Year

Formula One F1 - Bahrain Grand Prix - Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain - April 10, 2025 McLaren's Oscar Piastri ahead of the race REUTERS/Rula Rouhana
Formula One F1 - Bahrain Grand Prix - Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain - April 10, 2025 McLaren's Oscar Piastri ahead of the race REUTERS/Rula Rouhana
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Piastri Confident McLaren Will Stay Strong All Year

Formula One F1 - Bahrain Grand Prix - Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain - April 10, 2025 McLaren's Oscar Piastri ahead of the race REUTERS/Rula Rouhana
Formula One F1 - Bahrain Grand Prix - Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain - April 10, 2025 McLaren's Oscar Piastri ahead of the race REUTERS/Rula Rouhana

Oscar Piastri has dismissed talk of McLaren being slowed by a rule change in June and says he expects the champions to stay strong all season.
The FIA, Formula One's governing body, will introduce more stringent front wing load tests from the Spanish Grand Prix on June 1 to reduce the permitted level of flex after already addressing rear wings, Reuters reported.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said in Japan last weekend that the change would be significant and there was "an unknown" as to who would be affected.
"We have a big regulation change coming at race nine. You know, how is that going to affect the run of play?" the Briton told Sky Sports television.
Piastri doubted it would make much difference to McLaren, who lead both championships with Lando Norris a point clear of Red Bull's four-times world champion Max Verstappen, the winner at Suzuka last Sunday.
"I'm pretty confident we’ll be strong all year," the Australian told reporters ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, round four of the championship.
"I don’t think it’ll change too much. I’ve not spoken to the team about it massively, in all honesty, which probably tells you enough about that.
"Let’s see when we get to Spain, but we’ve still got a lot of races until then and I think we’ll be a strong team all year round."
Piastri, winner in China after Norris won the Australian opener, said he would rather be driving his car than a Red Bull.
While Verstappen has shown it can be a winner, he is already on his second teammate of the season after Liam Lawson was demoted back to Racing Bulls with Yuki Tsunoda going in the opposite direction.
"Clearly the car looks pretty difficult. We’ve seen that with Liam. We saw it with Checo (Sergio Perez) last year, even with Yuki in Japan," said Piastri.
"I think going into an environment that has been so focused on the way Max drives for nearly 10 years now -- it would be a very tough environment to go into and have immediate success.
"I’m quite happy that I’m driving a McLaren and not a Red Bull at the moment."
Piastri said the McLaren was a tricky car to extract maximum performance from but a lot of the ideas and philosophies were similar to last year.
"If I had to pick out of all 10 cars on the grid right now, I'd still pretty happily be choosing ours," he said.