“The amount of critics and people I’ve heard
yapping along the way just clearly not understanding…”
Europe’s Grand Slam, the MEO Rip Curl Pro
Portugal, did not run yesterday, not that anyone would have
watched. The event, which began in Autumn 2023, has been neither
good nor fun. Surf fans, thus, have found other adjacencies by
which to be entertained. In the United States of America, March
Madness is entering its first weekend. In Great Britain, the
teenage dart phenomenon Luke Littler too down Michael Van Gerwen in
a “180-crazy Cardiff
thriller.”
And over in China, Lewis Hamilton absolutely crushed the 19-lap
sprint in a lights-to-flag victory. It was the Great Britain’s
first ever sprint win but, more notably, also his first behind the
wheel of a shiny new Ferrari.
Hamilton used to race for Mercedes, of course, and shocked the
world when he traded German engineering for Italian chaos. While
the Australian premier did not go well, the Chinese win gave the
diminutive racer a good opportunity to say “see-I-told-you-so. “The
first race was difficult and obviously,” the 40-year-old declared.
“I think I really do feel a lot of people underestimated the steep
climb it is to get into a new team, to become acclimatized within
the team and understanding communication and all sorts of things.
The amount of critics and people I’ve heard yapping along the way
just clearly not understanding, maybe they’ve never had the
experience or just unaware, so it’s felt great to come here and
feel comfortable in the car, because in Melbourne I didn’t feel
comfortable in the car.”
Important to surf fans is the very close relationship between
Hamilton and the 11x world surf champion Kelly Slater. “He probably
doesn’t know this but Kelly changed my life for the better,”
Hamilton wrote after a Surf Ranch session, continuing, “I want you
all to know how great of a human being this man is. I am forever
grateful for the time you have given me, for the insight and your
passion for the waves. Thank you @kellyslater! Can’t wait until we
can hit the waves again.”
Unfortunately, Kelly Slater once almost had
him killed, Hamilton sharing, “Biggest wipeout I had I
was with Kelly Slater, on Pipeline. It was like 20ft waves (at
Pipeline) and Kelly was like ‘there’s no way you’re coming out
there. You’re crazy.’ I turn around and see this set of four waves
coming and that for me was like: “it’s over, it’s all over.’ As I
threw my board, I dove down and grabbed the reef and I could hear
this wave crash behind me. My board got ripped and snapped in half.
I came back up, obviously gasping for air and the next one was
coming so back down, grabbed the reef again as another wave comes
over. So I did that three times. I got up, I’d nearly run out of
air. I’d nearly drowned, but managed to swim back from there.”
20-foot Pipe.
Yikes.
The Chinese Grand Prix is on tonight, midnight, California time.
Hamilton 5th on the grid.
