Flying Lewis Hamilton victim of cringe-worthy marketing stunt - On This Day

Formula 1 teams have sponsors. That's nothing new. And that drivers sometimes have sponsorship commitments is nothing special either.

Often those obligations are also perfectly fine for the drivers, for example, a meet-and-greet, fan events, or photo shoots. It keeps the sponsors happy, and makes the team happy.

Then again, there are times when drivers have to go the extra mile. None other than Lewis Hamilton discovered that in 2008.

The now seven-time F1 champion was still a youngster in the sport at the time, although he would dramatically claim his first world title later that year. 

Hamilton was the new face of British motorsports, and his racing stable, McLaren, which at the time was sponsored by Vodafone.

The telecom giant had a "fantastic" idea in which Hamilton would be in the spotlight. This was to be the new face of McLaren.

What? No costume for Hamilton?

This would all take place in Istanbul, prior to the Turkish Grand Prix. Hamilton would make his 'theatrical debut' as part of a marketing stunt by the provider.

On paper, it sounded interesting, taking on the role of none other than the Greek god Apollo, and being part of a performance by the Turkish dance group 'Fire of Anatolia'. The stage even featured a Trojan horse.

In reality, Hamilton's performance was painful. After all, you would think that for something like this, he would at least be fitted with a special Apollo costume.

Nothing was further from the truth as he made his entrance in his racing overalls while floating through the air. Visibly uncomfortable, Hamilton, who had been hoisted up by several cables, made his way toward the stage.

What followed can only be described as a piece of theatre that makes you cringe.

To complete the scene, he waved uncomfortably at the audience one more time, before the cables again lifted him off the ground away from the makeshift 'battlefield', floating away through the light.

Horrible reviews

The 'reviews' of the performance were naturally not kind. Hamilton was criticised by The Times for allegedly undermining his image. After he saw the footage of his remarkable performance, it quickly became clear that he regretted cooperating.

"I thought, 'This is really not okay'," he said. "I just showed up and did what I was told to do. Now that I've seen the footage, it's one of the worst things I've ever seen. At the end of the day, I have a cool image, and things like this don't help with that."

You can imagine that Hamilton would secretly hope there is no further footage of this disaster of a performance.

Unfortunately for him, that footage can still be found on YouTube. So, 18 years after this bizarre marketing stunt, it's definitely worth sharing it again as a reminder that you shouldn't just say "yes" to everything.

View the Apollo-Hamilton footage below!