Lewis Hamilton has admitted to messing with the FIA when the governing body tried to ban Formula 1 drivers from wearing jewellery during Grands Prix. F1's new Race Directors, Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas, have taken a no-nonsense approach to the rulebook in 2022, and started to enforce a 2005 rule forbidding drivers from wearing jewellery in the car. For most drivers, this was not a problem, but seven-time World Champion Hamilton has raced with piercings and earrings for many years as the rule was not enforced, with some other drivers wearing wedding rings. The situation came to a head at the Miami Grand Prix in May, where Hamilton appeared in the press conference decked out in as much jewellery as he could wear as a threat of being banned loomed. However, the British driver has now confessed to messing with the governing body when it came to his piercings.
Hamilton admits to 'false' piercing
Hamilton did concede to the FIA, and removed his earrings, but his nose piercing remains firmly in place. He had been granted an exemption of a couple of races to remove it, as it had become stuck in place and required minor surgery if he was to remove it. However, Hamilton has suggested that he never had any intention of removing it and, thanks to a comment in Miami, he also sent the rumour mill into overdrive. "I said, 'I can't remove at least two of them [piercings]. One, I can't really explain where it is,'" Hamilton recalled in an interview with Vanity Fair. " I was just f***ing with it. I don't have any other piercings anywhere. "But I love that there's there this thinking: 'Sh*t, has he got his balls pierced?'
Hamilton believes FIA jewellery ban targeted him
In Miami, Hamilton was given a two-race exemption to the ban the FIA were trying to impose, set to expire in Monaco. However, when F1 rocked up in the Principality, his nose piercing was still in place, with the can kicked further down the road to the British GP, where this new deadline quietly passed. Despite racing on, and with no intention to back down, Hamilton does believe that the FIA's attempt to follow its own rules was unfairly targeting him. "I mean, yeah,” he continued to Vanity Fair. “Because I’m the only one that has jewellery on really. "People love to have power, and to enforce power.”
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