"Lewis Hamilton baby": Martin Brundle's F1 Las Vegas GP features hilarious Shaquille O'Neal segment
NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal hilariously declared that he was supporting Lewis Hamilton ahead of the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix while clicking pictures with the Red Bull crew.
In his famous pre-race grid walk, F1 pundit Martin Brundle tries to get celebrities and guests on the grid to talk to him before the race. In Las Vegas, Brundle was pretty keen to get a few words from O'Neal and ask him about his prediction for the race ahead.
The former F1 driver tried hard to get a word with O'Neal, who was busy interacting with members of the Red Bull team. When Brundle finally got the chance to interview the four-time NBA champion, O'Neal hilariously gave a minimalistic response before walking away. He said:
"Lewis Hamilton Baby."
Lewis Hamilton analyzes the inaugural Las Vegas GP
It wasn't the best of weekends for the seven-time world champion as he found himself battling amongst the midfield for points throughout the entire Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday night, 19 November.
Starting from P10, Lewis Hamilton had a rough start to the race as he lost position on the first lap and had a puncture in the middle of the race while overtaking McLaren's Oscar Piastri. He managed to finish in P7 ahead of his teammate George Russell and reflected via F1.com:
“It was a really challenging race. I started on the hard tire, which was tricky in the beginning. I had a big hit from Sainz into Turn 1 and was then trying not to hit other cars ahead of me. After that, I was focused on making my way back through the pack and I was feeling great."
The 38-year-old added:
"The tires were feeling good, and the pace was strong. I went up the inside of Piastri and I am not sure exactly what happened. I felt a big hit from behind, but I think it was a racing incident. I didn’t have a puncture immediately and as I passed the pit entry, I felt the rear moving."
Lewis Hamilton concluded by saying that he was grateful to finish the race in the points:
"I had to do a whole slow lap on it. I was grateful that I was able to still come back from re-joining in last to score some points. There are strengths in our car but sometimes it’s hard to extract all the performance from it."