Grand Prix

F1 News: This Is What Lewis Hamilton Did On His Birthday

How does an F1 champion spend their birthday?
Alex Harrington|
F1 News: This Is What Lewis Hamilton Did On His Birthday
F1 News: This Is What Lewis Hamilton Did On His Birthday

Lewis Hamilton turned 38 last Saturday, and while it wasn't a milestone, the 7-time world champion doesn't shy away from doing things on a big scale. This year he visited Antarctica for his balloon day. This is exactly what he got up to.

The Mercedes driver began the day like few of us would: with an 11km run. 

@SirLewisUpdates captured the Instagram stories from the driver over on Twitter which showed him running by an old whaling facility. Digging into this, I can confirm it's the whaling facility of Deception Island, named thusly due to its questionable history, in the South Shetland Islands close to the Antarctic Peninsula.

The island has a strong history of killing animals such as whales and fur seal for profit. Hunters killed around half a million seals alone for their fur to be sold to China. After this came to an end, the island was used to set up a huge whaling operation, using hidden harbours that were built years before for the seals.

The large, rusted structures you see in the tweet below were used to boil and store whale oil, a valuable commodity in the early 1900s. Lewis, being an animal rights activist, obviously had great interest in the history of this area after it was abandoned after 1925. 

Hamilton obviously wasn't alone as he was filmed running down the coastline. 

Later that day, he was filmed feeling incredibly awkward at the head of a table where his friends sung him Happy Birthday.

He posted a final photo of the day to his Instagram, and it's safe to say everyone who saw it wanted the birthday experience of an F1 champ. 

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Alex Harrington
ALEX HARRINGTON

Alex is the editor-in-chief of F1 editorial. He fell in love with F1 at the young age of 7 after hearing the scream of naturally aspirated V10s echo through his grandparents' lounge. That year he watched as Michael Schumacher took home his fifth championship win with Ferrari, and has been unable to look away since. 

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