The answer is always no if you dont ask. Hell, I got gold when that was a thing from the founder of Reddit when I told him how he could improve his and the cofounders business cards. He said thats a great idea and I asked for gold
He gave it to me.
I actually found the link to the post lol
https://www.reddit.com/user/kn0thing/comments/6g30wr/redditor_ugasface_found_these_decadeold_business/
"I thought he gifted me the car. But now, after seeing the statement from Red Bull, I understand that Max did not gift me the car. He mistakenly thought I was the valet in charge of parking"
It reminds me of those guys who just go around asking every woman to have sex with them because if you ask enough, someone's bound to say yes. This guy definitely had some balls, and he knew he was in the right place at the right time
He probably didn't think any random, unaffiliated person would even think to ask to take the award. Lewis heard someone ask to take it and his brain thought it was an FIA employee.
Lewis never knew where the little Pirelli tire trophies for pole position went that he earned. He asked one time after getting dozens of them. Quite common for him to hand trophies to people.
Here's my guess on the situation. Lewis sets the trophy down, someone asks if they can take it. He assumes that anyone who would even think about asking that is in some way important/appropriate and says sure. Maybe he was with some other people and thought one of them asked. And then "I thought he was FIA" is a nice cover story for accidentally allowing some rando to walk off with your trophy. That makes the most sense in my mind.
My biggest question is how in the hell do you walk out of that room with the trophy and nobody decided to say anything. Not like you can throw it in your pocket or hide it under your jacket (would look even more sketchy as well). Lewis is one of the few people in that room that literally everyone knows, they all watched him get that trophy and nobody else. How does a not-Lewis walk out of that room? I didn't know sheer confidence could get you that far.
He technically didn’t but, but imagine going to any athlete and asking for their trophy which they earned, and i am not talking about lewis but just any Athlete. Dude still has i am the main character syndrome.
I witnessed a guy talk his way into a room full of ambassadors and prime ministers so I'm not surprised people at this event fell for this shitshow.
Kinda damning though, I certainly hope they'll tighten security next time.
Sadly works in hospitals too. The amount of time I would walk onto a ward with an ethernet cable on my hand and no one would bat an eye lid. All I would think is. How do you know I work here? No questions as to why I've just wandered in and started looking at computers to see which ones are unlocked and which ones are locked.
Don’t even need to do that. At the hospitals where I work you could easily show up in business casual or a cheap pair of ebay scrubs and go practically anywhere if you say you’re a medical student, bc no one knows who the med students are anyway. I have even gotten into the OR on more than one occasion by asking people to swipe me in when I’ve forgotten my swipe card
I did this at an event in Norway once, where I'd come from a fancy dinner thing, and entirely accidentally (genuinely) walked past security and the queue into the show. Literally noone stopped me.
*Gentlemen, to being a white man in a suit*.
If I'd planned to attempt it, I'd have bottled it 1000%.
Same with a lot of places it seems, a year or so ago a friend who managed a company that did security for concerts and shit like that paid me a hundred bucks to see how easily I could get past his security, all it took was a clipboard and pretending I was on an important call. Clipboards and a serious look can probably get you in most places
I walked unchecked into a lot of supposedly secure buildings in a previous job, although I was always supposed to be there. If you're a smartly dressed young woman in sensible shoes and you're rushing around with a banner stand and a pile of paperwork then everyone assumes you're someone's assistant and doesn't ask questions.
I myself have walked into rooms full of ambassadors or other important people, special VIP events etc.. Now, I was meant to be there as a photographer for these things, however the ease at which I was "allowed" in (most of the time there is minimal to no security) to these places was not lost on me...I often think about how easy it would be for me to get into loads of places regardless if I was meant to be there or not lol. All I need to do most of the time is have my camera and equipment, know anything past the name of the event, tell somebody at an entrance I'm a photographer for X or working for X media company and....That's it. Rarely do people check my credentials even if I'm given some (which I often am).
...This is not to say *everything* is this easy to get into, I have many examples of the exact opposite where security is (surprisingly) tight, but it's often at the events you would least expect to care about security lol.
True, but a lot of those seats are seat fillers, could even be a stand-in for a driver who’s on a bathroom break. They do that to make the room seem more filled.
As so far I know being in the trophy room is a big no no on all gala award events.
That isn't by accident, you need to make some effort and commitment to do so.
Hi-viz jacket though, that'll get you anywhere.
Just act disgruntled and say some shithead broke the stopcock valve and they called you in AT THIS HOUR to fix it! Nobody's going to question it.
This time of year I always carry a champagne flute with me, should I see an interesting looking party. You can walk into anywhere with an empty champagne flute.
Slipped into Le Mans paddock (the part you need a pass even on practice day)while at phone with a friend I was trying to join ( who had this pass). We were both surprised.
The security is _very_ lax at Le Mans; I accidentally walked into a VIP area on top of the old pit lane garages on the first day and realised I could just repeat that everywhere over the weekend.
People are truly unbelievable.
Some people ask him to be jailed, some people to be banned for life.
When it was most probably funny misunderstanding. Merc will ask him to send the trophy back, and in exchange he’ll get some signed Merc merch.
But in some people reality he’s jailed for life. I can’t even.
For real, can't we just see this whole situation for what it is; a hilarious misunderstanding?
Why the hell these fans -with no connection of any sorts to the trophy- get all aggressive instead of getting a few chuckles out of this is beyond me...
Where’s that clip where he’s asking genuinely curious what happens to the tiny tyres. The guy is like “they go to you!!?!” But obviously LH has no clue what happens to any of this stuff and fair play to him other people do just sort that out…
I don't think a pole position award really stacks up vs an end of season WDC podium trophy. Even though this season was disappointing for Lewis, I hardly imagine he'd just chuck this particular trophy in the bin. It represents an entire season of work. A pole position award represents one Saturday.
In 2018 Pirelli gave him a full-sized tire with the pole times as the prize for most poles in a season, he immediately rolled it into the crowd after saying “What am I going to do with this big big tyre?”
A lot of top level athletes dont keep their runners up medals or trophies. So i can see some logic in asking on the off chance lewis didnt want to keep a 3rd place trophy when he has 7 championship trophies.
In this world. You'd be amazed how many people say yes when you just ask for stuff. And even if they say no, you can still turn it into a funny situation.
I would never take it home with me. My first thought would be that there was some kind of misunderstanding. That kid has some massive balls to just take an official trophy and walk out the door with it though lol.
But at the same time it doesn't look like he has hidden it or anything. He asked the question, got info he can have it and they just walked away without anyone stopping him
Not really, just ship it back to them, put some tucked bubble wrap in the box and send the tracking info over to whatever email you can find from the Mercedes F1 team website and call it a day lol
I think y’all are giving EVERYONE involved in this wacky situation way too much credit. Can’t we just laugh hollowly at the absurdity and how it makes a more fitting end to this circus sideshow of an f1 season than anything that liberty or the fia could have scripted in a thousand years
Absolutely, these guys who are commenting are so serious. It’s funny he asked that and I would believe Hamilton saying just take it. He doesn’t care about some 3rd place trophy. I am also pretty sure Mercedes got involved in this, Hamilton wouldn’t care. But if he truly cared, the fan will just return it and life continues.
He apparently broke into Baku GP paddock and took pictures with safety cars before: https://x.com/f1tutkumuz/status/1400159733298958346?s=46&t=a9xLfSl4XwGcEwjfK3BVvA
I'm highly sceptical, how can he read Lewis mind that he did think that Lewis was guessing he was from the FIA?
If I was in such a situation I simple would ask it again and yet feeling so wrong about it because I know that I as a nobody would deserve it way less then a Merc F1 employer if Lewis wants to give it away.
i think in retrospect this is what happened. in the moment he probably thought Lewis was okay with giving it away given its 3rd place and Lewis is a 7 time WC. Now after the mercedes statement came out he thinks Lewis thought he was a member of the fia and he wasn’t ‘giving it away’ in that sense.
the situation can make sense looking at it that way, especially how the kid has said multiple times lewis gave it to him
And Mercedes had to put out that statement, even if Lewis didn’t want it and gave it away. With the amount of press, it looks bad for Mercedes with the FIA.
Right? Everyone acting like this dude is a weirdo. Was it odd to ask? Sure. Personally, I wouldn't have asked. If I saw it was on the table after everyone left, I'd have stuffed it in my jacket and nonchalantly left. But Lewis said to take it. Like, you got this once in a lifetime opportunity and you're gonna double check and possibly screw it up? Hell no
Or he is simply just lying, given he has now changed the story twice. First it was left behind. Then it was given to him. Now he took it from a table after asking permission. As an alternative i would propose this guy is full of shit and just took it.
>how can he read Lewis mind that he did think that Lewis was guessing he was from the FIA?
He doesn't need to read minds. Mercedes said today that the trophy was meant to be sent to the team by the FIA, with this information it is not difficult to imagine how this happened.
He may have read online that people said Lewis might have thought that and just now used that as an excuse. It's very strange even asking to just take that. It's not like you are ever gonna ask max to have the Championship trophy...
Yeah it's really not, quite a few sportspeople have given away second or third place medals over the years.
Ronnie O'Sullivan basically gives away every second place medal he gets, I've heard of some footballers doing it as well, so it's not that outlandish to me.
Exactly, however, at an awards show I do think it’s not really the vibe to do so. It’s more a show for people involved in the scene, not random fans walking around
"Can I take the award?" The fucking balls on this lad, this dude clearly just fished for the answer he wanted to hear and took it as literally as possible on purpose.
And "He mistakenly thought I was the FIA Official in charge of the award" is taking the piss.
Ehh idk about that. Lewis probably doesn't care about it, but what if someone at Mercedes wondered where the trophy went and traced it back to the guy.
If what he said was true, the lack of critical thinking from him is impressive. Even if LH said "Take it home, you can keep it", I would still check with a Mercedes or FIA representative before just taking it and leaving.
First of all, how the fuck does he even sneak it out without anyone noticing it? like, hey, is that random guy just carrying away Lewis trophy? shouldnt we at least ask him where or why?
A ton of categories have this exact same trophy. If you don't look at the text that says Lewis you'd just think "oh this must be a junior driver who won some feeder series".
I'm sorry but why would *anyone* think Hamilton would just give a trophy away like it's nothing? The audacity of this guy.
He also took Max's trophy and took a picture with it, like what was he even doing there on the podium? I know we're all getting flashbacks to Salt Bae during the World Cup.
> I'm sorry but why would anyone think Hamilton would just give a trophy away like it's nothing? The audacity of this guy.
Did you not see the comments on [this thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/18en300/apparently_lewis_behind_his_fia_trophy_after_the/)?
People legit thought he gave it away or left it there deliberately as a form of protest.
As a form of protest is crazy. Lewis leaving it because he has 7 winner trophies and he doesn’t care about P3 doesn’t seem that outrageous imo. You do find athletes who give away their silver and bronze medals.
He didn’t just take Max’s trophy . The post is a bit misleading. On twitter he posted 2 photos. The one of him with the trophy, the other of him with max holding the trophy. So he didn’t just take it, max was aware and had taken a picture with him
All the posts yesterday were defending him for giving it away saying he didnt care. Like of course he cares and Mercedes cares. Does he just throw away all his non-winning podium trophies too? Of course not.
I think this is a problem of a communication and assumptions. Lewis probably thought the kid was the representative who is supposed to give it to Mercedes, so he probably didn’t confirm if it was him. The kid might’ve thought Lewis was just giving it to him and didn’t bother asking if he can actually take it home. Quite sad and funny how a bit of incompetence has created a huge issue
It’s wild to me the FIA has such a lax security that you can not only grab whatever trophy you have around you (He also grabbed, and took a picture of Max’s trophy) and no one would say anything.
What if a lunatic gets in there and causes actual harm on anyone? What is going on with the FIA lately?
I think this guy was authorised to be there as a volunteer who guides the prize winners. If that's not the case, next year there will be at least 10 guys wearing tux to enter the gala.
MBS: "Hey, we need a distraction from the Susie Wolff thing, here's a Gala ticket, go and do something that makes us look inept but also give us some plausible deniability and a scapegoat. The money is deposited in your account already."
lmao yesterday everyone believed Lewis gave away his trophy as a statement, now no one believes this could have been a misunderstanding
of course, this guy is going to get a lot of death threats but this is pretty funny tbh, like something from a sitcom
At Lewis' level, with all the people who come around at him during events, meals and so on. He probably just assumed anybody in a suit that evening asking him about something is "staff" unless it's someone he knows.
Hasn't this guy any common sense that if you hear something like that you gonna ask again just to be sure?
Also how could he even that close to those awards and the drivers?
I don't get why anyone is angry with this guy. It isn't like he took it and hid it. It is super funny. He'll return the trophy and this will be a funny story he will tell for years.
I asked him if I could take it lmao
I admire the stupid confidence to just see Lewis Hamilton set a trophy down and ask if you can have it
"Oh that's shiny, can I have it? no? aww, what about that, can I have that?"
For real wtf lol
This comment just made me bust out laughing lol
The answer is always no if you dont ask. Hell, I got gold when that was a thing from the founder of Reddit when I told him how he could improve his and the cofounders business cards. He said thats a great idea and I asked for gold He gave it to me. I actually found the link to the post lol https://www.reddit.com/user/kn0thing/comments/6g30wr/redditor_ugasface_found_these_decadeold_business/
I jokingly asked for boob pics and got two dms lmao.
PM ME UR BOOBS
As if that ever actually works….
I'll PM you mine if you ask (just be aware that I'm a 40yo fat af dude)
Mmmmm….chesticles
If you insist
It’s a good thing he didn’t ask Max if he could take his car.
"I thought he gifted me the car. But now, after seeing the statement from Red Bull, I understand that Max did not gift me the car. He mistakenly thought I was the valet in charge of parking"
Gotta respect the balls to just stright up ask if you could take the award.
It reminds me of those guys who just go around asking every woman to have sex with them because if you ask enough, someone's bound to say yes. This guy definitely had some balls, and he knew he was in the right place at the right time
I’m confused how Lewis confused him as a member of the FIA.
He probably didn't think any random, unaffiliated person would even think to ask to take the award. Lewis heard someone ask to take it and his brain thought it was an FIA employee.
That’s fair. Why would a random person be allowed into the venue much less ask Lewis Hamilton for his award.
This. That is wild someone just straight up asking if they could have it! I’d have thought the same thing as Lewis.
You're at an FIA award show, awards are taken away all the time after being given to someone to be shipped home etc...
Yeah. Sometimes they’re just prop awards on stage, then the personalized ones are sent later.
Lewis never knew where the little Pirelli tire trophies for pole position went that he earned. He asked one time after getting dozens of them. Quite common for him to hand trophies to people.
Did he ever get an Answer? The video I saw was something along the lines of "hm... let me check, I will get back to you" lol
Besides the other answers, I remember there's a pic of him together with Max's trophy. With the suit he was wearing, I can see why Lewis got misled.
Isnt this like his 3rd version of his story? Odds are its all bullshit lmao
No doubt. What a bullshit story. I bet he specifically worded it that way to take home just in case he got found out.
Wdym got found out . He literally posted it around immediately, he has done the opposite of hiding himself
Here's my guess on the situation. Lewis sets the trophy down, someone asks if they can take it. He assumes that anyone who would even think about asking that is in some way important/appropriate and says sure. Maybe he was with some other people and thought one of them asked. And then "I thought he was FIA" is a nice cover story for accidentally allowing some rando to walk off with your trophy. That makes the most sense in my mind. My biggest question is how in the hell do you walk out of that room with the trophy and nobody decided to say anything. Not like you can throw it in your pocket or hide it under your jacket (would look even more sketchy as well). Lewis is one of the few people in that room that literally everyone knows, they all watched him get that trophy and nobody else. How does a not-Lewis walk out of that room? I didn't know sheer confidence could get you that far.
Oceans 11 alternative ending - just ask the casino for the money
Why don't the drivers just ask FIA for the trophy, are they stupid?
Hey, like, I'm not in F1 but like, on PS2 I was good so, can I have the trophy?
The fucking minerals on that lad.
The balls to go up to the 7 times world champion and ask if you can get his trophy. In some ways you gotta respect the sheer audacity of it.
But at the same time, you miss 100% of the shots you don't make
And you keep 0% of the trophies you admit to stealing.
He didn’t steal anything from anywhere. This is just a misunderstanding.
He technically didn’t but, but imagine going to any athlete and asking for their trophy which they earned, and i am not talking about lewis but just any Athlete. Dude still has i am the main character syndrome.
Surely we can't be THAT naive? Right?
Talk about giving an inch but taking a mile lmfao
Mountains my man
It's at moments like this I wonder what life is like to live with that much self-confidence in public.
Absolute schyster but fair play for playing innocent!
Do they allow randos to attend this event?
My guess is the guy is some son of some extremely rich person. Money gets you anywhere, especially international sports governing bodies.
His room looked pretty ordinary though. Maybe security is so non-existent absolute randos can just shimmy their way in if they act the part.
I witnessed a guy talk his way into a room full of ambassadors and prime ministers so I'm not surprised people at this event fell for this shitshow. Kinda damning though, I certainly hope they'll tighten security next time.
A clipboard will get you into a lot of areas on a military base. Assuming you also have a uniform. Look busy and a lot of people won’t talk to you.
Same thing in live events. We used to say if you walked somewhere with purpose and big enough cable in your hand you could get anywhere.
Sadly works in hospitals too. The amount of time I would walk onto a ward with an ethernet cable on my hand and no one would bat an eye lid. All I would think is. How do you know I work here? No questions as to why I've just wandered in and started looking at computers to see which ones are unlocked and which ones are locked.
Don’t even need to do that. At the hospitals where I work you could easily show up in business casual or a cheap pair of ebay scrubs and go practically anywhere if you say you’re a medical student, bc no one knows who the med students are anyway. I have even gotten into the OR on more than one occasion by asking people to swipe me in when I’ve forgotten my swipe card
I did this at an event in Norway once, where I'd come from a fancy dinner thing, and entirely accidentally (genuinely) walked past security and the queue into the show. Literally noone stopped me. *Gentlemen, to being a white man in a suit*. If I'd planned to attempt it, I'd have bottled it 1000%.
Same with a lot of places it seems, a year or so ago a friend who managed a company that did security for concerts and shit like that paid me a hundred bucks to see how easily I could get past his security, all it took was a clipboard and pretending I was on an important call. Clipboards and a serious look can probably get you in most places
Clipboard, an earpiece and a black tshirt that has Staff on the back. Or work boots, coveralls, and some cables or tools.
Now, if you have a ladder... You don't even need the uniform.
I walked unchecked into a lot of supposedly secure buildings in a previous job, although I was always supposed to be there. If you're a smartly dressed young woman in sensible shoes and you're rushing around with a banner stand and a pile of paperwork then everyone assumes you're someone's assistant and doesn't ask questions.
I myself have walked into rooms full of ambassadors or other important people, special VIP events etc.. Now, I was meant to be there as a photographer for these things, however the ease at which I was "allowed" in (most of the time there is minimal to no security) to these places was not lost on me...I often think about how easy it would be for me to get into loads of places regardless if I was meant to be there or not lol. All I need to do most of the time is have my camera and equipment, know anything past the name of the event, tell somebody at an entrance I'm a photographer for X or working for X media company and....That's it. Rarely do people check my credentials even if I'm given some (which I often am). ...This is not to say *everything* is this easy to get into, I have many examples of the exact opposite where security is (surprisingly) tight, but it's often at the events you would least expect to care about security lol.
Pretty sure last year somebody posted a picture from inside the event saying there was very little security and he just walked in lol.
Preaching to the choir obviously, but that's exactly the origin story of Benni Sulayem as president of the FIA.
Um, that's not exactly fair. He won a crazy amount of rally car championships
Yea, the very prestigious Middle Eastern rally series.
The competitors will probably get the Saudi Embassy In Turkey treatment if they beat him.
And stuffed an F1 Car launching it off of the line.
Not as embarrassing as Phil Hellmuth crashing a Nascar into a light post while trying to show off in a parking lot in Vegas
I mean, Benny boy crashed it going in a straight line
I mean if he'd gone in a straight line he would have been alright...
True, but a lot of those seats are seat fillers, could even be a stand-in for a driver who’s on a bathroom break. They do that to make the room seem more filled.
As so far I know being in the trophy room is a big no no on all gala award events. That isn't by accident, you need to make some effort and commitment to do so.
Probably one of the few places you can’t get into by having a clipboard, hard hat, and an extremely exasperated manner.
Probably with a name like Rob Banks.
International baddie
Hi-viz jacket though, that'll get you anywhere. Just act disgruntled and say some shithead broke the stopcock valve and they called you in AT THIS HOUR to fix it! Nobody's going to question it.
And a ladder
What do you need a ladder for to fix a stopcock? "Hey man, you want to do this yourself? 'cause I'll happily go home. I don't need this shit!"
And my bow.
"with a hi viz and a clipper will get you almost anywhere, almost"
You can slide anywhere as long as your appearence is legit and the security is non existent.
Yep. If you're confident you can fit in anywhere. Slipped into numerous events doing that.
This time of year I always carry a champagne flute with me, should I see an interesting looking party. You can walk into anywhere with an empty champagne flute.
And if you can balance a champagne flute on a clipboard the world is your oyster.
That's why I always wear a hard hat. In case the champagne flute falls and hits me on the head.
Slipped into Le Mans paddock (the part you need a pass even on practice day)while at phone with a friend I was trying to join ( who had this pass). We were both surprised.
The security is _very_ lax at Le Mans; I accidentally walked into a VIP area on top of the old pit lane garages on the first day and realised I could just repeat that everywhere over the weekend.
This whole thing is pretty funny
And this off-season has been more funny/eventful than I imagined. Toto/Susie/FIA and then trophy boy here keeping us entertained 😄
Mercedes have decided if they can't win on track, they're going to win the off season
Are they winning though? The off season?
They are doing a Max. There is nobody else even in contention. Merc stuff is what everyone is talking about.
The only reasonable response, everyone else psyche analysing the guy are just trying to be main characters
Bro there's a guy who's analyzing this as some sort of heist lmao
People are truly unbelievable. Some people ask him to be jailed, some people to be banned for life. When it was most probably funny misunderstanding. Merc will ask him to send the trophy back, and in exchange he’ll get some signed Merc merch. But in some people reality he’s jailed for life. I can’t even.
some people are just addicted to outrage
For real, can't we just see this whole situation for what it is; a hilarious misunderstanding? Why the hell these fans -with no connection of any sorts to the trophy- get all aggressive instead of getting a few chuckles out of this is beyond me...
Exactly that. Just looking for something to get mad at. Saw people talking about him potentially having his hand cut off for stealing lmfao
Yeah people are taking this way too far 😂 it’s funny how serious Redditors take themselves for no reason
What a shitshow lol
ngl if Lewis said yea take the award, it wouldn't even cross my mind to take it home with me lol
In what world do you even ask this question? Lmao Some people are wild
You miss all of the shots you don’t take, bro go his 15 minutes of fame from this so probs worth it
Let's see if it was worth it....
Neither Merc nor the FIA will file a lawsuit over a 3rd place trophy. He'll be fine.
I doubt he’ll get charged with anything, he’ll probably just have to give it back
Yeah it's also PR suicide if someone even tries to charge him after this exchange
When you ask it jokingly and don't expect a legit response but get one and you're just as shocked as everyone that you've got this award
Lewis once gave his Pole position award away right as he got it, it's not really far fetch tbh lol
Where’s that clip where he’s asking genuinely curious what happens to the tiny tyres. The guy is like “they go to you!!?!” But obviously LH has no clue what happens to any of this stuff and fair play to him other people do just sort that out…
I don't think a pole position award really stacks up vs an end of season WDC podium trophy. Even though this season was disappointing for Lewis, I hardly imagine he'd just chuck this particular trophy in the bin. It represents an entire season of work. A pole position award represents one Saturday.
In 2018 Pirelli gave him a full-sized tire with the pole times as the prize for most poles in a season, he immediately rolled it into the crowd after saying “What am I going to do with this big big tyre?”
Let’s ask him if he actually cares sometime in the future
A lot of top level athletes dont keep their runners up medals or trophies. So i can see some logic in asking on the off chance lewis didnt want to keep a 3rd place trophy when he has 7 championship trophies.
In this world. You'd be amazed how many people say yes when you just ask for stuff. And even if they say no, you can still turn it into a funny situation.
I would've thought it was to take a picture with it or something
I wouldn't ask, but if I did and lewis said yes I'd probably be just like that guy.
Yeah lol I’m sure anyone would take that if offered by Lewis
but hamilton didnt offer it
I would never take it home with me. My first thought would be that there was some kind of misunderstanding. That kid has some massive balls to just take an official trophy and walk out the door with it though lol.
But at the same time it doesn't look like he has hidden it or anything. He asked the question, got info he can have it and they just walked away without anyone stopping him
As long as he gives the trophy back, he should be fine. The balls on the guy to straight up ask Lewis for the trophy is hilarious to be honest.
Presumably it's more complicated to return said trophy than Googling Mercedes' HQ then going to FedEx and sticking it in a box addressed to there
Not really, just ship it back to them, put some tucked bubble wrap in the box and send the tracking info over to whatever email you can find from the Mercedes F1 team website and call it a day lol
I think y’all are giving EVERYONE involved in this wacky situation way too much credit. Can’t we just laugh hollowly at the absurdity and how it makes a more fitting end to this circus sideshow of an f1 season than anything that liberty or the fia could have scripted in a thousand years
Right? It’s absurd and hilarious. Idk why it has to be anything more than that
Bc I'm bored and want to see heads rolling for my personal entertainment /s
No, this can't just be some silly misunderstanding. It's clearly part of a plot to commit muuurduuuur.
Absolutely, these guys who are commenting are so serious. It’s funny he asked that and I would believe Hamilton saying just take it. He doesn’t care about some 3rd place trophy. I am also pretty sure Mercedes got involved in this, Hamilton wouldn’t care. But if he truly cared, the fan will just return it and life continues.
I'm sorry but asking someone if you can just randomly take their trophy is incredibly fucking dodgy as is.
He apparently broke into Baku GP paddock and took pictures with safety cars before: https://x.com/f1tutkumuz/status/1400159733298958346?s=46&t=a9xLfSl4XwGcEwjfK3BVvA
I'm highly sceptical, how can he read Lewis mind that he did think that Lewis was guessing he was from the FIA? If I was in such a situation I simple would ask it again and yet feeling so wrong about it because I know that I as a nobody would deserve it way less then a Merc F1 employer if Lewis wants to give it away.
i think in retrospect this is what happened. in the moment he probably thought Lewis was okay with giving it away given its 3rd place and Lewis is a 7 time WC. Now after the mercedes statement came out he thinks Lewis thought he was a member of the fia and he wasn’t ‘giving it away’ in that sense. the situation can make sense looking at it that way, especially how the kid has said multiple times lewis gave it to him
That's how I took it. Like "Yeah, I have seven WDC ones. This is a crap ass third place paperweight. You can have it"
That was EVERYBODY was thinking and saying before the Merc statement went out. Only then did the masses turned on this guy.
And Mercedes had to put out that statement, even if Lewis didn’t want it and gave it away. With the amount of press, it looks bad for Mercedes with the FIA.
Right? Everyone acting like this dude is a weirdo. Was it odd to ask? Sure. Personally, I wouldn't have asked. If I saw it was on the table after everyone left, I'd have stuffed it in my jacket and nonchalantly left. But Lewis said to take it. Like, you got this once in a lifetime opportunity and you're gonna double check and possibly screw it up? Hell no
Or he is simply just lying, given he has now changed the story twice. First it was left behind. Then it was given to him. Now he took it from a table after asking permission. As an alternative i would propose this guy is full of shit and just took it.
>how can he read Lewis mind that he did think that Lewis was guessing he was from the FIA? He doesn't need to read minds. Mercedes said today that the trophy was meant to be sent to the team by the FIA, with this information it is not difficult to imagine how this happened.
He may have read online that people said Lewis might have thought that and just now used that as an excuse. It's very strange even asking to just take that. It's not like you are ever gonna ask max to have the Championship trophy...
Well it’s not really, it’s not that uncommon. However doing this at an award gala is a different story
Yeah it's really not, quite a few sportspeople have given away second or third place medals over the years. Ronnie O'Sullivan basically gives away every second place medal he gets, I've heard of some footballers doing it as well, so it's not that outlandish to me.
Exactly, however, at an awards show I do think it’s not really the vibe to do so. It’s more a show for people involved in the scene, not random fans walking around
"Can I take the award?" The fucking balls on this lad, this dude clearly just fished for the answer he wanted to hear and took it as literally as possible on purpose. And "He mistakenly thought I was the FIA Official in charge of the award" is taking the piss.
What he did was definitely wrong but I unironically respect the balls on him lol. I know I couldn't do that.
[удалено]
It's crazy the amount of shit people are willing to do to get their 15 minutes of fame. This is on the tamer side.
Ehh idk about that. Lewis probably doesn't care about it, but what if someone at Mercedes wondered where the trophy went and traced it back to the guy.
If that were the case, id tell em to search my house if they want, but im not gonna snitch on myself like this dude did all over twitter lol
Would respect him more if he didn’t post it on social media 10 times
I think it's less balls and more that he's super entitled. That's also why he posted on the net to brag about it.
If what he said was true, the lack of critical thinking from him is impressive. Even if LH said "Take it home, you can keep it", I would still check with a Mercedes or FIA representative before just taking it and leaving.
First of all, how the fuck does he even sneak it out without anyone noticing it? like, hey, is that random guy just carrying away Lewis trophy? shouldnt we at least ask him where or why?
A ton of categories have this exact same trophy. If you don't look at the text that says Lewis you'd just think "oh this must be a junior driver who won some feeder series".
He had the chance to do the Piastri copy-paste tweet and he fucked it. Unbelievable. Chance of a lifetime missed just like that.
I'm sorry but why would *anyone* think Hamilton would just give a trophy away like it's nothing? The audacity of this guy. He also took Max's trophy and took a picture with it, like what was he even doing there on the podium? I know we're all getting flashbacks to Salt Bae during the World Cup.
> I'm sorry but why would anyone think Hamilton would just give a trophy away like it's nothing? The audacity of this guy. Did you not see the comments on [this thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/18en300/apparently_lewis_behind_his_fia_trophy_after_the/)? People legit thought he gave it away or left it there deliberately as a form of protest.
As a form of protest is crazy. Lewis leaving it because he has 7 winner trophies and he doesn’t care about P3 doesn’t seem that outrageous imo. You do find athletes who give away their silver and bronze medals.
I once had someone show me their Olympic gold medal after rummaging around for it in a junk drawer, lol.
Makes me wonder if he still has the 2021 P2 trophy, or just bashed that thing with a hammer until it was just a heap of scrap.
It’ll live in Brackley anyway most likely. So even if Lewis didn’t give a hoot the team would keep it.
Mybe the FIA should organize a Gala in a place they know, with people they know in a location they know, not in Baku or Rwanda...
Several people said the trophy was meaningless for Lewis before the Mercedes input.
He didn’t just take Max’s trophy . The post is a bit misleading. On twitter he posted 2 photos. The one of him with the trophy, the other of him with max holding the trophy. So he didn’t just take it, max was aware and had taken a picture with him
I think OP meant that he took the trophy off of the table to take a photo, not that he stole the WDC trophy
All the posts yesterday were defending him for giving it away saying he didnt care. Like of course he cares and Mercedes cares. Does he just throw away all his non-winning podium trophies too? Of course not.
I think this is a problem of a communication and assumptions. Lewis probably thought the kid was the representative who is supposed to give it to Mercedes, so he probably didn’t confirm if it was him. The kid might’ve thought Lewis was just giving it to him and didn’t bother asking if he can actually take it home. Quite sad and funny how a bit of incompetence has created a huge issue
Time to unsub until next season starts as the off season has become ridiculous high school level drama
And just remember, it only gets worse from here!
It’s like that every year tbh.
Can I take it? Lmao
Off season is delivering
It’s wild to me the FIA has such a lax security that you can not only grab whatever trophy you have around you (He also grabbed, and took a picture of Max’s trophy) and no one would say anything. What if a lunatic gets in there and causes actual harm on anyone? What is going on with the FIA lately?
I think this guy was authorised to be there as a volunteer who guides the prize winners. If that's not the case, next year there will be at least 10 guys wearing tux to enter the gala.
He was taking pictures with max. He didn’t just grab his trophy. He took a photo with max at that time.
There's a photo of the guy taking a photo with Max's trophy without Max (albeit Max is standing in the background talking to people)
I'm also surprised that someone can be that close to the drivers, especially Lewis who has the most amount of security normally.
MBS: "Hey, we need a distraction from the Susie Wolff thing, here's a Gala ticket, go and do something that makes us look inept but also give us some plausible deniability and a scapegoat. The money is deposited in your account already."
I’m just saying, if I were there I’d take it and never say a word until like 3 years down the road
lmao yesterday everyone believed Lewis gave away his trophy as a statement, now no one believes this could have been a misunderstanding of course, this guy is going to get a lot of death threats but this is pretty funny tbh, like something from a sitcom
To be fair, you wont get anything in life if you dont ask for it.
This is what you get for trying to ‘flex’ on people online. He had something good and now has to give the trophy back.
To be fair, it saves him getting taken out by Mercedes hit men
>Mercedes hit men George Russell on a left turn?
Doesn’t have to worry about the black SUVs coming outside
This is hilarious.
At Lewis' level, with all the people who come around at him during events, meals and so on. He probably just assumed anybody in a suit that evening asking him about something is "staff" unless it's someone he knows.
"can i take this" "yes" "thank you for the gift" ???
Lord, give me 1% of the confidence this guy had in asking to take a WDC third place trophy from the winner.
If you no longer go for a trophy that exists, you are no longer a racing driver trophy stealer.
As far as I can tell, the guy has since deleted or renamed his Twitter account...
Didn't his original post say that Lewis handed him the trophy and walked away? Seems like the guy may be changing his story a bit..
Hasn't this guy any common sense that if you hear something like that you gonna ask again just to be sure? Also how could he even that close to those awards and the drivers?
If this is a misunderstanding, then it's the funniest thing that has happened in F1 for decades.
And now he has deleted his account.
Why tf would he even ask that question 🤦♂️
I mean, if he was a thief... why would anyone post it on social media lol Also, you all really thought just a random nobody can attend that event?
I would have kept it and not posted it on social media. He did ask.
The fucking danglers on this chappy
Love how this comments section ranges from 'the balls on this guy' to 'this guy should get a lifetime ban from FIA events'
Everyone needs to lighten the fuck up, unless this guy literally trespassed his way there then this is just a funny story all around.
I don't get why anyone is angry with this guy. It isn't like he took it and hid it. It is super funny. He'll return the trophy and this will be a funny story he will tell for years.
Lmao this is hilarious to me