Lewis Hamilton turned up Friday at the Miami Grand Prix wearing every piece of jewelry he could fit on his body, an apparent protest of a crackdown on body piercings by the FIA motorsports governing organization.
Hamilton arrived in the paddock wearing an all-denim outfit with several open buttons on his long-sleeved shirt that showed at least four stacked necklaces. Hamilton later emerged in his Mercedes shirt wearing at least three watches and with four rings on each hand. He also has earrings and a nose ring, and said some of the piercings cannot be removed.
“I think it is a bit unnecessary to blow this topic up and probably at this stage is more of a personal thing, I feel a particular way targeted to Lewis,” Vettel said. “In a way, there’s a concern for safety, obviously if you have stuff and the car does catch fire. To some degrees, there is personal freedom and we are old enough to make our own choices.”
The FIA said jewelry can snag during emergency removal from a car, and can also complicate or delay medical imagining.