Lewis Hamilton “shed a tear” over Arsenal’s long-awaited Premier League triumph

Lewis Hamilton has revealed he “shed a tear” watching his beloved Arsenal finally secure the Premier League title, sharing a childhood story about how he became a fan of the north London football club.

Arsenal won the Premier League for the first time in 22 years after Bournemouth drew with title rivals Manchester City.

Speaking during the drivers’ press conference ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, the seven-time champion explained: “I think for everyone, very emotional. I shed a tear, to be honest, because I remember I was five years old and I used to play in the local Stevenage area.

“I used to play around the corner, football with friends, and I was the only black kid in the area out of the people that I was playing with, and I remember trying to fit in, and all of them supported different teams – West Ham, Tottenham and Manchester. So I was bouncing between all these when I was like four or five years old, depending on who I was with.

“And my sister, I remember exactly, I messaged her the other day, she was walking me home, and she asked me what team I supported, and she gave me a dead arm back then, she gave me a little dig in my arm, and said, ‘You have to support Arsenal.’ So, we had a laugh yesterday about it.”

After years of near misses, Arsenal’s win resonated with the Ferrari driver.

“We’ve had so many close moments, and to finally get it, it was wow, a lot of emotion came up for me as I’m sure for so many people,” he continued. “Just so happy and proud of the team, and obviously Arsenal was great. I think the direction they’ve gone in the past couple of years has been just fantastic.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Brett Farmer / LAT Images via Getty Images

“So, very inspired by what they’ve done. Really, really proud of the team, and I think they can go from strength to strength from here and only get stronger.”

Relating Arsenal’s success to what he is hoping to replicate at Ferrari, the Briton continued: “And in terms of my time in my team, I’m always looking for other leaders that are doing great things and how they work with teams. I’m always trying to learn how I can be a better colleague, a better team-mate to the people around me, how I can extract more from myself.

“But also from the groups that I get to work with, because teamwork really does make the dream work. It’s a real thing. And when you have a huge group of people, there are so many different energies and you have to be quite dynamic to be able to integrate into those different sections.

“But I feel like we’re in a really good place. I’m in a good place with my team. There’s always going to be teething issues and stuff that you always have to work on. But I’m really happy.”