Will Smith being goofy did not please some Formula 1 fans
The 2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was interesting for both Formula 1 fans and non-fans thanks to the random, but rather amusing, scenes caused by Will Smith. Not only were shenanigans had with The Fresh Prince himself, but there was a pretty catastrophic crash, Raikkonen’s final race with Ferrari was cut short and there were plenty of amazing battles on the track throughout the race.
Will Smith tied Hamilton to a chair
Yes, you read that correctly. A quick visit to Hamilton’s Instagram page will reveal the video of him being tied to a chair by the Hollywood actor himself. As the story goes, Will Smith wanted to take Hamilton’s place and live out his F1 dreams by racing on the track himself, so he tied up Lewis and posed as him in a McLaren race suit and helmet disguise. According to the video, the whole McLaren crew fell for his disguise, let him in the car and then Will proceeded to do doughnuts on the track which led to his discovery and his arrest. Of course, none of this was real and just a bit of celebrity-filled Instagram comedy but it was entertaining nonetheless. It’s probably also worth mentioning that the video was shot and directed by Michael Bay (Director of Transformers, Pearl Harbour, Bad Boys, The Purge etc.) himself.
Hulkenberg had his car flipped on the first lap
Nico Hulkenberg, racing for Renault, fell victim to a rather horrific-looking crash on the very first lap. Romain Grosjean (Haas) appeared to have clipped Hulkenberg’s rear wheel with his front wheel, causing the car to launch itself up and on its side leaving Nico upside down in the side rails. It was quite a shock to see such a crash seconds into the race, but luckily Hulkenberg was uninjured and walked away from the incident upon rescue.
Hulkenberg commented: “They did a good job. It was not the most comfortable situation to be in. There was a little barbeque at the back, so I just wanted to get out. You feel pretty helpless.”
Hulkenberg was hanging in his car upside down for a good 3 minutes and the car was initially on fire, so you can imagine just how scary the crash was for him and how long those 3 minutes must have felt with the heat of a fire on his back.
Will Smith does other silly things
He didn’t just kidnap Hamilton, oh no. The “I Am Legend” star was also seen doing a variety of other whacky activities. These activities include waving the UAE flag in the middle of the track, operating a camera rig, walking around in a McLaren race suit and vlogging with Lewis. What is this, a crossover episode?
Commenters on YouTube had mixed opinions on Will Smith’s unnatural involvement in the event. Many praised Lewis by saying things like “Lewis is actually a cool dude” but even more people took to the comments to ask just why Will Smith was there. One user called him “Cringe Smith”, another asked “He is a good actor, I like him, but why does he get sooo much screentime, what’s his connection to F1?” and many other comments followed a similar theme. What are your thoughts on him being so involved in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix?
Kimi Raikkonen’s last race with Ferrari ended in engine failure
Just 7 laps in and Raikkonen’s Ferrari suddenly refused to output any power, leaving him to come to stop and resulting in a DNF. After 8 seasons of fierce on-track battles and incredible racing, Kimi’s grand finale was as anticlimactic as it gets. Ferrari can’t seem to get a break when racing at the Yas Marina circuit as the team has never been able to take pole position on the track. Let’s hope Raikkonen has better luck with Sauber, which he’ll be joining at the end of the year.
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