Lewis Hamilton opened up on a scary encounter with a shark while surfing ahead of this weekend's Australian Grand Prix.
Hamilton is a keen surfer and rarely wastes an opportunity to ride the waves whenever he heads Down Under. Before making his way to Melbourne, the Brit stopped in Byron Bay for exactly that reason.
But the seven-time F1 world champion got a little more than he bargained for on this occasion. He very much enjoyed heading out onto the open water as always, but this time he was a little more on edge after spotting an unwelcome visitor.
Asked what he was doing between races, after attending a sponsor event in Malaysia, he said: "The gap was nice. I went from Malaysia straight to here on Sunday. I was down in Byron Bay which was stunning, my new favourite place to go. I can't wait to go again because I love surfing.
"So I went out surfing. Although, there was a shark so I was terrified the whole time. I enjoyed the weather, got some really great training and I'm really fresh-minded and arrived here rejuvenated."
Hamilton is often spotted surfing but has always kept a sensible distance from sharks. Ahead of the 2019 season, he refused to head out onto the water one day after struggling to find an area of the ocean he felt was safe.
"It feels like a long, long time ago but there was skydiving I also did some surfing," he said of what he had been up to in the off-season. "I wanted to do it here but I couldn't find a netted area to go to. I just can't go where there are sharks, man!
"Every Australian I meet they're like, 'Nah, nah, you'll be alright. If a shark comes up to you, punch it in the face'. Australians are really kind of crazy, huh?"
Surfing was also used as a bonding exercise for Hamilton to get to know George Russell better in their first few months together at Mercedes. Afterwards, the seven-time world champion expressed a desire to go skydiving with his fellow Brit, though it remains to be seen if Russell will agree to more extreme experiences.
