There are plenty of reasons to dislike Lewis Hamilton.
There’s his preening lack of self-awareness for starters.
Then there is his unsatisfactory tax affairs.
He may have a Union Jack on his helmet but his idea of patriotism is to live in the tax exile of Monaco and using complex schemes to avoid paying taxes on his private jet.
If that were not enough, Hamilton is now accused of hypocrisy by urging fans to go vegan to save the planet.
Yes, that’s the same Hamilton who uses the aforementioned private jet and who makes his living from driving high-polluting cars around race circuits.
But on this issue we should cut Hamilton some slack.
Yes, he’s a massive hypocrite.
That doesn’t make his concern about the climate crisis any less valid.
Almost all us, unless you live in a solar-powered yurt, only travel by foot and live on a diet entirely consisting of home-grown vegetables, are hypocrites when it comes to the environment.
We fly too much, drive too much and eat too much red meat.
We work for or are customers of companies that contribute to CO2 emissions.
We have pensions in funds that invest in oil companies and exploitative mining and agricultural firms.
We buy from shops that sell products using palm oil grown in deforested areas.
We are addicted to plastic and fast fashion. We like going to McDonald’s. We heat our homes with fossil fuels.
The Mirror is printed on paper of which only 67% is recycled and carries adverts, which help pay my wages, from energy companies.
Is it any more hypocritical of us to write editorials demanding action on climate change than for Hamilton to urge his millions of fans to also do their bit to help the planet?
Hamilton will have known he was setting himself up for criticism and you suspect he asked himself the same question we do on the Mirror: is it better to do something or to be cowed into doing nothing for fear of being accused of double standards?
The key here is not to look at who is being criticised but who is throwing the criticism.
It is impossible to defend the current rate of global warming or those who are responsible for it.
And it is impossible to ignore the consequences - mass migration, the extinction of species, crop shortages etc - if we fail to tackle it.
Rather than confront this reality they reach for the cheapest defence in their rusting armoury: accuse someone of hypocrisy.
It has been levelled at Prince Harry for flying by private jet and at Benedict Cumberbatch for showing solidarity with Extinction Rebellion.
They also know it works.
Many well known people who are worried about climate change have been intimidated into silence for fear of being ridiculed.
In such circumstances Hamilton should be applauded.
