JAKARTA - Lewis Hamilton cheered on his fans in Brazil by calling soccer star Neymar ahead of the big weekend in the Briton's bid to score a record eight-time Formula 1 champion.
The Mercedes driver told reporters he was looking forward to watching his friend play in the World Cup qualifier between five-time champions Brazil and Colombia at Corinthians in Sao Paulo on Thursday night.
"I'm in touch with Neymar a lot, quite a lot, we just spoke today," the Briton told a news conference for team sponsor Petronas.
"I knew he was playing tomorrow, I really wanted to go and watch the game," Hamilton added.
Neymar and Hamilton have been spotted hanging out together on several occasions before. He said the Brazilian had once declared the F1 champion a mother's other brother.
F1 has only media duty Thursday with action set to take place Friday, with practice and qualifying sessions for Saturday's sprint race.
Hamilton is 19 points adrift of Red Bull's Max Verstappen in the standings with four races remaining, including Interlagos.
Mercedes is only one point ahead of Red Bull in the constructors' standings.
This season has been one of the tightest and most difficult with the two manufacturers following in the lead. Hamilton hopes that next year can be more competitive with new rules and new cars.
He said it should have made a difference in terms of better tire grip and also less turbulence following other cars.
The new cars will feature larger 18-inch wheels with simpler flaps and front and rear wings designed to make overtaking easier for drivers.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
