ALL FOR LEW
Lewis Hamilton only appeared in video game Fortnite after the makers of the game agreed to his bizarre request
Which other sporting superstars also feature in the game?
LEWIS HAMILTON was happy to appear in Fortnite - but only if the creators included his bulldog Roscoe.
The 39-year-old shocked the sporting world before the start of the season by announcing that he would leave Mercedes for Ferrari in 2025.
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Fortnite is an online gaming platform released by Epic Games in 2017 and is now worth a whopping £31.5billion.
Within a year, the virtual world had captured the imaginations of millions worldwide, including Hamilton himself who first picked up the console in 2018.
When organisers learned about his interest in playing the game, they collaborated to bring the racer into the virtual world of Fortnite in November 2023.
Notably, the skins are devoid of any Mercedes branding and instead embrace another element the seven-time world champion is known for - his style.
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One of the two skins features the F1 star in a black suit that is accented with bright yellow and pink strips.
Accessories on this skin include a beaded necklace, sunglasses, a single earring, a ring and a watch — with plenty of exposed tattoos.
Also making his gaming debut was Hamilton's bulldog Roscoe, who is present in two of the give items in the bundle.
Roscoe, who currently has 961K Instagram followers, features as dangly back bling, and also makes an appearance perched on the front of the Hamilton's surfboard-like glider.
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In the , a question that came up was, “Lewis Hamilton is in Fortnite?”
Hamilton replied: “Yep. I got the opportunity to be in Fortnite. It’s a game that I played for a long time, but I said only if Roscoe could be in it.
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"They were like, ‘No problem.’ So Roscoe is in my jet pack hovering behind me as he’s my psychic.”
There is no doubt about how fond the Mercedes driver is of his bulldog.
Hamilton joined a steadily growing number of noted sports stars and celebrities to be turned into Fortnite skins as part of the Icons series.
These include, England captain Harry Kane, tennis star Naomi Osaka, LeBron James, and Neymar Jr, Marco Reus and three-time super-bowl winner Patrick Mahomes.
Hamilton's interview with the fashion mag also saw him talk about the controversial conclusion to the otherwise thrilling 2021 F1 title fight.
WHO COULD REPLACE HAMILTON AT MERCEDES?
Mercedes will have a vacant seat for 2025.
Here, SunSport's F1 correspondent Ben Hunt looks at FIVE potential candidates who could replace him and partner George Russell in the Silver Arrows.
Oscar Piastri - McLaren have sewn up Lando Norris to a new long-term contract that should (in theory) put him out of Mercedes' reach. However, they are yet to tie down his teammate Piastri, 22. The Aussie has an excellent record and won the Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles before spending a year on the sidelines with Alpine and getting his chance in F1 with McLaren. He impressed on his debut season last year and has the potential to be a world champion.
Daniel Ricciardo - The experienced driver's future remains in doubt as he bides his time at Red Bull's B-team. Ricciardo would be low-hassle and offer some stability but by that time he would be 35. It seems unlikely that they would opt for him at this point in his career, but if he has a good season this year, he could come into the reckoning.
Kimi Antonelli - You may not have heard of the Italian, but he is mustard. Still only 17, he has won at all the junior categories and has been part of the Mercedes young driver programme since 2019. This season he has been promoted from F4 to F2, where he has been tipped to shine. A good debut season in F2 could sway Mercedes into taking a risk on him for 2025. Antonelli and his family are close to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
Mick Schumacher - Wolff has always been so incredibly supportive of Schumacher and spoken highly of him, that you'd at least expect him to come into consideration. He knows the team from his role as reserve driver and consequently would get up to speed. But speed is also the problem. He was shocking at Haas and if he really was THAT good, he'd still be driving in F1.
Alex Albon - A more-sensible choice would be the London-born Albon. A great guy who is also very quick. He has a fantastic relationship with Russell and would be the low-maintenance quick partnership similar to Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas that swept to successive titles. Albon would take little convincing to join from Williams and Mercedes would not need to pay him half of the £50million they were dishing out to Hamilton.
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