Lewis Hamilton seen for the first time in LA since calling hometown Stevenage a ‘slum’
LEWIS Hamilton has been pictured for the first time in Los Angeles since calling his Stevenage hometown a “slum”.
The five time Formula 1 champion, 33, appeared a tad glum as he left a restaurant in the city yesterday.
The sports star was hard to miss in a white tracksuit, neon beanie hat and equally bright trainers.
His sighting came the same day as Lewis issued a grovelling apology to his hometown of Stevenage after branding it a “slum” on Sports Personality of the Year.
But the Mercedes driver took to social media to express his love for the place he grew up and apologise to his former neighbours.
Lewis posted a video on Instagram saying: “Good day people. I hope you are well wherever you are I’m sending you positive energy.
“I’m having an amazing day today, super happy, simply because holidays have just started.
“But I wanted to take a second to send a message to people back in the UK, but also to people in Stevenage where I grew up.
“It’s somewhere I’m incredibly proud of coming from and still love to this day.”
The sports star continued to excuse himself for his remark on stage urging people allowing his comment to get “up in their feelings,” to, “throw it to the side, its negative energy, you don’t need to hold”.
He continued “I’m super proud of where I’ve come from and I hope that you know that I represent in the best way I can always.
“Particularly when you’re up in front of a crowd trying to find the right words to express the long journey that you’ve had in life, then I chose the wrong words.
Hamilton signed off his video saying: “I didn’t mean anything by it and those of you who know me know that I always mean love so God bless you, have a great day.”
The F1 ace faced a backlash from the Hertfordshire town after he said racing had given him and his family a “way out”.
Hamilton, who finished second in Sunday’s public vote behind Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas, made the comment about Stevenage during an on-stage interview.
He had just been named among the nominees for the main prize at SPOTY when he told presenter Gabby Logan: “It’s been a really long journey, a dream for us all, as a family, to do something different, to get out of the slums.
“Well, we would say it’s not the slums, but just come out from somewhere and do something. We all set our goals very high but we did it as a team.”
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