Hamilton opens up about near-death experience: 'I thought it was over'

F1 News

Lewis Hamilton speaks openly about his near-death experience while surfing
31 May at 09:00
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  • Cas van de Kleut

As a Formula 1 driver, you are often known as someone who likes to push the limits. You are not easily scared, otherwise you would not dare to drive an F1 car. Lewis Hamilton, therefore, likes a bit of excitement. During his Hot Ones challenge, he even tells First We Feast on YouTube that he almost died once while surfing.

In the video, Hamilton answers questions about his life as a Formula 1 driver, as well as his personal life. When answering each question, he takes a hot sauce. After each hot sauce, he gets an even spicier sauce.

Hamilton on near-death experience

During the challenge, Hamilton talks about a time he went surfing with Kelly Slater, one of the greatest professional surfers ever: "The biggest wipeout I had was with Kelly Slater at Pipeline (in Hawaii). It was like 20-foot waves, and Kelly's like, 'There's no way you're coming out there. You're crazy.' And as I started to try and paddle in, I got sucked into this kill zone, basically. I get sucked into it, and I turn around, and I see this set of four waves coming. That, for me, was like, 'It's over. It's all over.'"

The Brit continued: "As I threw my board, I dove down, I grabbed the reef, and I could hear this wave crash behind me. My board got ripped off and snapped in half. I came back up, obviously gasping for air, and then the next one was coming, so I went back down and grabbed the reef again. And then another wave came over, so I did that three times. I got up, I nearly ran out of air, I nearly drowned, but I managed to swim back from there. But after that, I was like, 'Okay, massive props to these surfers.'"

This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy