Lewis Hamilton Visits Aussie Burn Victims

Formula One teams and drivers are arriving for the first Grand Prix of the season in Australia. For many, including myself, this is reason to celebrate. The thought of Peter Windsor working that grid while Lewis Hamilton prances around in his race suit is enough to make me smile. But I’ve got a bigger reason to smile-as do the burn victims of Victoria’s Black Saturday brushfires.

When McLaren Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton and teammate Heikki Kovalainen landed down under, their first pit stop was to the Alfred Hospitals burn unit. Sure, they could have gone to the zoo or played soccer, but they chose to make the rounds, visiting recovering burn victims, nurses, doctors and hospital staff.

Hamilton is so classy, that he brushed aside the media to speak to the patients. It wasn’t until after the visit that he briefly addressed the media. “We can’t imagine what they’ve gone through, but to see the smiles on their faces and how strong they are … it gives me inspiration.”

While Hamilton and Kovalainen opted to spread love, other drivers-not so much. Unless you call ‘spreading love’ a visit to the zoo or playing soccer? German Formula One drive Nick Heidfeld (above) and Adrain Sutil opted to meet four kangaroos at the Zoo in Melbourne instead of visiting burn victims…

…and Hamilton nemesis Spanish Formula One driver Fernando Alonso was busy being presented with a team shirt from the Melbourne Victory soccer team…I’m just saying…the fires, in which 210 people died, form an emotional backdrop to this year’s Australian Grand Prix-I would expect more drivers to pay homage to those who’ve suffered.

The Australian Grand Prix goes down on March 29, 2009.

As always, thanks for reading. Delinda@athlebrities.com