For some it is still hard to believe that Lewis Hamilton missed out on winning his eighth Formula 1 world title especially coming so close in a dramatic final race in Abu Dhabi in 2021. And seems like even the announced of a recent sponsor event was also among those who couldn't accept that Hamilton had actually come second with Red Bull's Max Verstappen winning the world title.
This is because Hamilton was announced as an 'eight-time world champion' at the event, something which netizens were quick to catch on to and share on social media.
"...Could you please put your hands together and your phones down for eight-time world champion Lewis Hamilton," the event host could be heard saying.
The incident happened when the British racer was one of the guest of honour at the Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) in Malaysia with Petronas being one of Mercedes' title sponsors.
Check out the video here:
The 38-year-old Formula 1 superstar received a grand reception when he was introduced on to the stage and barring that factual error of him being called the eight-time world champion instead of seven, everything went well.
A lot of F1 and Hamilton fans got a chance to meet with one of the greats of the sport and the racer was spotted signing autographs and posing for selfies.
Talking about the Formul1 calendar, the procession will now head to Australian for Round 2 of the 2023 season. Both the first two rounds were bagged by Red Bull racers with reigning champion Verstappen winning the first round in Saudi Arabia while his teammate Sergio Perez clinching the second in Bahrain.
On both the occasions, Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso had finished third.
Mercedes will have to pull up their socks moving forward with the duo of Hamilton and George Russell sitting at the fifth and the sixth positions respectively.