Lewis Hamilton’s social media empire shows how much Oscar Piastri can grow

Lewis Hamilton is the clear-cut king of social media on the Formula 1 grid. This is how he forged his empire, and how far Oscar Piastri has to go to catch up.

From recreating a famous scene from a cult Hollywood movie to high-end fashion shoots, “iconic” team debuts and daredevil exploits away from the track – one driver is the clear-cut king of social media on the Formula 1 grid.

His first season for Ferrari might not be humming as much as he would like, but seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton remains far-and-away the most popular driver based on his huge social media following.

The undisputed ‘rock star’ of the F1 grid, the British driver is open to sharing his passions away from the track with his fans – and they lap it up.

Hamilton has a combined following of more than 48 million across platforms Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), more than double the next closest driver – his Monegasque Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc (22 million combined).

Red Bull’s four-time world champion Max Verstappen has more than 18 million combined followers, while Australia’s championship leader Oscar Piastri has almost 5 million across both Instagram and X.

While Hamilton shares plenty of action from race days like most of the other drivers, it is his fashion-forward life away from the track which has opened him up to a massive audience.

The 40-year-old almost broke the internet when he shared the first image of himself as a Ferrari driver in January wearing a double-breasted suit and long black coat standing alongside a Ferrari F40 out the front of team founder Enzo Ferrari’s old house in Maranello.

The image, which was dubbed “iconic” by his former Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, had more than 56K comments on it on Instagram, including fellow Brits Lando Norris replying “Don” and his former Silver Arrows teammate George Russell “Auguri fratello”.

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In March, Hamilton also set the web alight when he celebrated his first season at Ferrari by recreating an iconic scene from cult 1980s movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

In the scene featuring his “dream car”, Hamilton plays the garage employee who takes the Ferrari owned by Cameron Frye’s father for a joy ride through the Chicago streets.

The video, which landed just before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix and his first race with the Scuderia, also went viral on social media.

“No better way to start the season than by fulfilling another dream,” Hamilton wrote on Instagram.

“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off has been one of my favourite movies since I was a kid. This is to pay homage to the iconic film and to celebrate my first season with Ferrari.

“It definitely took a lot of cutting edge tech, production and planning to get right. Had to get the exact car too … it’s been a dream car since seeing the movie.”

Hamilton also regularly appears in fashion shoots on his social media, including his iconic looks from the Met Gala.

He has also shown his adrenaline-chasing exploits away from the track, sharing videos of himself skydiving, surfing and on the ski slopes.

Hamilton’s beloved bulldog, Roscoe, has also featured regularly in his social media feed.

Social media’s next most popular driver on the grid, Leclerc also isn’t afraid to have a bit of fun on social media, posting a video last week testing his speed off the track with an attempt at cracking the world record for the most ice-cream cones scooped in one minute (he didn’t succeed).

He has also flaunted his talent away from the cockpit as a pianist tinkering the ivories with his faithful canine companion, Leo, sitting at his feet.

Like Roscoe, Leo also features often in Leclerc’s social media feed and even has his own Instagram account.

Leclerc’s home town of Monaco provides a picturesque backdrop for many of his fashion collaboration shoots, while he has also shared his off-season snowscapades.

Piastri might be leading the drivers’ championship standings, but the Melbourne-born star is still building his social following.

The title frontrunner posts mostly about his days at the track and some behind the scenes of his training and preparation, but has shared some personal snaps alongside his girlfriend Lily Zneimer holidaying during the off-season and some sweet images of himself as a kid.

Piastri’s love of cricket also features, sharing his catch-ups with the Australian cricket team, including a picture alongside captain Pat Cummins captioned: “Bowling royalty meets part-time medium pacer”.

But the 24-year-old’s mic-drop moment on social media happened before his F1 career had even taken off in August, 2022, when he famously rejected Alpine’s announcement that he would be racing for the team the following year.

Piastri’s viral tweet had 392K likes, was shared 97K times and had 13,000 comments.

“I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year,” Piastri wrote.

I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year.

— Oscar Piastri (@OscarPiastri) August 2, 2022

Piastri also shares images of his regular paddle ball battles, which has become a favourite pastime among many of the F1 cohort.

Verstappen prefers to focus on his action at the track, but has shared some personal snaps alongside his partner Kelly Piquet and, most recently, celebrating the birth of their first child together, a daughter named Lily.

“Welcome to the world, sweet Lily,” Verstappen wrote.

“Our hearts are fuller than ever – you are our greatest gift. We love you so much.”

Verstappen’s love of sim racing also features regularly, with the Dutch champion recently featuring in a social media video from his sim racing team cutting a virtual lap of Mount Panorama.

Piastri’s teammate Lando Norris’ interest in photography features heavily in his timeline with the McLaren star often pictured with his own camera in hand.

Norris, who boasts the fifth most followers on Instagram with 10 million, had more than 8000 comments on a picture he posted last year of Verstappen and himself from their karting days congratulating his Red Bull rival on his fourth straight championship.

“Congrats on the 4th title in a row mate, awesome drive this year. Was fun fighting you for it. Feels like yesterday we took this pic in karting,” Norris wrote on Instagram.

The Brit’s most viewed video on Tik Tok was a collaboration with Australian Olympic gold-medal winning skateboarder Keegan Palmer, which had 11.7m views.

The drivers aren’t afraid to engage in a bit of banter, either, with Russell last week quipping on his social media that “Dinner (is) on you tonight Albono!!!” to Alex Albon after the Williams driver held him up during the Monaco Grand Prix.

Albon replied, “I’ll take you to a drive thru” with a laughing emoji.

He did end up taking Russell out to dinner and picked up the bill, revealing ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix the Mercedes star ordered a lobster pasta, but skipped on dessert.

The fourth most followed driver on Instagram, Williams’ “smooth operator” Carlos Sainz shares his love of cycling regularly and the slick Spaniard captured plenty of attention wearing a tuxedo to attend this year’s Cannes film festival.

In a nod to the original smooth agent, 007 James Bond, Sainz posted a playful video having fun with his on-track nickname.

“My name is Operator. Smooth Operator,” Sainz said before walking off laughing.

The Instagram video before his walk on the Cannes red carpet captured almost 8000 comments.

Originally published as Lewis Hamilton’s social media empire shows how much Oscar Piastri can grow