Lewis Hamilton Is No Hypocrite on Climate Issues: Private Jet, Supercars No More

The post didn't go as well as he had probably hoped. Even though he explained he'd personally gone to great lengths to ensure his carbon footprint had been minimized, including with his F1 work and his choice for a personal vehicle, criticism still came his way. Big time.

Even his own fans pointed out the apparent hypocrisy of having a known car collector, race car driver, and frequent private jet flier encouraging others to take it easy in terms of emissions. Not to mention the fact that he's racing for Formula One, while backed by a major gas company.

To say that criticism was harsh is an understatement.

Blame it on a lack of education on the topic, Hamilton says in a following interview, as cited by The Drive. He called his mission a "difficult" one because "not everyone knows the footprint that our sport current has and what we're doing in terms of trying to improve that" and because he's been making several significant changes in his life as well.

For starters, he's sold off his private jet and he's no longer driving any of the supercars in his collection. These include a Pagani Zonda 760, a McLaren P1, a 1966 Shelby Cobra 427, a Ford Shelby Mustang GT500, a Ferrari LaFerrari and a 599 Aperta, with Hamilton saying that, these days, he only drives the electric SUV EQC. And the EQS, of course.

Other changes included switching to a vegan diet and making sure he's picked up at the airport in electric cars, whenever possible. He made sure to carbon-offset his F1 work all the way to 2007, whereas Formula One is working towards holding only fully-sustainable events by 2025.

Celebrities are often criticized for not doing what they're preaching, but Hamilton wants you to know that he's not one of them.