Lewis Hamilton's Emotional Arsenal Triumph in F1 Paddock

Lewis Hamilton arrived in Montreal this week ready to talk apexes, tyre temps and Ferrari’s renaissance. Instead, on the eve of the Canadian Grand Prix, the conversation veered to something that still hits him far deeper: Arsenal finally lifting the Premier League trophy.

The seven-time world champion, a lifelong Arsenal supporter, admitted the club’s title win had reduced him to tears, dragging him back to childhood streets a long way from the Emirates.

“I shed a tear, to be honest,” Hamilton said, his voice softening as he drifted from racing lines to touchlines. Arsenal’s coronation was sealed on Tuesday, when Manchester City’s 1-1 draw with Bournemouth ended a 22-year wait for the Premier League crown. For Hamilton, it felt like the payoff to a promise made as a boy in Stevenage.

He remembered being five, a kid kicking a ball around the corner, the only Black child in the area, surrounded by rival allegiances.

“I remember being five years old, playing football around the corner in Stevenage. I was the only Black kid in the area, and everyone supported West Ham, Tottenham, or Manchester United,” he recalled.

Arsenal came into his life not through a star player or a famous final, but via a sibling’s nudge.

“She gave me a little dig in the arm and said, ‘You have to support Arsenal.’ We had a laugh about that the other day,” Hamilton said of his sister, who effectively signed him up for a lifetime of North London angst and, finally, ecstasy.

From there, the drivers’ press conference turned into an impromptu football forum.

Gasly flies the PSG flag

Sitting a few seats away, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly saw his opening. If Hamilton’s heart is in North London, Gasly’s is firmly in Paris.

“I’m glad we started talking about real stuff,” he joked, leaning into the rivalry as he declared himself a proud Paris Saint-Germain fan ahead of next week’s Champions League clash with Arsenal.

PSG have their own domestic dominance to celebrate, having wrapped up a fifth successive Ligue 1 title with a 2-0 win away at Lens last week. For Gasly, the league form is the platform, not the destination.

He expects a “fantastic game of football” when PSG meet Arsenal and made his loyalties crystal clear. “I’ll obviously be rooting for PSG, and hopefully they can bring in a second Champions League,” he said.

Two drivers, two clubs, one looming European showdown. The banter in Montreal may be light, but the allegiance is not.

Perez plans a World Cup dash

Further down the pitlane, football talk took on a different shape. For Cadillac’s Sergio Perez, it is not about club colours in Europe, but a once-in-a-lifetime tournament at home.

The Mexican has already started plotting a mid-season dash from Europe back to his native Guadalajara to watch his country at the upcoming World Cup, with matches scheduled in his home city.

“I literally have to come just for the game and then go back to Europe. We will make it happen,” Perez said, fully aware of the logistical chaos such a trip invites.

The motivation is simple. “It’s a World Cup at home. Anything can happen,” he added, cautiously optimistic about Mexico’s chances but clearly unwilling to miss the moment.

Antonelli caught between Brazil and Messi

At the sharp end of the championship, Kimi Antonelli leads the standings on track, but off it he finds himself without a natural nation to follow. With Italy absent from the tournament, the Mercedes driver is a neutral in need of a team.

“I do really like Brazil, for example, the way they play the game,” he said, drawn to the flair and rhythm that has seduced generations of neutrals.

Yet his admiration for Lionel Messi pulls him in another direction. “But again, I’m also cheering for Messi, one of my favourite players when I was little, and also I got to meet him in Miami,” Antonelli added, sounding more like an awestruck fan than a title favourite.

Italy’s failure to qualify still stings.

“Italy is not in it, unfortunately. So we’re going to wait another four years, maybe,” he said. “It’s a disaster, but it’s okay.”

From Hamilton’s tear for Arsenal to Gasly’s Parisian pride, from Perez plotting a World Cup detour to Antonelli torn between Brazil and Messi, the Montreal paddock made one thing clear: for all the noise of V6 engines and carbon fibre, football still finds a way to cut straight through the visor.