World Cup fever hits Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton will happily pay a fine for missing a press conference as long as he can watch England's Wold Cup quarter-final with Sweden during the British Grand Prix weekend. Qualifying at Silverstone is due to start an hour before the Three Lions kick-off in Russia, leaving England fan Hamilton facing either an early exit from the session, or dropping his media duties.

Hamilton shared a video of himself celebrating England's last-16 win over Colombia on Tuesday and Formula 1 heads to England this week with the nation firmly gripped by football fever thanks to the national team's impressive run.

Hamilton has also kept the date of the World Cup final free, in case England make it, and it seems unlikely that the champion will be around to share his thoughts if he does secure a 76th pole position on Saturday.

"We always come into this grand prix with some kind of epic sport surrounding it, be it Wimbledon or whatever," Hamilton said, before turning to FIA media man Matteo Bonciani.

"I was going to ask, what's the penalty for missing the press conference on Saturday? We're going to talk about it... is it negotiable? I'll be watching the game.

BEAST MODE!! So proud of our boys for their perseverance and never giving up! ?????????????????????????????????? #worldcup2018

A post shared by Lewis Hamilton (@lewishamilton) on Jul 3, 2018 at 2:12pm PDT

"I had to watch on my phone the other day but at least I got to see it."

Hamilton added on the success of Gareth Southgate's team: "I can only imagine the boys are definitely on a high at the moment and they just need to continue.

"I hope they're sleeping well, I hope they're eating well because that's a large part of it, and ultimately just going out and enjoying themselves.

"There's so much pressure on them with it being the World Cup but there's so much support for them.

"I booked my day off next Sunday, I booked that day off cos I want to be in Russia supporting them."