Hamilton: Social media purge was coincidence

Lewis Hamilton has been discussing his decision to promptly delete all posts from his social media accounts, and said that the purge coming in such close proximity to a controversial video containing his nephew was pure coincidence.

Hamilton removed all tweets and Instagram posts not long after he received criticism for an incident he posted involving his nephew and an item of clothing he was wearing.

It was assumed that the deletion of the posts was in direct response to the public reaction to the video, but Hamilton has claimed that it was always his intention to remove all of his previous posts.

He said: "We always planned at the end of the year to start a clean slate at the beginning of this year. It just so happened that it turned out to be an opportunistic time to change it.

"It’s always difficult to make a change because I’m quite happy. But we are in a very strange time in the world where things are magnified more than perhaps they were in previous years, so it’s a critical time for the world."

The world champion also added that it was his intention to return to being active on social media in order to give his fans access into his life.

He added: "For me personally, I think I’ll continue to show what I am doing. I think it’s just about being maybe a little more strategic in what I do or don’t show.

"It is a gateway to connect my fans in a way that I am not able to do at race weekends, so it will continue to be a part of my life."