Hamilton ‘not in F1 to make friends’

Lewis Hamilton in Shanghai

(GMM) Lewis Hamilton says the current waves of criticism do not affect him — because he is used to it.

"It's been a similar thing my whole career," he told Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung newspaper, connecting his unpopularity among his peers with his success.

The McLaren driver, who is close friends with Adrian Sutil, also said he does not seek many friendships in the paddock.

"I am not a member of the GPDA and I don't participate in a lot of other things. So I don't think they can judge me. If they don't like me, it's perhaps because they don't know me.

"For lots of friendships we don't have time. If I was here to make friends, then what they are saying about me would be a lot harder to take."

The venom of some of the disdain for the Briton is obvious, including from Fernando Alonso, who has vowed to help Felipe Massa to beat Hamilton to the 2008 title.

"Some like you, others hate you," Hamilton continued. "That's a shame, because we are all people, and we're all here to do our jobs and not to fight."